POSTAR will launch its new out-of-home audience research in February 2013
New out-of-home audience data will be launched by POSTAR on 26 February 2013. The research will cover all outdoor environments and has been developed completely from scratch, with an investment of £19 million over six years by the industry.
To prepare the out-of-home industry, a beta version of the data is being made available to the subscribers for the first time from this week. The beta data is test data only, and will not be used for trading.
The final data covering road, tube, rail and bus will then be made available next year, at which point the out-of-home industry can trade using the data. POSTAR will continue to launch iterations in regular quarterly intervals. Data for retail and airport environments will also follow as part of a planned expansion of the service.
The new POSTAR study will provide an entirely new currency to replace POSTAR99. It is based on a detailed gauge of the population’s movements, which uses cutting edge GPS technology. A sample of 23,000 people provides the bedrock of travel data, which is then mapped onto a bespoke network of the country’s pathways.
The study has been designed to include all possible outdoor environments, the effect of illumination on audience figures and the effect of an advert being digital. The change sees a rise of inventory from 120,000 sites in POSTAR99 to 360,000.
James Whitmore, POSTAR’s managing director, said: “The study brings together several large sets of data. Combined it is one of the biggest datasets of its kind with over 160 million records – providing an enormous enlargement of the current understanding of out-of-home audiences”.
Annie Rickard, CEO, Posterscope, said: “It is difficult not to be impressed by the scale of the new POSTAR both in coverage of OOH environments and formats but also what this means for advertisers – real inclusivity in the measurement of their campaigns.”
Jeremy Male, Chair, Outdoor Media Centre, said: “The industry has invested £19 million in launching the new POSTAR data which reflects not only the confidence in the sector but also the importance we place on putting audience at the centre of our planning.” Male added: “This is a reflection of an industry in robust health that continues to invest in its future.”
The new POSTAR study has been conducted by Ipsos MediaCT. Birkbeck College, University of London, carried out the eye-tracking studies, building on existing academic knowledge about visibility.