Bus Exterior Measurement Update
An announcement from Geopath President, Kym Frank

Over the last few years, Geopath’s core mandate has been to improve and expand its methodologies across all formats of OOH advertising. The objective in undertaking enhancement initiatives is to ensure that our channel has access to a more trusted, accountable, and comprehensive measurement system. Due to advancements in internal processes and available data sources, the new metrics Geopath issues are more accurate and precise than those available via the legacy TAB methodologies.

As Geopath and its committees developed an improved methodology for scheduled fleet inventory, we discovered inaccuracies in the legacy TAB bus exterior measurement. The previous methodology included a misapplication of bus schedules. Utilizing Geopath’s new methodology and a corrected standardized application of bus schedule data, we will be issuing updated bus exterior metrics over the coming months once they are reviewed by each individual network operator. There will be changes in the underlying impressions each unit delivers; these are a result of the adjustments to the methodology and do not reflect changes to the actual inventory. Additional formats (such as in-station media and taxi tops) will also be released as those networks are reviewed.

Geopath’s new, rigorous methodological development and auditing process is designed to detect anomalies in data input and continually assess the accuracy of our systems, as it did in this instance. This process enables us to identify potential issues, investigate them and rectify if necessary.

As previously announced, Geopath discontinued updating, supporting, and maintaining the TAB legacy systems in 2019. TAB legacy systems (ADS and OOHPlan) and data will remain accessible through the end of Q1 2021, however, impacted bus exterior metrics will be removed shortly. Regardless of format, the data in these legacy systems are outdated, incomplete, and should not be utilized for future transactions.

Geopath will be releasing the 2021 forecast in the coming weeks for all of our measured formats. Data for both 2020 and 2021 will be available both in the Geopath Insights Suite as well as our API. We encourage all of our members to transition to the new metrics if they have not already done so. Geopath and its members are dedicated to providing universal, accurate, independent, and responsible audience measurement to the advertising industry. We appreciate your continued support of our work to power a smarter out-of-home marketplace.

Sincerely,

Kym Frank Geopath President