READING THE SIGNS
OOH advertising took a big hit as population movement fell by 90 per cent, says BackLite’s But there are already slight signs of recovery. And suppliers are working with their long-term clients to provide more attractive, more data-led options as their audience returns
The media industry has become data-hungry, and in some cases data- dependent. Programmatic advertising would not be possible without audience data; the digital world revolves around data. The OOH sector, however, lags far behind and is still predominantly traded on sites and panels. The UK market has a leading audience analysis measurement in Route, and is slowly moving more towards an audiencebased buy and sell, but there is still a very linear buying process here in the UAE.
As consumers have been driven indoors, advertisers will undoubtedly have moved budgets towards a targeted digital strategy. Once this crisis is over, brands will demand more from their OOH media; they will want to know who they are targeting, where, and with what message. The OOH sector will need to embrace its audience, analyse the audience and offer more targeted solutions to brands. The long-term effect on the OOH sector will be a movement towards more data and audiencecentric planning.
With the launch of BackLite Intelligence, BackLite Media is leading the way in audience analysis and targeting in the OOH sector. BackLite Intelligence tracks daily audience figures around digital screens and static inventory. This is done through the use of highly accurate mobile location data and carefully selected geofences, helping brands understand their audience more.
We have used this data to track the effect of Covid-19; we can see that the population movement of Dubai fell by 90 per cent as the government imposed the lockdown and local communities began to observe social distancing. As advertisers and agencies look to understand the impact of these numbers, we can already see the green shoots of recovery. Traffic volume has tripled after the lockdown restrictions were lifted on April 24, with counts now at 50 per cent of the baseline set back in February. This is still a long way off the pre- Covid counts, but they are definitely trending in the right direction. A variety of sources indicate audiences will gradually recover across the coming months as social restrictions are eased, most likely in stages to avoid a second spike of infections.
In conclusion, we will expect to see a steady recovery back to normal, both in traffic flow and in consumer and brand confidence. Media owners will have to be able to offer more flexible, relevant and dynamic solutions to adapt to the new market demands.