5. Audience and ROI measurement: no industry-wide solution yet.
One of the differences between online advertising and digital signage is in the ease of audience measurement. It is much easier to measure traffic to web sites (online data) than to capture the actual audience of digital signage screens (offline data).
Attempts have been made to measure DOOH audience based on TV-ratings model (Nielsen’s 4th Screen Report, Arbitron’s PPM, etc.), and on impressions metrics for traditional OOH (TAB OOH ratings, formerly Eyes On), whilst other providers proposed electronic viewer detection technology (Intel AIM, TruMedia, Quividi, etc.).
Both methods have their advantages and flaws but today, in the digital age, I would definitely bet on electronic measurement. This technology will be capable of delivering real-time, network-wide, rich, continuous viewer detection data, as opposed to the last-century low-tech, limited sampling-based poll studies. It’s only a matter of time before electronic audience measurement is perfected, becomes more affordable, and eliminates inherent privacy concerns.