Route, the audience research body for out-of-home (OOH) advertising, has appointed Newsworks’ Denise Turner as CEO.

Denise will join in July from Newsworks, where she has been director of research and insight since 2015.

She is known for having a deep expertise in media research, having previously held roles as chief insight officer at Havas Media Group and head of research at Starcom, as well as being a fellow of the IPA. Turner was a judge at this year’s Mediatel Media Research Awards.

Turner said: “I have had an amazing seven years at Newsworks and am so proud of what we’ve achieved.

“I am really excited to be joining the team at Route – it’s a great next step in my career and will allow me to be part of an industry that is continuing to innovate, especially as we move on from pandemic behaviours and get out and about again.

“Route is a world-class approach to validating audiences in both traditional and dynamic digital OOH and I look forward to taking it forward into its next evolution.”

Robert Ray, the CEO of Route since 2020, is retiring.

The appointment decision was led by Katherine Almond, chair of Route, Justin Cochrane, chair of OOH marketing body Outsmart, and Alistair MacCallum, chair of the IPAO, the IPA’s group of OOH specialists.

Route produces audience estimates for OOH advertising by informing subscribers how many people see an advertising campaign, the audience demographics and frequency of viewing. The information is used as the currency for planning, trading and valuing advertising investment in the medium and since 2020 Route has offered a digital-led currency of spot-level audience measurement at 15-minute levels for ads played out on screens