Basic Outdoor Advertising Terms
What the DEC!? Lets define some basic outdoor advertising terms
DEC
I know what you’re thinking, what does the Digital Equipment Corporation that killed Alta Vista have to do with outdoor advertising? The answer is … nothing. We’re talking about a different DEC altogether; something called Daily Effective Circulation, a common measurement in outdoor advertising. It is the total amount of people that see a specific outdoor ad display. More specifically, as defined by the Outdoor Advertising Association of America (www.oaaa.org), “The average number of persons, in cars or other vehicles, passing and potentially exposed to an advertising display for either 12 hours (un-illuminated - 6:00am to 6:00pm), 18 hours (illuminated - 6:00am to 12:00 midnight) or 24 hours.“
Average DEC in Times Square, NY: 1.5MM
Average DEC in Boulder, Colorado: 10K
Other forms of measurement, largely provided by the Traffic Audit Bureau (TAB www.tabonline.com) include Reach, Frequency, and Showing. We expand upon these subjects below. However, TAB has recently launched “Eyes On,” defined by OAAA as “EYES ON is unique in media measurement in that it provides counts of demographic audiences actually noticing the advertising on Out of Home displays. The average number of persons who are likely to notice an ad on an OOH displays for either 12 hours (un-illuminated – 6:00 am to 6:00 pm) or 18 hours (illuminated – 6:00 am to 12 midnight.”
The industry is really excited about this new measurement – it gets closer to the impression based measurements that support online display advertising buying.
Reach:
“For Out of Home media, estimates of the number of people, within a market, who notice at least one ad in an advertising campaign – reach and the average number of times an individual will see it.”
Frequency:
“The average number of times an individual notices an out of home advertising message during a defined period of time. Frequency in outdoor advertising is typically measured over a four week period, but can be reported for any campaign length. For other media, it is the average number of times an individual has a opportunity to see an advertising message during a defined period of time.”
Showing or GRP:
The traditional way of selling Out of Home media. A level of delivery that directly relates to the population of the market. Typical showing levels are: #100, #75, #50 and #25 GRP/Showings. The number of panels involved in an actual showing varies by market population and the average DEC of the market’s inventory.
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So when you’re shopping around for your outdoor ads to throw your big ole logo up on, pay attention to these four terms, they are what you really need to pay attention to. Fact is, just cause you drive past that one billboard every day, doesn’t mean your target market does, so use the data that outdoor advertising vendors provide to help you make the best decision for your campaign.