• by Joe Mandese  @mp_joemandese, December 4, 2015

The U.S. out-of-home ad industry’s Traffic Audit Bureau this morning unveiled plans for a “major” overhaul of the industry’s audience measurement system. The first phase of the plan, which was unanimously approved by the TAB’s board, will begin a “testing phase” aimed at developing “significant improvements” in the way the TAB measures audiences.

The project, which is code-named “Operation “M.O.R.E.,” stands for measurement optimization and ratings enhancement, and comes at a time when the advertising and media industries seem to be zero-basing much of their thinking about audience ratings in an effort to get more accountability, transparency and proof-of-performance.

The current TAB ratings system, which functions more or less as the ad industry’s out-of-home ratings “currency,” was originally released in 2010, and upgraded to include digital ratings in 2015.

The TAB said the new system will seek to enhance that by enabling advertisers to measure “seasonal variation” and dayparting, as well as expanding coverage to additional out-of-home ad formats not previously measured.

The new system is also expected to provide “advanced audience profiles” and enable “pre- and post-campaign analysis.”

The TAB said a special committee has been organized to oversee the project and that it will review a “short list” of research and data providers that will participate in the test.

In a statement, TAB President Kym Frank said the the goal of the project is to incorporate “information collected from sources like connected cars and smartphones” to improve how consumer exposure to out-of-home advertising can be observed throughout a consumer’s day.