MRC Issues Draft Version of Out-of-Home Standards: Phase 2 Audience
30-Day Public Comment Period Now Open
New York, NY – The Media Rating Council (MRC) today issued a draft document outlining requirements, guidance and best practices for measurement of Out-of-Home (OOH) Audience.
This document represents the second phase of Standards for the measurement of OOH intended to foster a common core of metrics that can be applied across the full expanse of out-of-home media, as well as provide for comparability to other measured media.
Phase 2 is focused on the detail as to what is necessary to qualify a reported statistic as audience. The first phase release (published final April 2024; Phase 1) addressed Standards applicable to several of the underlying components necessary to establish a qualified OOH measurement metric, and purposely omitted audience requirements.
Phase 2 serves as a supplement to Phase 1, which can be found here:
Among the most important issues and requirements this public comment draft addresses are:
- The evidence of Likelihood to See (LTS) required for Audience qualification such as considerations in the following areas:
- Size of the asset (minimum apparent size)
- Environmental and visual obstruction
- Presence of audio
- Precise location of the asset
- Dynamic nature of the asset
- Visual clutter
- Visual attractiveness
- Illumination and seasonality
- Exposure time
- Speed, direction and mode of travel
- Audience characteristics
- Requirements for use of LTS thresholds
- Deterministic data use requirements including:
- Representative nature of data
- Robust and sufficient coverage
- Recency and staleness policies
- Granularity
- Empirical support requirements
- Quality control over data sources
- Model selection and support
- Disclosures
After the 30-day public comment period, during which comments on the draft will be accepted and considered, MRC will issue a final draft. Once finalized, Phase 2 will be combined with Phase 1 in one unified document, but MRC is only calling for comments on the Phase 2 draft at this time.
The draft is available here:
https://mediaratingcouncil.org/sites/default/files/Standards/MRC%20OOH%20Standards%20-
%20Phase%202%20-%20Audience%20Public%20Comment%20Draft%20.pdf
Comments on the draft, which will be accepted through Wednesday, August 27, 2025, can be submitted via email to MRC at rpinelli@mediaratingcouncil.org.
About MRC
The Media Rating Council is a non-profit industry association established in 1963 comprised of leading television, radio, print and digital media companies, as well as advertisers, advertising agencies and trade associations, whose goal is to ensure measurement services that are valid, reliable and effective. Measurement services desiring MRC accreditation are required to disclose to their customers all methodological aspects of their service; comply with the MRC Minimum Standards for Media Rating Research as well as other applicable industry measurement guidelines; and submit to MRC-designed audits to authenticate and illuminate their procedures. In addition, the MRC membership actively pursues research issues they consider priorities in an effort to improve the quality of research in the marketplace. Currently approximately 110 research products are audited by the MRC. Additional information about MRC can be found at www.mediaratingcouncil.org.
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