The development of the DOOH market requires proactive steps, primarily in reporting (Proof of Play). The specialized committee of IAB Ukraine conducted a series of tests to confirm campaign fact using a third-party counter integrated into the Advision software, which could fundamentally change the approach to reporting in the industry, bringing it closer to digital practices. The guide contains key recommendations and solutions for implementing a third-party verifier in DOOH. Templates for operation and a thematic glossary have also been developed.

Roman Ivaniuk – Chief Technical Officer at Advision.digital DOOH CMS

“Proof of Play by Advision, a leading company that develops software for managing advertising on digital mediums, enabling advertisers to receive transparent statistics of their advertising campaign’s exposure in real-time mode.

An interface and functionality have been developed that allows representatives of advertisers to independently add the verifier counter code (tested with Gemius) to their digital advertising campaigns. This interface enables advertisers to select campaigns to which they want to add the counter and add the counter code simply by copying and pasting. This significantly simplifies the process of adding the counter and reduces the time required for it.

Additionally, as part of the project, a module was developed to automatically call the verifier counter during the playback of an advertising campaign in the Advision software player (Proof of Play). This module enables easy and automatic invocation of the verifier counter when playing an advertising campaign on an external digital medium. This ensures the reliability and accuracy of the exposure statistics for the advertising campaign.”

Vadim Husachenko – Head of the Information-Analytical Department at Octagon Outdoor company

“The technical part involves multi-level testing of the functioning of various types of counter codes (pixels) in current advertising campaigns across different DOOH operators.

It became clear as early as September 2022 that the test system for analyzing the exposure of advertising content on digital outdoor mediums operates with an acceptable margin of error for such measurements. However, the task was to prevent outdoor advertising operators from interfering with the counter codes (pixels). Much work was done on interface programming, and extensive testing was launched on active advertising campaigns. Thanks to coordinated efforts, server-side functionality for advertising agencies and advertisers was implemented. Thus, in April 2023, the ability for advertisers to integrate counter codes into their digital posters bypassing outdoor advertising operators became operational.

This opens up broad opportunities for advertisers to receive transparent exposure statistics directly from the screens in real-time mode. Moreover, if an advertising campaign uses multiple communication channels, advertisers have the capability to obtain statistics in one place (for instance, the Gemius workspace) across all channels.”

Oleksii Dotsenko – Strategic Development Director at Posterscope Ukraine | dentsu Ukraine

“Description of the experiment conducted by Posterscope Ukraine and Amplifi Ukraine. Objective: to find and test the functional parameters of a counter that would enable an independent measurer to control/verify the number of impressions on outdoor digital panels.

Input parameters: the test was conducted on 32 outdoor digital panels located in Kyiv, on actual commercial placement of Brand X, in the second half of August 2022. Two outdoor advertising operators with the Advision DOOH management system were involved in the test:
• Octagon Outdoor – 23 medium-sized digital panels (3.14×2.3)
• Luvers – 9 large-format digital panels (6×3)
• Gemius counter with the Impression script code in IMG format with XML creative type was used.

Testing advertising campaigns with a third-party verifier: Posterscope Ukraine and Amplifi Ukraine (part of the communications group dentsu Ukraine)

Preparatory work:
1. Dentsu generated necessary gDE counters and passed them to Advision.
2. Advision assembled an integration package (template) consisting of commercial creative (advertising video) and a counter, which was then passed to the operators.
3. Octagon Outdoor and Luvers integrated the packages into the player for each digital panel in the campaign.
4. Counter functionality was monitored in the personal online Gemius dashboard and compared with data obtained from the operators’ players.

Results:
1. The specified type of counter functioned.
2. The difference (error) between the counter readings and the data from the players was up to 5%, with a dispersion of readings in both negative and positive ranges.

Examples of differences between the counter readings and data from the players for specific digital panels:

Conclusion: The specified type of counter demonstrated sufficient functionality and accuracy for further use as an independent verifier of impression counts. Further experiments are needed for other digital panel management systems.”

Evgeniya Klimkevich  – OOH Buying Group Head at RAZOM group

“The test comparing the data from subcontractors (Octagon and Luvers) and Gemius was conducted from September 10 to 15 on 10 advertising platforms. The results showed that the difference between the data obtained from subcontractors and Gemius is less than 1%, indicating the potential use of Gemius counters as confirmation of the conducted advertising campaigns.

During the DOOH test using gDE (gemiusDirectEffect) monitoring scripts, we managed to test 2 types of codes for IMG and JS impressions out of the 3 available options (IMG, JS, Tag) in gDE. However, the use of JS-type scripts did not yield the desired results, so we transitioned to testing IMG-type codes. Upon concluding our test, we conclude that when using gemiusDirectEffect monitoring for collecting statistics on DOOH placements with Luvers and Octagon partners, it is advisable to use scripts specifically of the IMG type.”

Anastasiia Baydachenko – CEO of IAB Ukraine

“For most industry inquiries, we increasingly hear the response “not relevant” now, but the worst thing our industry can do is to freeze in uncertainty and stop moving. Therefore, the unfortunate decline in advertiser activity in DOOH due to the war, we will try to use for regulation and updating the approach to reporting and campaign verification, taking the best experience from digital but considering the specifics and needs of outdoor advertising. By the way, our industrial testing of a third-party verifier fully corresponds to the European industry development vector, as similar processes are already taking place in Poland.”

We express our gratitude to our partners MGID and Gemius UA for supporting the Proof of Play project.

Document link: IAB DOOH Giude Proof-of-Play