New audience research cuts DOOH audience in half. Huh???

October 20, 2010 by Dave Haynes

New data from the research firm GfK MRI says 29.6% of U.S. adults have seen a place-based video ad in the last 30 days, which translates to 67.4 million adults seeing video ads in places like stores, shopping malls, restaurants, medical offices, bars, airports or health clubs.

Cool. But there’s a problem.

Earlier this year, Arbitron released its own research that suggested 70 per cent of U.S. residents 12 years or older had seen a digital video display in the past month.

Oopsey. We went from 70 per cent at the head of the year to 30 per cent now a few months later (this research was done in Spring 2010). Really???

That’s a pretty big delta in terms of numbers. The methodology on the new research is not explained, but the Arbitron stuff involved some 1,750 interviews.

Stating the obvious, DOOH networks are probably going to reference the much bigger number. But here is the balance of what this report has as highlights.

Age seems to be a factor in noticing this type of advertising, since both young men and young women, in general, are more likely than the population as a whole to report they viewed place-based video ads. However, young men aged 18-34 are considerably more likely than similar-aged women to have viewed a place-based video ad: young men are 28% more likely than the population as a whole to have viewed a place-based video ad in the last 30 days, while young women are 13% more likely than the general population to have noticed these kinds of ads.

“These consumers are particularly difficult to reach via traditional media options given their extremely active lifestyles. Marketers are embracing the digital place-based opportunities to intercept these active, young consumers where they work and play all day long,” said Susan Danaher, President of the Digital Place-based Advertising Association (DPAA).

Video advertising in stores and shopping malls garnered the largest audience, at nearly 19% and 15% of the U.S. adult population, respectively. This was followed by nearly 11% of U.S. adults who saw a video ad in the last 30 days in a restaurant or medical office, nearly 9% who saw a video ad in a bar/pub or at an airport, and 7% who saw a video ad while at the gym or health club.