The following is a special guest post from LocaModa CEO, Stephen Randall.
The primarily Generation X/Y-ers, i.e. “Connected Class” seamlessly move from TV/DVR to web to mobile phone. In this multi-modal and user-centric world, they expect to control and effect how media around them is served in personalized fashion. When they are away from their desks or couches, their mobile phones act as umbilical chords to the web, connecting to their media and services such as Facebook and Twitter and in some cases, their Tivo/DVR.
Today’s audiences expect to control the media around them; however, content cannot and should not (for legal as well as user experience reasons) be pushed to users on their personal devices such as mobile phones. Content must instead be pulled by the user, via an opt-in action. These requirements present a challenge but also an opportunity for DOOH networks to bridge the gap between on-line and off-line worlds by acting as a proxy for content and social interaction using DOOH placed based screens.
As with all nascent media markets, fragmentation is de rigueur, from UI and presentation, to connectivity and interoperability.
Imagine an advertiser wanting to advertise on broadcast TV and being told that their commercial could run on ABC, and CBS but wouldn’t be compatible on CNN or FOX. The DOOH landscape in every respect is just like that today and its commercial growth has been hampered by this lack of established standards and interoperability.
The Darwinian evolution of fragmented networks, along with commercial and economic viability, ultimately leads to open cooperation, innovation and de-facto standardization. In an earlier white paper, (“The disruptive effect of the Internet and mobile phones on out-of-home digital media” Bill Collins and Stephen Randall, 2007) I predicted that DOOH would effectively become “The Web Outside.” Today that appears inevitable.
DOOH aggregation solutions such as SeeSaw, Adcentricty, rVue and Booking DOOH help solve part of the problem, but essentially only on the “buy side” of the equation. There is no easy way in which media can run concurrently on screens on jumbotrons in Times Square, jukeboxes, cafés, QSRs, bars etc… without custom and manual authoring.
One of the promises of DOOH is that it can reach an audience that is away from their PCs or TVs. In order to fulfill such a promise in a meaningful manner, and to win advertising budgets increasingly drawn towards interactive media, the minimum requirements for DOOH networks today are very clear and ideally should be standardized:
Rich Media Standards. Media distribution needs to be much easier. To achieve this, DOOH networks must offer a level of cross channel interoperability. Proprietary DOOH network islands cannot survive any more than the early online service walled gardens such as Prodigy and Quantum (which later became AOL). Media standards should include dynamic media standards (Adobe Flash/Flex/Air/Strobe, Microsoft Silverlight), web brower based (Ajax, HTML5, Flash plugin), web video (Mpeg4 (H/X.264), Mpeg2, to dipslay screen Resolutions and Aspect Ratio; e.g. 1080P, HD720P, while firmly established in Broadcast TV, do not accurately reflect PC resolutions, which are often represented in true pixel-based resolution such as 1366×768. DOOH networks must establish a clearer sets of PC based standards while offering a acceptable level of cross channel interoperability with broadcast TV.
Audience Measurement, ideally in real-time, like the web and preferably using the same “currencies” as the web (or is it broadcast advert?). Media buyers will readily buy DOOH if they can do so using terminology they already understand. OVAB’s Average Unit Audience metric consists of three components: Presence, Notice, and Dwell Time and is a laudable attempt at standardizing measurability. Wherever possible, DOOH should set out their “equivalent CPM” to make it easier for media buyers to buy DOOH as part of a larger campaign encompassing other interactive markets. To achieve this, Media buyers need to buy time, space or audience using the same currencies. For sure there are standards that are moving in the right direction, but every media revolution happens more as a result of disruption than committees.
Location “logical” Addressing, like the web, needs to be standardized to make it easier for user engagement, media distribution, data collection and analysis. Adoption of a simple url-like convention such as LocaModa’s @
, can be used to denote a location’s DOOH address. This enables users to interact with content and services presented to them on that screen. A standardized framework for place-based analytics data such as location name, physical address, audience demographic, traffic, and network device IDs would enable a much faster adoption of services in the industry.
The longer DOOH networks remain fragmented and non-standardized, the harder it will be for advertisers to leverage its inter-connectivity and full potential. It is in the interest of all players in the DOOH industry to foster inter-connectivity and inter-operability. Standards will emerge with or without the cooperation of all players but critical mass will happen faster with cooperation from the anchoring networks. To achieve this, DOOH networks must first offer a level of cross channel technology interoperability and internet connectivity.
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