How Real-Time Audience Measurement Changed the DOOH Narrative in Poland
Just a few years ago, the conversation about DOOH in Poland was surprisingly simple.
Because in practice, there was nothing to talk about.
There were few screens, and no audience data at all. There weren't even coherent models attempting to describe actual contact with advertising. What functioned as "data" mainly concerned the location of the medium and estimated traffic in its vicinity, often based on research from several years prior.
DOOH was just emerging. It was starting to become visible, making its way into media plans, but essentially remained unmeasurable. There was no way to know how many people actually had contact with a specific ad broadcast, so it was difficult to talk about effectiveness. It was more a conversation about potential than results.
Over time, the market began to grow. Locations increased, screen networks expanded, and the quality of media improved. But the foundation that defines every digital medium today—reliable, continuous audience measurement—was still missing. Without it, DOOH remained somewhere alongside other channels. Difficult to compare, difficult to optimize, and at times difficult to justify.
ARA Technology: A Breakthrough in Audience Measurement
The breakthrough came only when we introduced ARA sensor-based audience measurement in the MORE network. For the first time, we started looking not at estimated traffic around the screen, but at the real audience of a specific broadcast. Data stopped being modeled or collected after the fact. It began to be generated exactly where contact with advertising occurs and was available in real time in a beautiful, clear dashboard.
This changed a great deal, but perhaps the language we use to talk about DOOH changed fastest.
Instead of asking how many people pass by, we started seeing how many people are actually within range of the screen, how much time they spend there, and what the structure of that audience looks like. Suddenly we stopped talking about location and started talking about contact.
Every Single Broadcast's Audience Counts
This is particularly evident with the short, 10-second spots we broadcast in the MORE network. In this model, the audience changes practically all the time. Averages start to lose meaning, because what really matters happens at a specific moment. The ability to assign an audience to a single broadcast changes the way we think about planning. You can see differences between hours, days, and times of day. You can see when a screen is really working.
As a result, the logic of campaign planning changes. Location still matters, but it stops being the only criterion. "When" becomes increasingly important, not just "where." Campaigns can be planned for specific hours, communication can be tailored to the rhythm of the day, and most importantly, they can be optimized while running. DOOH stops being a static medium. It starts behaving like a dynamic medium.
How Does Audience Data Change the Business?
What's most interesting, however, is that this change isn't just technological. It's primarily a business change. The moment real audience data appears, DOOH stops being exclusively a reach-building channel. It starts entering the performance space. You can link broadcasts with sales data, observe a campaign's impact on foot traffic to points of sale, test different communication variants, and draw conclusions from it.
At the same time, the level of trust changes. Data that is measured continuously and repeatably becomes something you can rely on. It can be compared, analyzed, and verified. This naturally leads to the next step—integration with the digital ecosystem and thinking about DOOH in programmatic terms.
And this brings us to where we are today.
Does the Market Understand the Change That Has Already Happened?
The discussion about DOOH in Poland has clearly shifted. It's no longer about whether audience measurement is possible. That's been settled. The question is rather whether the market is ready to actually use this data—in planning, buying, and billing campaigns.
Because with the emergence of data, competitive advantage also shifts. It moves toward those who can not only collect it, but above all understand and leverage it.
There's only one condition for this change to truly take hold.
Measurement must be comparable, transparent, and widely adopted. It can't be one operator's initiative. It must be a common industry standard. That's exactly what we're working on today through OOHLife.org.
And that's probably the next chapter of this story.