Outdoor Media Association's (OMA) uses MOVE (Measurement of Outdoor Visibility and Exposure), to measure actual audience results.
The initial results are expected to be available to outdoor media operators for internal review within a month.
MOVE will be unique in Australian media planning as it is introducing a new measurement currency whereby audiences are tracked according to their "Likelihood-To-See" (LTS) an outdoor advertising campaign, rather than counting all potential viewers who pass by.
It will be the first industry-wide, cross-format planning tool that will be directly available to media agencies and cover all the main formats. It will be the only system endorsed by the OMA and the first in the world to cover all the main outdoor audience environments including roadside, airports, shopping centres and railway stations.
OMA Chief Executive Helen Willoughby said the industry was actively preparing for delivery of the MOVE system and would soon embark on a major education campaign around LTS measurement.
Last September MOVE appointed the world's leading expert in outdoor media visibility, Mr Simon Cooper, which has led to a three-month extension of the project.
"Mr Cooper was the architect of the successful UK outdoor media planning system, POSTAR, which introduced the concept of adjusting total potential audiences to probably audiences based on the attributes of the outdoor formats being viewed," Ms Willoughby.
"We are very fortunate to have him involved given his enormous depth of experience in this highly specialised field, including in the development of a number of other international systems."
The visibility models as designed for Australia take into account further studies conducted for Ireland, Sweden and Finland, in particular the non-urban aspects of poster visibility and larger formats. These models as adapted for Australia are also in use in Sweden, Norway, Finland, Ireland, the UK, Slovenia and China. The designers have also consulted on the USA and South African models and are currently adapting the models for the Netherlands, Turkey and Austria.
Ms Willoughby said the MOVE system was still being built by the Australian consortium, VIEW Measurement, the main contractor being the Brisbane-based transport planners, Veitch Lister Consulting (VLC).
She said the combination of Mr Cooper and VLC brought together the highest level of expertise in the two areas most needed to develop an audience measurement system for outdoor media.
"VLC was chosen for its vast knowledge of Australian travel behaviour - necessary for measuring total audiences, while Mr Cooper concentrates on the visibility adjustment factors necessary to develop the LTS results," Ms Willoughby said.
Outdoor Media Association
www.oma.org.au
Prior to releasing MOVE to market ,media companies will require time to prepare their media packages and train staff after receiving the results for the five major markets of Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth.
Ms Willoughby said the MOVE Board has determined there would be no cost to media agencies in 2009 while the roll-out and training was being undertaken.
