Sky Blue Media backs OAAM plan to standardize Malaysian OOH metrics
The endorsement highlights how common audience data could shape agency confidence, programmatic DOOH buying and advertiser budgets.
By Hana Yoshida · Markets Reporter
3 min read
Sky Blue Media has publicly backed the Outdoor Advertising Association of Malaysia’s unified measurement framework, a push aimed at giving Malaysia’s out-of-home sector a shared way to count audiences. The support matters because media buyers often compare OOH and digital out-of-home spending against channels with clearer reach, frequency and attribution data.
Dato' Manikandamurthy Velayoudam, chairman of Sky Blue Group, said OAAM’s Unified Measurement Initiative could help address a long-running problem for media owners, agencies and advertisers: different vendors report audience and impression figures using different methods. He said those methods can include pedestrian counts, vehicle traffic data, panel surveys and third-party mobility data.
The framework was developed with global technology provider AllUnite and announced by OAAM under an initiative focused on standardizing Malaysia’s DOOH market. OAAM’s effort also involves Perion, and the association is led by president Mary Koh Mei Yoke.
Why common metrics matter
Out-of-home advertising has long been part of brand media plans, but it often faces a harder sell when marketers ask how billboard or screen audiences compare with digital, television or social media. A shared measurement system would give agencies a more consistent basis for planning campaigns across multiple owners, formats and locations.
In his endorsement, Velayoudam argued that fragmented measurement can reduce the weight agencies and clients give OOH in their media strategies. If buyers cannot compare one owner’s screen network with another’s on a like-for-like basis, budgets may shift to channels that are easier to model and defend.
A common currency could also affect how DOOH inventory is bought through automated systems. Programmatic DOOH relies on standard audience data so buyers can evaluate screens across supply platforms, combine them with other channels and assess campaign delivery after the fact.
Sky Blue Media’s support for a Malaysia DOOH measurement framework places a media owner behind a change that may also bring more scrutiny. Standardized data can make strong locations easier to prove, while weaker audience claims become harder to sustain.
Lessons from other markets
OAAM has drawn lessons from Australia’s MOVE system, with input cited from OMA Australia, QMS, Scentre Group and Val Morgan Outdoor. Velayoudam also pointed to the United Kingdom’s Route system and the United States’ Geopath platform as examples of marketwide OOH measurement structures.
Those systems are used to support planning and trading by giving buyers a common method for assessing exposure. For Malaysia, the business question is whether a similar framework can raise confidence among agencies and advertisers enough to help DOOH compete for a larger share of media budgets.
SkyBlue Group operates across seven markets: Malaysia, the United Arab Emirates, the United States, South Korea, India, Turkey and Nigeria. Its businesses include Sky Blue Media, which runs out-of-home and digital out-of-home advertising assets in Malaysia and the UAE, and Sky Blue Cinematix, which works in film brand integration and content distribution.
Velayoudam said measurement maturity affects how clients and agencies treat OOH in different markets. He argued that transparent standards can speed commercial discussions and make budgets easier to justify because buyers can judge audience delivery with greater confidence.
For Malaysian media owners, participation in OAAM’s framework could determine how easily their inventory is included in cross-channel planning tools and programmatic buying systems. For agencies and advertisers, the practical test will be whether the new standard produces data consistent enough to compare OOH with the rest of the media plan.