Val Morgan Outdoor has unveiled its latest out-of-home audience measurement system – DART 2.0.
DART (Digital outdoor Audience in Real Time), anonymously tracks over 2 million Australians and measures those viewing content across VMO’s 8,000 digital screens. In real time, it reports on age, gender, when the audience viewed and how many people viewed across an advertiser’s campaign period.
Anthony Deeble ,VMO’s Managing Director, said, “We’re incredibly proud of how we’ve advanced DART. The evolution has meant that the outdoor industry has been able to completely move away from dated and subjective OOH measures. The more prized metric – viewer engagement – provides agencies and marketers with more meaningful data than ever before.”
The software, using global best practice in facial recognition, has been trained through machine learning computers to map facial features that then predict age and gender, and offers insights on engagement across 18 demographic profiles. It can identify facial features such as glasses, beards and moustaches and can even report on viewers moods.
Initially launched by VMO in 2014, DART was the very first system to use audience measurement via an Audience Measurement Device (AMD) for real-time reporting purposes.
There are currently 8,500 screens across VMO’s trans-Tasman network – a figure set to rise to over 10,000 in 2017. This growth will see VMO uniquely reach over 50% of the Australian population.
“Our ultimate objective is to give brands more meaningful insights and greater accountability on audience. VMO is proud to lead when it comes to innovation in audience engagement and technology that delivers results for clients” says Deeble.
DART is available across VMO’s Shop, On-the-Go and Work networks, and is currently being rolled out across its Active network.