Understanding the impact of digital signage at Osaka Metro

Osaka Metro ADERA Co., Ltd. is the advertising arm of Osaka Metro, the city’s local rapid transit system. In order to attract interest in purchasing advertising space, it became important for them to measure the number of people who visually interact with advertisements. Osaka Metro ADERA used Tobii solutions to gain crucial insights into the visibility of different ads around their stations.

The question

Historically, advertisements in stations and trains have been exclusively paper-based, but over the last few years, digitalization has led to more and more signage screens being installed in these areas. No matter how you cut it, the digital revolution has swept through Osaka’s transit system.

Before employing Tobii solutions, Osaka Metro ADERA attracted advertisers from the west by presenting data on the number of passengers in stations and the number of people travelling on each line. This naturally has its limitations, and so Osaka Metro ADERA decided that an understanding of the number of people who really see the advertisements was important.

That’s why they brought in Tobii's eye tracking solutions, to verify the effectiveness of digital signage advertising in their stations and trains.

The method

For the study, Osaka Metro ADERA used Tobii's wearable eye trackers to measure 40 participant's line of sight while moving through their stations and trains. The attention of the participants was tracked and analyzed to detect any interaction with the digital signage as they travelled.

The results showed that the overall visibility rate of digital signage was quite high, averaging 87.9%. In one area, Osaka Metro ADERA were able to estimate the overall number of impressions on the digital signage installed in front of the station ticket gates at any time of day by multiplying the results of the eye tracking survey with data on the number of passengers at each station.

Not only has Tobii's eye tracking technology helped Osaka Metro ADERA study the visibility of their digital signage, they are now more equipped than ever to optimize specific content to be more attractive to passers-by.

The outcome

In the future, Osaka Metro ADERA plan to further increase the number of advertising screens as well as effectiveness studies, in order to better understand the impact of their digital signage.

A representative from Osaka Metro ADERA explained how they “plan to continue showing advertisers the value of digital screens as a tool for effective marketing”.