Korea Moves to Set New Standards for Measuring OOH Advertising Effectiveness

Korea’s out-of-home advertising industry is taking a significant step toward data-driven accountability with the launch of a standardized effect measurement framework and an integrated data platform prototype. The initiative, led by the Korea OOH Advertising Center, responds to a long-standing challenge in the OOH sector: the absence of common, credible metrics comparable to those used in online and mobile advertising.

At the core of the project is the goal of establishing objective and scientific measurement standards that can be shared across advertisers, agencies, and media operators. While digital media has long benefited from unified metrics and real-time performance data, OOH advertising has often relied on fragmented estimates. This initiative aims to close that gap and strengthen confidence in OOH as a measurable and accountable medium.

To achieve this, an industry alliance of 35 organizations, including public institutions, advertising companies, and data specialists, agreed on a unified media classification system. Media are categorized by location, mobility, and viewing distance. Large-format building and rooftop billboards fall under Outdoor Fixed Long, while bus shelters and media poles are defined as Outdoor Fixed Close. Indoor media such as subway stations and shopping malls are classified separately, as are in-vehicle screens inside buses, subways, and taxis. This classification provides a structural foundation for consistent measurement.

More importantly, the alliance introduced a three-level metric framework aligned with global guidelines such as those from the Media Rating Council and international OOH standards. Level 1 measures traffic or volume, capturing the total floating population around a site using telecom base station data and GPS signals. Level 2 focuses on exposed audiences, identifying people within the actual viewable area of a screen based on geometry and WiFi sensing. Level 3 goes a step further by estimating attentive audiences—those who actually look at the screen for at least one second—using attention rates derived from Vision AI analysis.

The measurement logic integrates multiple data sources into a single calculation model. Broad traffic data establishes potential reach, exposure data narrows this to realistic viewing opportunities, and AI-based attention rates convert exposure into meaningful attention. This layered approach reflects how audiences interact with OOH media in real-world environments and moves beyond simple reach estimates.

To test the model, pilot projects were conducted in major urban areas including Seoul’s Gangnam-daero and parts of Busan. These testbeds covered a range of media types, from digital billboards to transit environments. The resulting data feeds into a GIS-based platform prototype that visualizes media locations, specifications, and viewable areas, while also presenting traffic, exposure, and attention metrics in an integrated dashboard.

Looking ahead, the roadmap outlines clear ambitions. In 2025, the alliance plans to expand testbeds to airports and major transit hubs and transition the system to a cloud-based platform. International collaboration is also a priority, with planned benchmarking and certification discussions involving organizations such as World Out of Home Organization, Geopath, and Route. From 2026 onward, the goal is to launch the platform as a commercial service, publish official national guidelines, and support programmatic OOH trading based on trusted data.

Ultimately, the project seeks to build a full “data value chain” for OOH advertising, from collection and refinement to integration and practical use. If successful, it could position Korea as a reference market for OOH measurement and contribute to broader global standardization efforts.