A national OOH network was selling digital screens on modelled traffic counts. Advertisers wanted a defensible audience number. The network wanted to give them one without tracking a single person.
The problem
OOH measurement has been stuck for a decade. The alternatives — modelled traffic counts, mobile location data, panel surveys — each have their own credibility problem. Mobile location data, in particular, is legally uncomfortable in Australia post-2022.
Our deployment
We mounted a small camera above each digital screen, running a Canopy CU-1 in the equipment cabinet. The edge ran an audience agent: it counted people who looked at the screen for more than two seconds, estimated their age/gender bracket, and aggregated the numbers by hour. No individual was identified. No data left Australia.
The result
The network could sell a digital screen with a defensible audience number: 18–34, male, dwell 4.2s, 9am–5pm, aggregated. Advertisers could brief against it. The network did not have to defend a mobile-location methodology.
Implementation details
Each digital screen ran a small camera mounted above the display, feeding a Canopy CU-1 in the equipment cabinet. The audience model counted people who looked at the screen for more than two seconds, estimated a broad age/gender bracket, and discarded the frame. The event was aggregated: 18–34 male, 4.2 seconds dwell, 10am–11am, screen ID. No individual was identified. No data left Australia.
The network's sales team used the aggregated numbers to produce a defensible audience report for each screen. Advertisers could brief against a real number: how many looked, for how long, in which bracket. The report replaced the modelled traffic counts that had been the industry standard for a decade.
Screen portfolio
The operations team used the per-screen numbers to identify screens with low dwell and low audience, and renegotiated rent with landlords on that basis.
Ongoing support
The deployment now covers over 200 screens across the east coast. We add new screens to the network on a rolling basis. The audience report is produced automatically every week. Advertisers get the weekly audience number; the network gets a measured basis for selling screens.