API Reference

Use Case: Location Audience Analysis

Business Challenge

Understanding who visits your locations, when they visit, and how their behavior patterns compare to your target market is essential for strategic decision-making. Whether you're optimizing operations, planning marketing campaigns, or validating location performance, comprehensive audience analysis provides the insights needed for data-driven strategies.

Common Scenarios:

  • Retailers analyzing customer demographics and visitation patterns
  • Restaurants optimizing hours and staffing based on actual visitor behavior
  • Shopping centers understanding tenant mix appeal to different audience segments
  • Event venues analyzing attendee profiles for programming and sponsorship decisions
  • Advertisers optimizing Out Of Home ad placements

Required Inputs

  • Place IDs: Numeric identifiers for locations you want to analyze
  • Analysis Period: Current data period for audience behavior analysis
  • Comparison Benchmarks: Target demographics or competitor locations for performance comparison
  • Geographic Scope: Trade area definition for visitor origin analysis

API Workflow

Step 1: Comprehensive Location Profile

Get detailed visitor demographics, visitation patterns, and behavioral insights for your location.

API Call: POST /measures/placecast/report
→ API Documentation: Placecast Profiles

{
    "place_id": [5682, 5683, 5684]
}

Response Structure (key fields shown):

{
    "places": [
        {
            "name": "Aggregated Locations",
            "place_id": [5682, 5683, 5684],
            "activities": 2127778,
            "visits": 1693268,
            "visits_unique_persons": 1169734,
            "visits_avg_dwell": 184,
            "visits_frequency_per_person": 1.45,
            ...
        }
    ],
    "place_count": 3,
    "segments": [
        {
            "type": "consumer",
            "category": "commuting and transportation",
            "description": "Mode of transportation past 7 days (any purpose) Bus",
            "id": "03009",
            "percent": 0.113471700876648,
            "index": 288,
            "motionworks_segment_id": "e5ae87c4-ecac-483b-aa8d-f37f4dc5828a"
        }
        ...
    ],
    "county": [
        {
            "id": "36081",
            "description": "Queens, NY",
            "weekly_visits": 524113,
            "daily_visits": 74873
        }
        ...
    ],
    "dma": [...],
    "postal_code": [...],
    "state": [...],
    "days": [...],
    "dwell": [...],
    ...
}

Analysis Metrics:

  • Visitor Volume: visits, visits_unique_persons, activities
  • Engagement Quality: visits_avg_dwell, visits_frequency_per_person
  • Demographics: segments array with percent, index, and behavioral characteristics
  • Geographic Distribution: county, dma, state, postal_code arrays with visit volumes

Step 2: Demographic Deep Dive

Analyze visitor demographic composition to understand audience characteristics.

Focus Areas from Segments Array:

  • Index Scores: Values above 120 indicate over-representation vs general population
  • Visitor Percentage: Proportion of total visitors in each demographic segment (percent)
  • Behavioral Patterns: Shopping, dining, entertainment preferences by category
  • Lifestyle Indicators: Income levels, life stage, interests from description

High-Value Segment Analysis:
Focus on segments from the response with high index scores and significant visitor percentages for strategic insights.

Step 3: Temporal Behavior Analysis

Understand when your audience visits to optimize operations and marketing timing.

Daily Patterns Analysis:
The days array in the response provides detailed temporal patterns:

  • Each day object contains day-of-week identifier (day)
  • Percentage of total weekly visits (percent)
  • Absolute visit counts (visits)
  • 24-hour distribution array (hours) showing hourly visit patterns

Key Insights:

  • Peak Hours: Highest visitation periods for staffing optimization (highest values in hours array)
  • Day-of-Week Patterns: Weekly cycles for inventory and marketing planning (percent by day)
  • Historical Trends: Pattern consistency from history data if available
  • Dwell Time Analysis: Visitor engagement depth from dwell array

Step 4: Geographic Trade Area Mapping

Analyze visitor origin patterns to understand your true trade area.

Geographic Distribution Analysis:
Multiple geographic arrays in the response provide trade area insights:

  • county array: County-level visitor distribution
  • postal_code array: ZIP code level granularity
  • dma array: Media market visitor patterns
  • state array: State-level visitor origins

Each contains weekly_visits and daily_visits for volume analysis.

Trade Area Insights:

  • Primary Trade Area: Counties/ZIP codes with highest weekly_visits
  • Secondary Markets: Geographic areas with significant but lower visit volumes
  • Market Penetration: daily_visits density showing visitor concentration
  • Geographic Reach: Total market coverage from dma and state distributions

Step 5: Engagement and Performance Benchmarking

Evaluate your location's performance using built-in metrics and comparisons.

Performance Indicators:

  • Visitor Quality: visits_avg_dwell indicating engagement depth
  • Audience Loyalty: visits_frequency_per_person showing repeat behavior
  • Market Position: percentile ranking if available in response
  • Activity Level: activities to visits ratio showing engagement intensity

Benchmarking Context:
Performance metrics from the response include:

  • percentile: Location performance ranking
  • certified: Data quality indicator
  • local_radius_visits_local: Local visitor volume
  • local_radius_visits_non_local: Non-local visitor volume

Expected Outputs

Audience Intelligence Report

  • Visitor Demographics: Comprehensive breakdown of who visits your location
  • Behavioral Insights: Lifestyle, interests, and consumption patterns from segments
  • Geographic Analysis: Trade area mapping and visitor origin patterns
  • Temporal Patterns: Optimal timing for operations and marketing activities

Strategic Recommendations

  • Target Market Validation: How actual visitors compare to intended audience
  • Operational Optimization: Staffing, inventory, and hours recommendations based on days patterns
  • Marketing Insights: Messaging, timing, and channel recommendations based on demographics
  • Expansion Opportunities: Geographic markets with growth potential from visitor origins

Performance Metrics

  • Visitor Quality Scores: Demographic alignment with business objectives
  • Engagement Indicators: visits_avg_dwell and visits_frequency_per_person benchmarks
  • Market Share Analysis: Performance relative to category averages
  • Growth Indicators: Visitor volume trends and engagement quality metrics

Business Application

Operations Optimization

Use visitation patterns to optimize staffing schedules, inventory management, and facility utilization.

Implementation Examples:

  • Adjust operating hours based on days hourly patterns
  • Staff scheduling aligned with peak visitation periods from hours arrays
  • Inventory planning based on demographic preferences from segments
  • Facility layout optimization based on visits_avg_dwell and flow patterns

Marketing Strategy Development

Leverage audience insights for targeted marketing campaigns and channel selection.

Strategic Applications:

  • Audience Segmentation: Create personas based on segments with high index scores
  • Message Targeting: Develop communications that resonate with proven demographics
  • Channel Selection: Choose media channels that reach your actual audience profile
  • Timing Optimization: Schedule campaigns during peak engagement periods

Business Development

Use audience intelligence for partnership opportunities, strategic planning, and growth decisions.

Growth Applications:

  • Partnership Identification: Find complementary businesses serving similar segments
  • Market Expansion: Identify geographic areas with audience potential from visitor origins
  • Service Development: Create offerings aligned with audience preferences from demographics
  • Investment Decisions: Validate location performance for expansion planning

Out-of-Home Advertising Applications

Optimize billboard and digital display placements using location audience insights.

Strategic Applications:

  • Placement Optimization: Use visitor demographic profiles to select optimal billboard locations that match advertiser target audiences
  • Audience Verification: Provide advertisers with actual demographic data (segments with high index scores) for billboard locations
  • Scheduling Optimization: Leverage days and hourly patterns to recommend optimal ad scheduling and creative rotation
  • Performance Benchmarking: Compare billboard location performance using visits_avg_dwell and audience engagement metrics

Related Use Cases

Technical Resources