Where can you get eye tracking data for outdoor advertising?
Sneh Dhruv · Updated
You can get eye tracking data for outdoor advertising through specialized testing platforms or directly from publishers like Trillboards, where you can read measured attention, dwell and exposure, published with sample sizes and data windows, including 203,190 ad plays with a gaze-on-screen reading.
The numbers
| Measure | Figure | Sample | Data window |
|---|---|---|---|
| Seconds a passenger faced the board, per camera-judged legible pass | 1.40 | 846,637 judged passes | Jun 28 – Sep 25, 2026 |
| Share of camera-judged legible passes with at least one second facing the board | 28.1% | 846,637 judged passes | Jun 28 – Sep 25, 2026 |
| Logged ad plays measured by camera | 811,776 | 811,776 plays | Jun 24 – Oct 10, 2026 |
| Screens whose camera measured the audience | 5,456 | 5,456 screens | Jul 13 – Oct 10, 2026 |
Moving beyond modeled impressions
When you buy outdoor advertising, you traditionally rely on traffic counts and mobile panels to estimate your audience. Industry standard-setters like Geopath in the United States and Route in the United Kingdom build eye-tracking models directly into their official ratings. They apply a Visibility Adjustment Index based on asset size, angle and transit speed to predict actual views. This approach moves measurement past mere Opportunity-to-See metrics to calculate a modeled Likelihood-to-See impression. You take these standardized currency models into your client meetings to justify your baseline reach and frequency. A buyer for a consumer banking campaign uses these baseline figures to allocate budget across regions, knowing the industry accepts them as the standard for basic exposure. You look at these models to understand the physical constraints of a location. A board on a fast-moving highway has a different visibility index than a pedestrian-level screen at a bus shelter. You factor these variables into your planning phase to ensure your baseline expectations align with the physical realities of the site.
Testing creative layouts with simulated environments
To measure the attention score of a specific ad layout before buying inventory via programmatic platforms, you evaluate dedicated testing vendors. Lumen Research turns consumer webcams into eye-tracking sensors to test ads in simulated three-dimensional environments. Tobii Insight offers wearable eye-tracking glasses to track real-world pedestrian and shopper attention in naturalistic environments. RealEye provides self-service webcam eye-tracking software to test simulated mockups. You license these platforms under different pricing models. RealEye runs monthly subscription models ranging from $390 per month for a basic tier to $990 per month for a standard tier. Hardware and software from analytics provider iMotions cost between $1,000 and $10,000 for screen-based trackers, while premium research-grade glasses exceed $70,000. You commission bespoke, project-based studies with Lumen or Tobii using variable, quote-based pricing. A buyer for a software company runs these tests to compare three different call-to-action designs, picking the one that holds attention longest before launching the campaign. You use these simulated environments to test contrast, font size and image placement. You identify which elements draw the eye first and adjust your creative to ensure your brand logo and core message fall within the primary visual path.
Measuring live campaigns at the screen level
You evaluate live campaign performance by reviewing actual audience records captured at the physical board. The digital displays assess the individuals and smartphones in their immediate vicinity. You access logs where the camera logs every detected pedestrian, providing you with an estimated age bracket, gender, primary emotion, total dwell duration and exact seconds spent gazing at the display. You rely on the system generating a unique mathematical vector for each face, which allows the network to identify returning visitors across different days and locations. You receive data that connects these recognized individuals to the specific mobile advertising identifiers and device keys broadcasting from their pockets. Evaluating 5,712,174 per-face records in 28 days gives you a clear picture of how your target audience reacts to your messaging in the real world. A buyer for a hospital network uses this granular data to confirm that their urgent care messaging reaches the right demographic during morning commutes. You cross-reference these visual logs with radio sensing data. The displays capture the local network, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth signals emitted by passing smartphones, alongside their geographic coordinates. You read 35,097,192 Bluetooth device IDs read a day to understand the total volume of devices passing the board, giving you a complete view of the physical audience.
Integrating attention metrics into media buys
You align your measurement strategy with the Media Rating Council and IAB Attention Measurement Guidelines, which make eye-tracking data fundamental to calculating true impressions. A Lumen study published in OOH Today revealed that premium digital out-of-home holds attention 5.5 times longer than social media and 1.6 times longer than online video. You use these benchmarks to justify shifting budget from digital channels into physical screens. You analyze the performance of 225,203 creatives in the library to see which formats consistently capture the most views. A buyer for a quick-service restaurant chain looks at these metrics to optimize their dynamic creative, ensuring their breakfast offers grab the attention of hungry commuters at the exact moment they pass the board. You combine simulated pre-testing with live camera measurement to build a complete picture of your campaign's impact. You load your approved creatives into your demand-side platform and target the screens that index highest for actual attention. You monitor the live data feeds during the campaign flight, shifting your spend toward the locations and times of day that deliver the longest gaze durations for your specific audience segments.
Sources
Related on Trillboards
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- Every measurement and data answer
- Published CPM floors for every audience
- Every audience we sell
- Screens and audiences by city
Plan this on Trillboards
Attention, dwell and exposure are measured and published with their sample sizes and data windows. Developers build on the OpenAPI reference, and advertisers sign up here. Plan it on live inventory to see the screens, weekly views and effective CPM for the audience you pick.
Frequently asked questions
- Do media owners share the raw video feeds from their digital billboards?
- Media owners do not distribute live video streams from their physical boards. The hardware routes specific still images to a cloud-based artificial intelligence that evaluates consumer demographics and lifestyle attributes. The system transcribes spoken words locally and retains the text logs, but it never saves or broadcasts audio or video files.
- How do publishers identify returning visitors in front of a digital display?
- You track returning consumers because the hardware generates a unique numerical vector based on facial features. This mathematical profile enables the network to spot the same pedestrian on different dates and at various physical sites, connecting their physical presence directly to the advertising identifiers broadcasting from their personal smartphones.
- What information goes into the bid requests sent to programmatic platforms?
- Your demand-side platforms receive auction signals containing the exact geographic coordinates, the hardware IP address and real-time pedestrian metrics. The network activates location and radio tracking automatically, ensuring that every auction ping sent to your buying tools contains the precise physical context you need to bid effectively.
- How do data partners utilize the audience information collected at the screen?
- You can leverage this physical exposure intelligence because the network commercially distributes its location and pedestrian metrics to specific external partners, namely Intuizi and 375ai. These specialized firms integrate the raw physical logs into broader analytics dashboards, allowing you to map outdoor ad exposure against regional retail visitation trends.
- Who takes the majority of the revenue in programmatic out-of-home transactions?
- The venue takes the majority of the revenue in programmatic transactions. The financial structure favors the publisher, meaning the physical venue retains sixty percent of the ad spend while the platform retains forty percent, providing a strong incentive for property owners to maintain their digital screen inventory.
Plan it
Open the planner in the planner to see the screens, the weekly views and the price before you book, or browse the audience catalogue.