• by Joe Mandese , Yesterday

The Media Rating Council (MRC) this morning released a draft of "Phase 2" of its controversial out-of-home media audience-measurement requirements for a 30-day public comment period before they are ratified as the U.S. ad industry's standard.

Phase 2, which can be read here, adds requirements for measuring the demographic -- or persons-based -- audience exposure to out-of-home media, building on Phase 1, which only established standards for counting out-of-home media audience impressions.

Phase 1, which was released in April, can be read here.

Importantly, the Phase 2 standards also provide "comparability to other measured media" (see chart above), which some believe will help out-of-home media compete on more of an even playing field with other higher-priced ad-supported media.

Key elements of the Phase 2 requirements include:

Evidence of "likelihood-to-see" (LTS) required for audience qualification such as considerations in the following areas:

• Size of the asset (minimum apparent size)

• Environmental and visual obstruction

• Presence of audio

• Precise location of the asset

• Dynamic nature of the asset

• Visual clutter

• Visual attractiveness

• Illumination and seasonality

• Exposure time

• Speed, direction and mode of travel

• Audience characteristics

Requirements for the use of LTS thresholds

Deterministic data use requirements including:

• Representative nature of data

• Robust and sufficient coverage

• Recency and staleness policies

• Granularity

Empirical support requirements

Quality control over data sources

Model selection and support

Disclosures

Comments on the draft, which will be accepted through August 27, can be submitted via email to MRC at rpinelli@mediaratingcouncil.org