Captivate is improving the targeting and measurement of its digital out-of-home screens in office and residential buildings by partnering with programmatic media company MiQ to build a new audience planning tool.

The new offering uses and combines mobile location data, consumer data and mobile browsing behaviour in a self-serve planning tool. This, the companies say, will provide on-demand access to consumer profile attributes across an entire network. The tool aims to offer a better understanding of audiences and where they are located, which, in turn, will help marketers make more informed decisions around ad placements. The offering also has mobile enhancement and attribution measurement capabilities, and works for inventory purchased programmatically and traditionally.

The tool will be available for all of Captivate’s office inventory, as well as inventory in partner residential buildings, covering 3,400 of its screens.

Barb Huggett, general manager at Captivate Canada, says the scale of targeting the tool provides will help the company to identify valuable but hard-to-reach audiences, providing deeper measurement. Jason Furlano, SVP of commercial at MiQ, says by combining geolocation data with online activity, the tool should be able to provide a more accurate picture of OOH audiences and reduce waste. He adds that the methodology does not rely on third-party cookies, which is part of MiQ efforts to “future proof” all of its work against the looming depreciation of the cookies.

Though Furlano notes that the tool has benefits for anyone buying against digital OOH, programmatic buying is where there is major opportunity. In 2019, Captivate partnered with Hivestack (the third exchange to have access to its place-based network), helping the company to pursue programmatic more directly in the years following.

Canada lags behind other markets when it comes to programmatic OOH buying, with COMMB estimating it accounts for between 3% to 5% of the outdoor market. But in its outlook for the Canadian market in 2021, eMarketer predicted it will begin to claim a larger piece. Even though the future of OOH as a whole remains wildly uncertain, digital screens have more flexibility to adapt on the fly, with programmatic buying adding flexibility in placement and budget expenditure, which is especially valuable when foot traffic can change suddenly due to pandemic safety measures.

The placement of Captivate’s network – entirely within office buildings, residential buildings, elevators and ride-sharing vehicles – also aligns well with where audiences will likely spend most of their time until the pandemic has passed.

“Today’s definition of OOH, ironically, doesn’t always mean outdoors,” Furlano says. “High traffic areas still exist, and this partnership helps to better segment these areas for relevant and meaningful messaging.”