Global announced recently that their digital ad sales platform, DAX, will be available for digital out of home (OOH) advertising, extending beyond just audio.

The announcement comes over a year since Global – the UK’s largest commercial radio business – went on an OOH buying spree to acquire Exterion Media, Primesight and Outdoor Plus, becoming one of the largest outdoor media owners in the UK. In addition to the brands originally brought in, Global has confirmed that further third-party media owners including Admedia, Elonex and All City Media Solutions have signed up as digital outdoor inventory partners on DAX.

Originally developed to support Global’s radio business, DAX will now allow brands to buy digital OOH campaigns through demand-side platforms (DSPs) incorporating their audio campaign with outdoor buying to give an ability for a more targeted new customer reach. Ollie Deane, director of commercial digital at Global, has said that the newly rebranded platform of DAX will introduce “new and unique targeting and measurement” tools, as the system continues to grow and develop.

All Response Media viewpoint
The launch of the new DAX system is certainly exciting news in the media world, offering brand new opportunities in audience targeting, employing new strategies and methodologies. As digital media and its impact continues to grow, this is a great chance for the traditional media forms to evolve alongside.

The combination of both audio and OOH media means that brands have new, creative and innovative ways of reaching people in places that other media channels cannot, while making their media consumption experience more meaningful and personal.

Even though the measurement of both audio and OOH impact has often been a factor for brands that feel hesitant about testing, there are certainly several previously validated ways to measure and optimise the effectiveness of both media channels:

• Regional testing: Ring-fence to town, city or TV region level which would enable us to measure traffic or sales uplift vs. a control region.
• Code usage: Certain sectors will benefit from using a unique, compelling offer code to help the tracking of media performance.
• Econometrics: We use multiple models to help decipher the effects of multiple advertising activities.

It’s important that in any new media channel tests that we think about the five key pillars which include, channel role, test hierarchy or priority, trading mechanic, measurement and forecast outcome.

For more information on the outdoor services we offer click here.