Nielsen Outdoor is introducing a new device called Nielsen Personal Outdoor Device (Npod) to measure actual exposure to outdoor displays.
"The Npod, a device resembling a cellphone, weighs 1.4 ounces and is equipped with a global positioning system. The Nielsen Outdoor unit of Nielsen Media Research had 850 consumers in the Chicago area carry one for nine days during the summer of 2004, tracking their movements past outdoor signs.
The participants' travels - on foot, in cars and on trains - were plotted on maps showing the locations of outdoor signs, thus indicating who passed by certain billboards, posters on bus shelters and other signs. The data could track exposure to the outdoor ads but could not determine if a person actually looked at or read them.
At a presentation to reporters yesterday in Midtown Manhattan, Nielsen Media Research, part of VNU, shared results from the Chicago market based on data gathered by the Npod. The research found, for instance, that the average resident in the Chicago area, age 18 or older, is exposed to 40 outdoor signs a day, a figure that rises to 66 for adults who live in the city.
The presentation was a prelude to the company's announcement of plans to introduce an Npod-centered audience measurement system in major markets for outdoor advertising. The plan is to be introduced in initial markets in April 2006; the eventual goal is a system that would operate around the world."
-- NY Times via AdPulp
Earlier:
Glasses Track Eye Movement, Ad Exposure
