Through new attribution studies, the companies prove how effective bus advertising is up and down the funnel.

For a very long time, it has been a given that transit advertising is an effective way to garner awareness for one’s brand and products. But a newly expanded partnership between OUTFRONT, one of the largest out-of-home (OOH) media companies in the U.S., and StreetMetrics, a leading Moving OOH (MOOH) measurement company, has enabled us to see just how effective bus advertising is in propelling consumer behavior, as well. Ultimately, buses go where people go, serving as essential connectors within cities and communities. Bus advertising is an effective way to reach consumers because it follows the natural patterns of their everyday lives.

“While measurement is table stakes, we are seeing and proving a paradigm shift in OOH’s role in the overall marketing mix,” said Christina Radigan, OUTFRONT’s SVP of Strategic Research and Insights. “StreetMetrics’ groundbreaking tools and data are enabling advertisers to understand the value proposition of bus advertising by offering a continuum of data to plan, reconcile (in the future) and ultimately connect that exposure with lower funnel behaviors through attribution.”

Via several new attribution studies commissioned in 2023 across a variety of categories, OUTFRONT and StreetMetrics found that bus advertising is effective not just at the top of the funnel where brand awareness and reach lie, but also further down the funnel where action occurs, such as store and website visits and app downloads.

For example, in spring 2023, a popular app took to the streets with a myriad of bus ad formats and StreetMetrics’ analysis showed that those exposed to the ads were 79% more likely to download the app.

On another level of consumer behavior, OUTFRONT and StreetMetrics have seen similar client success in driving website visitation and store visitation using bus advertising. For example, Sheertex ran a four-week campaign in New York with the goal of increasing visits to their website. Those exposed to the bus ads, overall, were 98% more likely to visit the website than those not exposed, additionally, those exposed to the bus ads were 117% more likely to reach the checkout page than those not exposed.

In another example, The Wendy’s Company ran a campaign in its Boston division, and OUTFRONT and StreetMetrics found that those exposed to the bus ads were 63% more likely to visit a Wendy’s in the area than those not exposed.

Radigan explained, “We are transforming how advertisers and marketers can look at bus advertising well beyond its power to showcase brands with proof points to support what we’ve known all along – that bus advertising works.”

In the future, OUTFRONT and StreetMetrics aim to collect data through the entire campaign lifecycle – from planning to attribution – and leverage those insights to inform and optimize future campaigns.

“With StreetMetrics’ trusted measurement and attribution solutions, OUTFRONT has been able to move the needle with its customers,” said StreetMetrics CEO Drew Jackson. “We’re offering a never-before-seen look into how bus ads are really performing.”