IAB In-Store Retail Media Standards: Advertima’s best-in-class approach

Keeping pace with the rapidly evolving technology driving the evolution of in-store retail media and finding standardisation requires extensive cross-team and industry collaboration. 

IAB US and IAB Europe have collaborated with numerous retail media networks and retailers to release the final 'In-store Retail Media Definitions and Measurement Standards', which establishes an essential framework for evaluating and measuring in-store retail media products and services, ensuring uniformity and quality across the board.

The standards build on the IAB/MRC Retail Media Measurement Guidelines, reducing market complexity and simplifying media buying across continents.

These standards set the benchmark and vision for in-store retail media technology companies such as Advertima, challenging us to understand our place and value within that framework clearly.
 

Meeting the standard

Online has already set clear audience measurement standards and metrics for digital advertising. The IAB wants to ensure that similar standards are set and maintained for in-store digital retail media.

The new standards confirm two minimum values that every retailer needs to report on: ad plays and gross impressions.

Establishing a baseline is essential. New metrics and definitions provide a solid starting point for developing more sophisticated metrics and ensure a shared understanding of the future. While upholding these standards is crucial, we must also acknowledge when advanced technologies like Advertima Audience AI surpass the agreed-upon fundamentals of plays and impressions.

A delicate balance must be struck between upholding industry norms and acknowledging our technology’s leading capabilities.
 

Adding value

Advertima Audience AI has been developed for in-store retail media networks. It operates in the field with advanced AI, computer vision and sensor technology that drives real-time audience-based reach and data delivery similar to online. Navigating the Future of In-store Retail Media explains how in-store retail media is poised to reach the same level of sophistication and effectiveness that has long been online’s hallmark.

The IAB’s in-store retail media metrics are mapped to the following categories:

• Media metrics
• Ad serving metrics
• Impression metrics
• Traffic & exposure metrics

Our measurement framework closely aligns with the IAB’s Media Metrics definitions and terminology, adding more value through our technology’s precise capabilities. This allows us to accurately measure these metrics, providing real-time targeting and audience insights that further enrich the IAB’s framework.

We provide detailed audience metrics, capturing real-time visual (e.g., age, gender, group compositions) and contextual (location-based) attributes and affinity attributes based on retailer data from loyalty, POS, and eCommerce sources. This supports real-time audience segmentation and activation, enriching the IAB’s Impression, Traffic and Exposure Metrics with actionable insights.

For example, our technology enables campaigns to target specific in-store groups, like less affluent millennial females in the snacks category, and measure real-time engagement.
 

Setting higher expectations

The in-store retail media standards define Likelihood-To-See (LTS) impressions as evidence that an ad has been seen. Here’s how our in-store retail media technology is at the forefront of meeting and exceeding that requirement.

Advertima Audience AI captures shopper groups in front of a screen and tracks the exact timing of an ad play, from start to finish. This enables us to precisely determine when a person is exposed to an ad play, establishing a clear and measurable impression.

Viewability is determined by factors such as screen size, distance from the screen and store layout specifics. However, it does not guarantee that a person actually saw an ad. Assessing and differentiating whether a person had an opportunity to view an ad or actually viewed it – and for how long – requires highly sophisticated technology with real-time measurement capabilities.

We leverage positional data, including proximity, distance and orientation, to evaluate two key aspects: first, whether a person had an opportunity to view an ad, and second, whether they actually viewed it.

As part of this process, our technology captures when a person or impression actively engages with the screen. It then accurately measures the view time for each ad played, allowing us to determine whether the impression qualifies as a qualified view or Likelihood-To-See (LTS).
 

Finding common ground

The IAB expects the methods for measuring digital place-based media to be disclosed, supported and based on the IAB/MRC Retail Media Measurement Guidelines.

Although variations exist between the IAB’s and Advertima’s in-store media metrics and definitions, we currently meet and exceed all the IAB criteria and expectations, including calculation rigor and transparency.

The goal now is to find common ground that broadens understanding and facilitates progress without adding excessive complexity or nuance. Below is an outline of how we map to the most relevant IAB in-store retail media metrics.

IAB and Advertima in-store retail media metrics & definitions

IAB Media Metrics: Impression Metrics

IAB Media Metrics: Traffic & Exposure Metrics

Actionable insights

Our technology precisely measures shopper engagement within retail environments by defining multiple zones around key promotional areas, such as entrances/out-of-category zones, end caps, in-aisle displays and checkout areas. These zones allow for accurate tracking of audience traffic (the number of shoppers passing through the zone) and dwell time (the time shoppers spend in proximity to the promoted product), providing actionable insights into shopper behaviour, engagement and in-store promotion effectiveness. Below is an outline of how we map to the most relevant IAB traffic and exposure zone metrics. 
 

Redefining in-store retail media

In this digital age, it’s essential that in-store media technology and standards continue to progress and evolve to keep pace with other retail media channels. In-store media activations are not new, but with the IAB’s guidance, we have an exciting opportunity to advance our industry through positive collaborations and healthy competition. It’s a watershed moment to redefine the perception of in-store retail media and what it can deliver to retailers, advertisers, partners and, of course, shoppers.

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