Oscars will not lose audience

You mischievously stated that individual poster sites will lose audience under the new Oscar II research which went into its final test phase last week, “Oscar II trial proves tough on audiences” (MW December 1).

Oscar II will provide a rigorous measurement of outdoor audiences which rather than simply measuring passages past a poster site, evaluates those likely to see the panel. This will be achieved using a visibility experiment to adjust the Opportunity to See (OTS) into a new currency – Likelihood to See (LTS). An adjustment of the figures between OTS and LTS may occur and will vary according to the quality of the sites in a campaign. This represents a new measurement, not a loss of audience.

You also claimed that the research excludes pedestrians. Pedestrian audience traffic estimates are collected by NOP, allowing and correlated with pedestrian passages included in a travel survey of 7,400 people. This accounts for 20 per cent of the researched audience.

Oscar II will measure audiences allowing the planning, targeting and evaluation of outdoor campaigns. As such it will offer advertisers a new currency to judge the effectiveness of the medium.

Richard Holliday

Director

Outdoor Advertising Association,

London W1

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