The World Out of Home Organization has released a new set of guidelines for how to best measure audiences, with an eye towards the impacts digital OOH has had on the practice.

Released at the WOO Global Congress in Toronto this week, the guidelines were developed in collaboration with measurement bodies from 13 different countries and regions – including COMMB in Canada – as well as OOH companies JCDecaux, Clear Channel, Talon and Posterscope.

The last attempt to provide a more standardized set of guidelines came from research organization ESOMAR in 2009. The new WOO guidelines attempt to build on those, while also updating for developments in the sector over the last decade, namely digital and programmatic OOH.

The 96-page book includes revised requirements for OOH audience measurement, a review of practical approaches taken in different markets and standardized definitions of terms used in the industry.

It contains sections on the use of personally identifiable data, best approaches to data inputs and things like visibility, methods to process and deliver data into a readable form, how to approach measurement in the fractional DOOH space, cross-media measurement and data input quality.

This is also considered “version one” of the guidelines, which will be updated with new developments and techniques in the industry.