• by Wayne Friedman , November 18, 2008

Nielsen Co. says one major out-of-home media company, Arena Media Networks, pulled in 173 million video advertising impressions through in-stadium digital displays for the entire Major League Baseball season.

Arena Media Networks (AMN) goes into 21 Major League ballparks with displays that provide statistics, video and advertising. The survey said fans were exposed to 37 minutes of content on average, and that 50% of fans recalled digital screens.

The Nielsen survey was conducted in July and August of the 2008 MLB season, and data was compiled from on-site, in-person interviews. It focused on time spent in the stadium concourse areas, media engagement, frequency of visits and demographics. Future studies with Nielsen and AMN will include a quarterly measurement of all AMN locations in arenas across the country, as well as another MLB study in 2009.

Nielsen and AMN said the methodology used was consistent with the recently published metric guidelines by the Out-of-home Video Advertising Bureau (OVAB). One of the group's main initiatives is to establish better standards in out-of-home metrics.