Out-of-home produced a median 20% lift for in-person outcomes across hundreds of US campaigns, about double CTV and broadcast TV.1 Numbers like that only hold up when the method behind them is stated, and most buyers never ask how DOOH advertising was measured. Adapt Media counts exposure by store polygon and retargets exposed devices across 22M+ Canadian phones. Here are the 4 methods to ask for, and what to agree before launch.

Book a measurement planning call with the Adapt Media sales team.

Measure DOOH Exposure by Store Polygon, Not Market Estimates

Measurement starts with who could have seen the ad. Market-level estimates blend stores that ran the creative with stores that did not, then spread the result across a city. That inflates reach and weakens every downstream read. It also hides the stores that did the work, so the next flight cannot be weighted toward them.

Adapt Media draws a polygon around each participating store, accurate to about 3 feet, and counts exposure against the stores that actually ran the creative. Exposure becomes a store list with dates and times, not a modelled guess. Every later method depends on that list, because the exposed group is only as clean as the exposure count.

The audience is there to count. 4.5 million Canadians saw advertising in a convenience store in the past week.2 The question for a buyer is whether a partner can tell you which of those people walked into your stores during your flight.

Ask for: the store list, the polygon method, and exposure counted by store and by day.

Mobile Retargeting DOOH: Reach Devices Seen In Store During the Flight

Devices seen in a participating store during the flight can be reached again on mobile. That turns a single in-store exposure into a sequence: the screen at the counter, then the same brand on the phone later that day or week.

Adapt Media retargets devices seen in its convenience stores across 22M+ Canadian phones. Retargeting also builds the exposed group the next 2 methods need, so the media and the measurement share 1 audience definition. We used the same logic for OOH to online activation in iGaming, where the screen drives search and sign-ups on the phone.

Ask for: how devices are matched to stores, the retargeting window, and online outcomes reported for exposed devices against a control.

Store Visit Lift Measurement Against a Matched Control Group

Store visit lift compares exposed devices with a matched control group that did not see the campaign. The control has to look like the exposed group before the flight, or the lift is noise.

Sound designs build a synthetic control: a weighted mix of comparable stores or devices that tracks the exposed group before the flight, so any gap after launch can be read as the campaign’s effect.3 The test is simple. Before the flight, the lift should be close to zero. If a partner cannot show you a flat pre-period, the lift number is not ready to report. Ask how big each group is, too. A lift figure built on a few hundred devices can swing on a handful of visits.

Out-of-home holds up when it is measured this way. The 20% median lift for in-person outcomes came from device-level data across hundreds of campaigns in 7 verticals, against about 10% for CTV and broadcast TV.1 We covered that study in more depth in OOH is officially a performance channel.

Ask for: how the control is matched, the pre-period length, sample sizes, and a confidence level with every lift figure.

Sales Lift Study for Out of Home: Matched Stores or Prior Year

Sales lift is the read CPG brands care about most, and the read most often reported without a definition. There are 2 sound baselines. Campaign stores against matched non-campaign stores over the same weeks. Or campaign stores against the same period last year. State the definition with every result.

Matched stores are the stronger design because they share the same weeks, weather and pricing. Year-over-year is simpler to run but can absorb changes in distribution, price or promotion that have nothing to do with the screens. Either can work if the brand knows which one it is reading.

Measure the featured product, not the whole basket. A 2026 study of 237 in-store digital signage campaigns found an 8.1% lift in the likelihood of buying featured products, with no change in how much shoppers spent overall.4 A basket-level read would miss that effect.

On the Circle K network, Excel Gum reported a 30% sales lift year over year in a gum category that had declined for 4 years, over 8 weeks on 265 point-of-sale screens in 5 markets, with 53.8M impressions. For your own campaign, agree the baseline before launch so the result can be compared with the next flight. The full context is in our convenience store advertising effectiveness post.

Ask for: the baseline, the store match, the sales data source, and the SKUs counted.

Match the DOOH Attribution Method to the Campaign Goal

Not every campaign needs all 4 reads. Asking for the wrong one wastes budget on measurement and still leaves the real question open. Start with the outcome the brand will be judged on, then pick the read that answers it.

A product launch or a new flavour needs reach and repetition first. Exposure by store and mobile retargeting show whether the right people saw it often enough. A footfall goal, such as driving trips for a new item or a seasonal promotion, calls for store visit lift against a matched control. A CPG brand with a sales target needs a sales lift read on the featured SKUs, with the baseline agreed in advance.

Larger programs can stack the reads. Exposure feeds retargeting, retargeting builds the exposed group, and visit and sales lift test whether that group behaved differently. The point is that the method follows the goal, not the other way around. A partner that offers 1 standard report for every campaign is telling you more about its tools than about your results.

Ask for: the read that matches your KPI, and a plain statement of what each read cannot tell you.

What to Agree Before Launch: Method, Control and Reporting Cadence

Most measurement disputes start after the flight, when the brand and the media partner discover they meant different things. Settle 5 points before the first spot runs.

  1. Method: which of the 4 reads the campaign will report, and the KPI for each.
  2. Control: how control stores or devices are matched, and how long the pre-period runs.
  3. Data source: whose sales or visit data is used, and who owns it.
  4. Reporting cadence: a mid-flight read for pacing and optimization, and a final read after a set wash-out period.
  5. Success threshold: what lift, at what confidence, counts as a result worth scaling.

Put this in writing as a 1-page measurement plan signed off by the brand, the agency and Adapt Media. If 2027 budgets are being set now, lock the plan into the brief rather than adding it after the buy.

Adapt Media convenience screens run across 4,500+ locations in 10 provinces and 3 territories, on Rabba, INS Market, Hasty Market, Circle K and independent convenience stores. Book a measurement planning call with the Adapt Media sales team and we will build the plan with you before the first spot runs.

References

  1. OAAA and Kochava via Billboard Insider: https://oaaa.org/resources/kochava-oaaa-ooh-a-valuable-performance-medium/ https://billboardinsider.com/ooh-delivers-2x-the-performance-lift-of-tv-new-study-shows/.
  2. Vividata: Spring 2026.
  3. Abadie, A., Diamond, A. and Hainmueller, J. “Synthetic Control Methods for Comparative Case Studies: Estimating the Effect of California’s Tobacco Control Program.” Journal of the American Statistical Association, vol. 105, no. 490, 2010. https://www.hks.harvard.edu/publications/synthetic-control-methods-comparative-case-studies-estimating-effect-californias-0.
  4. Herhausen, D., de Jong, D. and Grewal, D. “In-Store Advertising with Digital Signage.” Journal of Marketing, vol. 90, no. 3, 2026, pp. 91-103. https://doi.org/10.1177/00222429251351578.