Clear Channel Outdoor and AI‑driven creative analytics firm Super Optimal announced a new measurement framework that ties creative quality directly to out‑of‑home (OOH) advertising performance, a development that could reshape how brands allocate media spend across the rapidly expanding OOH landscape.
What the partnership delivers
The joint study, based on 27 RADARProof investigations conducted with Kantar, applied Super Optimal’s proprietary creative‑scoring engine to a cross‑section of OOH campaigns. Results show that in roughly 70 % of cases, higher creative scores correlated with stronger brand metrics—ad awareness, favorability and purchase intent—while lower‑scoring ads tended to under‑perform. Clear Channel’s senior vice president Mike McGraw framed the findings as “a meaningful, direct relationship between creative quality and campaign outcomes.”
How the technology works
Super Optimal’s platform ingests visual assets, copy and contextual data from billboards, transit shelters and digital screens, then uses computer‑vision models and natural‑language analysis to generate a numeric score reflecting creative relevance, visual hierarchy, and message clarity. The scores are fed into Clear Channel’s RADARProof attribution system, which already integrates audience footfall, dwell time and demographic overlays. By marrying the two data streams, advertisers receive a unified view that isolates the creative contribution from placement and frequency effects.
Why the announcement matters
Out‑of‑home has long been praised for its reach—Statista reports U.S. OOH spend hit $12.5 billion in 2025—but it has lagged behind digital in terms of granular performance analytics. The new scoring framework offers the first large‑scale, data‑backed proof that creative execution is not merely aesthetic but a measurable driver of brand lift. For enterprise marketers, this means the ability to test and iterate creative assets in the field, rather than relying on agency intuition or post‑flight surveys.
Industry implications and competitive context
Clear Channel’s move aligns with broader industry shifts toward programmatic OOH measurement. Competitors such as Nielsen’s Ad Scope and Kantar’s Media Effectiveness Suite have introduced creative‑impact modules, yet they focus primarily on TV and digital. Super Optimal’s OOH‑specific engine fills a niche by accounting for the physical constraints of large‑format displays—viewing distance, ambient lighting and motion. Additionally, programmatic OOH platforms like Vistar Media and Broadsign are already offering real‑time inventory buying; integrating creative scores could enable automated bid adjustments based on predicted lift, similar to the way DSPs optimize for viewability.
Enterprise impact
For large brands with multimillion‑dollar OOH budgets, the combined solution promises three tangible benefits:
- Budget efficiency – By prioritizing high‑scoring creatives, marketers can allocate spend to assets that demonstrably move the needle, potentially reducing wasted impressions.
- Speed to insight – The AI‑driven scoring delivers near‑real‑time feedback, allowing creative teams to iterate within a campaign cycle rather than waiting for post‑flight analysis.
- Cross‑channel alignment – The data can be exported into CDPs or DMPs, enabling marketers to harmonize OOH performance with digital touchpoints in a unified attribution model.
Gartner predicts global OOH ad spend will surpass $45 billion by 2027, driven largely by programmatic buying and digital screen adoption. As the channel matures, tools that quantify creative impact will become as essential as audience measurement, positioning Clear Channel and Super Optimal as early movers in a nascent but competitive market.
Market Landscape
Out‑of‑home advertising is experiencing a renaissance fueled by digital signage, addressable technology and the rise of retail media networks that treat storefronts as extensions of e‑commerce ecosystems. According to Forrester, addressable OOH growth is outpacing traditional billboards by 15 % annually, underscoring the need for granular performance metrics. Meanwhile, privacy regulations such as GDPR and CCPA limit the use of third‑party cookies, pushing advertisers toward first‑party data and contextual relevance—areas where creative scoring excels.
The competitive arena now includes AI‑centric platforms like Celtra, which offers dynamic creative optimization for digital out‑of‑home, and Shakr, which automates video ad generation. However, few provide a closed‑loop measurement that directly links creative attributes to brand lift. Clear Channel’s extensive inventory—over 500,000 screens across the U.S. and Europe—combined with Super Optimal’s scoring engine, creates a data moat that could set a new industry benchmark.
Top Insights
- Creative quality drives lift: 70 % of surveyed OOH campaigns showed a positive correlation between Super Optimal’s creative scores and brand‑metric improvements.
- AI bridges the measurement gap: The scoring engine quantifies visual hierarchy, message clarity and contextual relevance, delivering actionable insights in near real time.
- Programmatic OOH stands to benefit: Integrating creative scores into bidding algorithms could automate budget shifts toward higher‑performing assets, mirroring DSP optimization practices.
- Enterprise adoption accelerates: Large brands can now test creative variations on live billboards, reducing reliance on costly focus groups and post‑flight surveys.
- Competitive edge: Few rivals combine a proprietary AI scoring model with a nationwide OOH inventory, giving Clear Channel a distinct advantage in the emerging data‑driven OOH market.
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