Astral Switches On Ayuda’s Hivestack Programmatic OOH Ad Platform In Canada

December 7, 2017 by Dave Haynes

Astral, one of Canada’s larger OOH and digital OOH media players, has expanded its relationship with Montreal’s Ayuda Systems – launching a programmatic advertising solution run by Ayuda spin-off Hivestack.

Says a press release: Using an exclusive self-serve platform, powered by Hivestack and fueled with real-time mobile location data, clients will be able to use audience targeting previously only attainable online.  The platform includes inventory across all major Canadian cities, real-time reporting, and attribution measurement capabilities.

“We’re excited to be the first to roll out this innovative platform to advertisers, allowing them to seamlessly extend online capabilities into digital out-of-home,” says Karine Moses, President, Astral. “This new platform is a major step towards truly integrated, audience-centric advertising that generates measurable results for brands. Combined with the launch of our new logo and brand identity, it reinforces Astral’s leadership in out-of-home, and affirms Bell Media’s commitment to innovation.”

Bell Media is the parent company for Astral.

The solution is being released in three phases and will eventually make premium digital inventory accessible via programmatic guaranteed, preferred deals, or closed auction. (Editor: ad people will know what that means, but not I). Through the self-serve platform clients can monitor budget allocation across the network in real time, and update creative assets at their discretion.

Ad nerd alert – jargon ahead:

Since out-of-home media is intended for one-to-many exposure, the targeting parameters have to reflect this appropriately.  Astral relies on mobile device concentration to define an audience index so the ads are served at the optimal time and location, to reach the desired audience. This data is collected using precise polygon mapping, filtered rigorously, and connected to the platform through a real-time feed.

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