OptimEyes Is New And Revolutionary Exactly How?

July 9, 2013 by Dave Haynes

The UK-based digital OOH network Amscreen is getting all kinds of trade media attention today for the launch of something called OptimEyes, which unless I am missing something is just Quividi face pattern detection packaged up with ad serving data as something revolutionary.

Amscreen says the platform “will further cement its position as the most accountable form of advertising in the digital screen media arena.”

The special sauce here, says the company, is combining the video analytics generated by Quividi with Amscreen’s “existing campaign evaluation data to provide the most in depth, transparent measurement platform in the Outdoor industry.”

The OptimEyes RTI (Real Time Insight) platform includes live reach statistics broken down by gender, age, date, time and location. This means advertisers and agencies will be able to review their campaign performance throughout the display period and optimise this to guarantee maximum exposure to the relevant audience.

Optimise > OptimEyes … Oh My God, I get it!!! That’s … so … anyway …

“It is time for a step-change in advertising – brands deserve to know not just an estimation of how many eyeballs are viewing their adverts, but who they are too,” says Amscreen CEO Simon Sugar. “Through the creation of our new platform, OptimEyes, advertisers will have instant access to all of this information, meaning we can deliver the type of insight that only online has previously been able to achieve.”

If you watch the video, it’s claimed this whole thing is “set to revolutionize” the advertising industry.

Sure it is. Like it has for several years now via Cognovision (Intel AIM), TruMedia, VideoMining and all kinds of other companies that have struggled to make this stuff really catch on.

To be clear, I like the technology, and definitely think it offers some really interesting insights (like how long people actually look at media spots). I like the approach and anything that gives media planners and brands more clarity on what’s going in store is great. I also have deep respect for Amscreen in that it is arguably the only company on the planet to truly make a successful go of advertising in convenience stores.

However, coupling this with data from the ad-serving platform is NOT new, and definitely not revolutionary. Need evidence?: BroadSign and Cognovision, April 2009