Seasonality plays an important role in how we measure audiences in OOH. People travel differently throughout the year, and as daylight hours change, so does the likelihood of people see ads. To make sure our audience estimates reflect these changes, Route applies seasonality factors.
First introduced in Q1 2020, seasonality factors adjust audience figures based on external data sources such as our Route Travel Survey, transport data, and footfall counts. These adjustments help advertisers get a more accurate representation of the likelihood of people seeing campaigns in a given month.
An example of a way seasonality is applied is daylight hours. A campaign in December, for instance, would account for shorter daylight hours and a reduced number of likelihoods of seeing posters. Essentially what drives seasonality are traffic counts and Travel Survey journeys by time of year, which are then fed into our measurement model.
Without seasonality adjustments, audience estimates could misrepresent likelihood of an ad being seen. For instance, airports and motorway service areas are busier during summer holidays, and shopping centres get busier as Christmas approaches, while urban areas and environments like roadside are more stable and less likely to fluctuate in our seasonality factors. It is our job to account for these patterns and ensure the industry make informed decisions about their OOH investments.
We are continuously refining our methodology. Under our new contract, we will produce a dataset that is even more granular data, providing audience figures for all 365 days of the year. This marks a huge step forward in delivering the most precise audience measurement yet.
Checkout the dashboard below to explore how seasonality affects audience figures in our Q1 2025 R54 release.
