SOS adopts BlueZoo for indoor media and triples revenue generated per ad play

SOS Group (SOS) is a mission-driven company revolutionizing access to personal care and wellness essentials in public spaces. Through their network of smart vending machines, SOS provides free and premium hygiene, beauty, and wellness products in high-traffic locations like shopping centers, transit hubs, sports and entertainment venues, and office buildings.

Challenge

Backed by a commitment to inclusivity, sustainability, and innovation, SOS funds its services in part through digital advertising shown on its interactive screens—creating a unique media platform at the intersection of public health and consumer engagement. However, these screens are typically located indoors in rooms or hallways within large buildings, presenting a significant challenge to obtain accurate impressions counts for advertisers.

SOS’s journey to improved measurement began by considering the available options. As a commonly used foot-traffic measurement technology, cameras were briefly considered but quickly deemed an impractical fit for SOS’s mission and environment. Placing cameras in the public and private spaces in which SOS’s devices are located would raise significant privacy concerns among both business partners and consumers. Cameras also require suitable lighting and unobstructed views to function accurately, which isn’t guaranteed in the varying conditions found in locations such as train stations, sports arenas, or restaurants and bars.

SOS next evaluated SDK-based audience measurement technologies. These platforms typically rely on GPS signals captured via software development kits (SDKs) embedded in mobile apps. While this approach can provide reasonably accurate data in open outdoor environments, it fails in enclosed locations where GPS signals are blocked by structures or the relevant spaces are smaller than the geographic areas known to the traffic models. This often results in measurement data that reflects foot traffic for an entire building or floor, rather than the specific room or hallway where SOS screens are located, making it poorly suited for pinpointing exposure to individual media placements.

Furthermore, smartphones can’t report their location if GPS satellites are not visible. As a result, SDK-based measurement technologies may systematically undercount real-world foot traffic in exactly the kind of high-density areas that SOS targets. Or, conversely, they may result in dramatically overstated traffic counts by inferring presence based on outdated or imprecise location data, for example, assuming a user is still nearby because their phone hasn’t reported a new location. In dense urban environments, signals can also bounce or drift, making users appear to be in multiple locations simultaneously. This indoor space “blind spot” can significantly distort impression estimates, leaving SOS with misleading counts.

Moreover, SDK-based impressions reporting cannot be audited. Because the models populated by SDK data represent averages, only a full-year’s audit can be compared to the model’s results. To get accurate measurements, especially in locations where the foot traffic can vary significantly day-by-day and hour-by-hour, and be able to demonstrate that the measurements are accurate, SOS needed a better solution.

SOS thus turned to passive Wi-Fi sensors, which detect Wi-Fi probes from smartphones and other wireless devices as they search for nearby networks—allowing the system to count nearby smartphones without requiring any app or user interaction. The first Wi-Fi based solution SOS tested provided real-time measurement data, but could not distinguish between nearby devices—within the viewshed of the display—and devices outside the viewshed. SOS changed horses after learning about BlueZoo’s more sophisticated Wi-Fi traffic measurement solution.

Solution

BlueZoo’s solution stood out for its balance of precision and privacy protection. Unlike camera-based systems, BlueZoo’s passive Wi-Fi sensors anonymously detect mobile device signals to capture key metrics such as:

• Impressions – Counting how many people pass by SOS’s screens.
• Dwell time – Measuring how long individuals are present within the viewshed.

These capabilities made BlueZoo an ideal fit for SOS’s indoor installations—enabling robust analytics while respecting user privacy. By leveraging BlueZoo’s passive Wi-Fi measurement capabilities, SOS was also able to audit their data, comparing sensor readings to manual counts to assess accuracy.

BlueZoo’s analytics allow calculation of impression multipliers used by programmatic Digital Out-of-Home (pDOOH) ad exchanges like Vistar Media (which is used by SOS). With more accurate data, SOS is able to provide advertisers with a clearer picture of audience size and have confidence that it is receiving fair market value for the media it is delivering on behalf of advertisers.

Result

Higher impression counts: BlueZoo’s sensors and analytics reported higher impressions counts than the prior methodology used.

Increased ad revenue: BlueZoo’s data helped drive a three-fold (200%) increase in revenue generated per ad play, and a 30% lift in revenue yield on available ad inventory.

Stronger advertiser trust: SOS can now assure ad partners that the impression data being reported are both tracked in real-time and audited for accuracy.

With BlueZoo’s advanced audience measurement technology, SOS can now confidently provide advertisers with transparent, accurate, and auditable opportunity-to-see (OTS) data, ensuring that every ad dollar paid delivers the impressions promised.