Would you pay per look?

Would you pay per look?

Feb 28

Digital Signage Expo (DSE) which took place in Las Vegas last week is always a hotbed for new ideas and innovations, and one which caught our attention came from Ayuda Media Systems, who showcased a concept demo which integrated the Intel Anonymous Impression Metrics (AIM) Suite into Splash, Ayuda’s ERP system for DOOH networks, which will allow advertisers to bill clients according to the number of people who have actually looked at their ads.

As you’ll probably be familiar, current DOOH advertising practices sees billing based on the number of impressions delivered.  With impression counts typically being based on audience measurement research that simply counts how many people are exposed to, or have the chance of being exposed to, an ad.  Ayuda’s new “Pay-per-Look” system counts how many “looks” each ad receives.

Ayuda achieves this using Intel’s AIM (Anonymous Impressions Metrics) System, which uses optical sensors to detect faces as they look at the display screen, combined with anonymous audience measurement technology which counts how many people are exposed to the ads,  without actually recording any images and impacting on consumer privacy.

Once again it reminds me of the days when on online advertising was finding its feet as a new medium and battling to gain its place on media plans.  We’ve already witnessed the debate between “Pay Per Impression” where advertisers paid for each time the ad was displayed to a user, versus “Pay Per Click”, which allowed advertisers to only pay for traffic received from their efforts, rather than simply paying for impressions.

“Pay Per Click” (as will be the case with “Pay Per View”) no doubt offers the more cost effective solution for advertisers,  but as ever it’s a little more complicated than that, with advertisers having to think about a few other things too. Campaign objectives need consideration, and advertisers looking to deliver a more passive branding campaign, which would work well with a high frequency of “impressions”, may be happy with that approach, as opposed to paying for “looks” which may work better with direct response campaigns which require some interaction or behaviour from the consumer and where ROI forms a core part of the objectives.

I know on our network we are always encouraging our clients to build a response mechanism into every campaign they run with us to gain valuable metrics and insights, to ultimately enhance understanding of their consumers’ behaviour.  With this drive towards “real” accountability, the idea of “Pay Per View” does indeed stack up nicely.

Privacy will also be a topic of discussion of course, as is always the case with anything that looks to track or record images.    Ayuda’s solution does not store any images and protects privacy well, but as other similar products start to filter out into the marketplace, it’s something we all need to think about and ensure we’re comfortable with.

So, whilst Ayuda is only showcasing a concept at this time, and making this a reality in the marketplace may be a while off yet,  we expect much conversation amongst the DOOH community, and network operators and advertisers alike, as they face up to the prospect of these new opportunities (and the challenges that come with them!) in future weeks and months.

So, do tell us what you think…