• by David Goetzl  @dgoetzl, July 13, 2006

In an important vote of confidence from Madison Avenue, Publicis Groupe Media has signed on to Nielsen Outdoor's new GPS-based out-of-home measurement service in the Los Angeles market. The deal gives Publicis units Starcom MediaVest Group and ZenithMedia access to preliminary outdoor audience data in the fall, with final results in the first quarter of 2007. Los Angeles is the second market in Nielsen's rollout of the service, which launched in Chicago in 2005.

The deal comes as the outdoor advertising industry, led by trade group the Traffic Audit Bureau, is in the final stages of awarding a request for proposal for a new outdoor audience ratings system. That assignment is not expected to be given to Nielsen, which has had a tense relationship with TAB. The ratings contract is one part of a multifaceted research initiative launched by the TAB that will create what many believe to be one of the most accountable for any medium, and the only one to actually measure the likelihood of someone to be exposed to an advertising message.

The service aims to gauge individuals' exposure to out-of-home marketing by tracking their whereabouts - via walking, driving or traveling -- in relation to outdoor advertising sites. Nielsen provides data based on the number of people exposed to an outdoor execution and a corresponding demographic breakdown.

Nielsen Outdoor said it would also extend its service by beginning to measure teenagers' exposure to outdoor ads, potentially insightful information for film, fast food and soft drink marketers.

Advertisers hungry for ROI data are increasingly interested in metrics for outdoor advertising as the sector continues to grow. Outdoor advertising increased by 9.8 percent to $3.2 billion last year, according to TNS Media Intelligence. And while TNS recently lowered its growth projections for the overall U.S. ad market for 2006, it increased its forecast for outdoor to 7.7 percent growth. "Starcom MediaVest Group is the largest buyer of out-of-home advertising in the country and we support all research that helps us deliver more accountability to our advertiser clients in this medium," says Jack Sullivan, senior vice president and director of out-of-home media at Starcom.

A number of leading advertising seers, including WPP Group Chairman-CEO Martin Sorrell and Carat CEO David Verklin, have predicted that out-of-home media would be among the most explosive growth media over the next several years, second only to online.

Fueling outdoor's growth is the increased time people are spending away from both home and work. In December, Sorrell told Wall Street analysts that outdoor advertising is a growth area, based on figures showing people spend about 18 percent of their time away from home and work nowadays, compared to about 8 percent in 1960.

"Outdoor advertising is one of the fastest-growing advertising segments for our clients, so we are pleased to support Nielsen's research to help ensure that we are maximizing ROI for advertising dollars spent in this medium," says Damon Peirson, vice president and director of out-of-home services at Zenith Media. "The billboard industry has traditionally lagged behind other traditional media in terms of providing measurement metrics. With this new research effort, there is the potential to be even more accountable than other traditional media."