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- What is VAI?
- Why is VAI important?
- Do other media have VAI?
- How are VAI measures obtained?
- Who is conducting the research and how will it be done?
- What media types will be covered by VAI?
- How will VAI affect the pricing of billboards?
- Why should the outdoor industry support VAI audience measurement?
- Why should a company use VAI measurements if their business is primarily local?
- How will VAI affect out of home planning systems?
- When will the VAI research be completed?
- When will VAI measures be available?
Today all media are priced, bought and sold based on measures of people who have had the “opportunity to see” ads carried by the medium, or “OTS” for short.
The problem is that the difference between these audience counts and people actually “seeing the ad” is growing larger.
“Visibility Adjustment Indices”, or VAI, are Outdoor’s solution. These are estimates of how visible an outdoor unit is to the average person “passing by” (which is the Outdoor definition of audience). VAI’s are used to convert DECs and other ‘opportunity to see’ audience estimates of out-of-home into more relevant ‘likely to see’ estimates, based on the size and situation of individual Outdoor units.
In TV the equivalent would be adjusting-down Nielsen-reported viewers, who are often simply persons in the room with the TV set on, by using a qualifying measure of “eyes-on the TV screen.”
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The loose fit of “opportunity to see” as a surrogate for “sees the advertising” creates mischief in all media, but especially in Outdoor where OTS is based on estimates of persons “passing-by” an Outdoor location.
Outdoor’s position as one element in a person’s crowded field of view, means a passers-by count can sometimes significantly overstate how many persons are actually seeing (in the sense of “noticing”) the Outdoor display.
Because Outdoor’s large audience numbers are questioned by the industry, Outdoor is leading the way in adjusting down “Opportunity to See” to the more useful “Likely to See” measures.
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Currently no other medium has research-based adjustments for the probability of seeing an ad message. For example, TV audiences are not adjusted for message length or commercial clutter. Magazine readership counts are not adjusted for unit size or percent pages opened.
VAI gives out-of-home advertising a clear advantage over other media in delivering better measures of people actually seeing advertising.
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VAI is calculated by tracking the eye-movement of respondents exposed to many out-of-home scenarios in simulated driving and walking situations. Eye cameras capture their visual response to different units in the different settings and combinations found in reality.
The variables used include the unit’s size, the type of roadway, the unit’s placement along that roadway and the effect of competing outdoor units in the field of vision.
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GfK NOP was awarded the contract to conduct the VAI project following a comprehensive RFP process begun last fall. The eye-tracking research will be done in two major U.S. markets, using filmed drive-by and walk-by scenarios chosen to represent the range and complexity of the outdoor medium.
The research itself has been specifically designed as input for a statistical model that will allow VAI adjustments to be applied to all TAB audited inventory.
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Billboards, bus shelters, 30 sheets and 8-sheets will be examined in the initial study.
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Initially it should have little effect. Eventually it should improve both pricing and inventory management.
VAI measures will give advertisers greater confidence in the numbers used to buy and sell outdoor. While VAI adjustments will lower the reported delivery numbers, the more precise nature of the measurement will support a higher CPM. And as with most media, market demand will determine pricing and better measurements should encourage greater demand.
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The industry should support VAI because it is an improved measurement system which will encourage the continued growth of Outdoor.
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Whether business is local or national, VAI measures allow a clearer, more precise estimate about what customers are getting for their media investment. In addition, the entire out-of-home industry will benefit from the use of a consistent state-of-the-art approach to audience measurement
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VAI numbers will simply replace DEC numbers in existing out of home planning systems.
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The fieldwork for the VAI research project is now underway and will be conducted over the next several months.
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Early results will be available in the first quarter of 2006 to allow evaluation and review before being released formally in the fall of 2006.
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