OOH

• billboards,
• city light posters,
• advertising columns,
• ambient advertising, and
• transport advertising.

OOH advertising makes up around six percent of the total advertising market. The proportion of digital outdoor advertising (digital out of home, or DOOH for short) in the outdoor advertising market is experiencing strong growth, already accounting for more than 15 percent and being hailed by many as the next big thing in outdoor advertising.

Digital out of home – up close and personal

In contrast to traditional outdoor advertising, digital OOH isn’t just about posters in the street, it also targets places that people spend their time in and pass through, including:

• rest stops and service stations,
• public transport stops and vehicles,
• railroad stations and trains,
• supermarkets, specialty stores, and shopping malls,
• airports and planes,
• doctor’s offices,
• cafés, restaurants, bars, movie theaters, and fitness centers.

The success of digital OOH is mainly due to the fact that it combines the strengths of conventional outdoor advertising, particularly in terms of publicity and reach, with the strengths of digital technologies, e.g. moving images, programmatic placement based on the day, location, target group, time, and weather, as well as the variable placement frequency.

Like radio, but to a much greater extent, OOH advertising is therefore a prime example of a traditional media form that is growing in significance and reach as a result of the digital transformation. People – and that applies to target groups across all ages – are more mobile today than ever before, but nonetheless are still offline more than they are online, meaning that their attention is primarily focused on their surroundings. A decisive advantage of DOOH is that people, no matter

• their age,
• gender,
• social class,
• profession,
• or the public situation they’re in,

can be equally targeted and reached while they’re physically on the customer journey to their destination.

Programmatic DOOH

For outdoor advertising to be displayed in a targeted way and for the outdoor advertising market to leverage the possibilities presented by digital advertising, digital outdoor advertising can be programmatically controlled (known as programmatic DOOH or programmatic OOH). Digital advertising strategies are becoming more and more relevant in the advertising mix; the relevance of programmatically controlled digital outdoor advertising on the OOH market is even increasing at an above-average rate. The international study “State of the Nation – The Future of Digital Out of Home 2020” conducted by the market research institute MTM on behalf of VIOOH, the supply-side platform (SSP) of WallDecaux, found that more than a third of German survey participants were planning to double their spending on programmatically controlled digital outdoor advertising.

Programmatic digital out of home is also increasingly on the radar of programmatic in-housing units, which regard the advertising channel as an integral part of the customer journey. Real-time bidding processes are becoming more and more established in the field of DOOH, thus making outdoor advertising even more appealing to agencies, advertisers, and marketers alike. Outdoor advertising is becoming more controllable and more data-based, and the success of OOH advertising campaigns is more steerable and calculable as a result.

Programmatic OOH optimally combines performance and branding across all target groups. Advertisers can control individual KPIs, such as:

• target group,
• POI,
• geotargeting

5 reasons why digital OOH is one to watch

1. Big names are jumping on the trend: While traditional outdoor advertising was more the stomping ground of the retail sector, regional companies, the automotive industry, the entertainment sector, hospitality, and tourism, digital OOH is attracting a whole different caliber: Google, Amazon, Facebook, Netflix, Apple, and many other big players have discovered DOOH for themselves and are investing large sums in corresponding campaigns.
2. The one-to-many medium of digital OOH doesn’t come with the downsides of online advertising, such as problems relating to banner blindness, the use of ad blockers, ad fraud, bot traffic, the discontinuation of tracking options using third-party cookies, or increasing target group fragmentation. The advertisements blend in with the surroundings and so are generally not perceived as disruptive or intrusive. They also can’t be ignored.
3. Programmatic kicks in: The digital form of OOH advertising can tap into the advantages and opportunities of programmatic advertising through the automated purchasing of advertising spaces and automatic campaign management. As a result, advertising budgets can be precisely calculated, target groups can be accurately addressed, and the success of campaigns can be thoroughly monitored and analyzed.
4. DOOH can be enhanced using augmented reality: While providing an optimal experience is the number one factor in branding campaigns, scenarios from the field of augmented reality will increasingly come into play in performance campaigns. Campaigns in which products being promoted on digital advertising screens can be viewed and bought on the spot by passers-by simply via their smartphone are already being implemented.
5. Numerous studies prove that OOH campaigns have a bigger impact and are more memorable among test persons than radio, online, print, and TV campaigns. Aside from its wide reach and effectiveness, programmatic digital OOH thus also offers an exceptional ROI. Programmatic OOH acts as a campaign amplifier in the marketing mix and significantly boosts the success of TV, print, or social media advertising.