What is Digital Out-Of-Home (DOOH) Advertising? Definition, Advantages, Programmatic Approach, Trends and Examples

In this article, we will explain what DOOH advertising means for marketers, its components, measurement, advantages and examples.

Table of Contents

• What is Digital Out-Of-Home (DOOH) Advertising?
• DOOH Vs OOH: Key Advantages of Digital Out-Of-Home (DOOH) Advertising
• What is Programmatic DOOH (pDOOh) Advertising?
• Key advantages of Programmatic DOOH Vs DOOH
• Key challenges in implementation
• Top 6 Digital Out-Of-Home (DOOH) Trends in 2020

What is Digital Out-of-Home (DOOH) Advertising?

Digital Out-Of-Home (DOOH) advertising is defined as a marketing channel where promotional media is dynamically and digitally displayed in outdoor (out of home) public spaces.

Here are some examples of DOOH advertising that you might have experienced in your day-to-day lives:

• A dynamic display of hotels advertisements played on screens in airport arrival halls
• Food chain offers on ads played in or near a malls food court
• Road-side dynamic displays of car ads (often in locations having a showroom of the brand nearby)
• Digital display wifi hotspot kiosks in major cities like New York and Chicago.

While out-of-home media is not new (in fact its one of the oldest traditional media worldwide), digitization of outdoor advertising is occuring at a rapid pace and the market is responding – between 2016 and 2023, global digital out-of-home industry is expected to grow from $3.6 Billion to $ 8.4 Billion. When there is digitization, we also see several integrations, apps and SaaS solutions being offered, something that OOH is experiencing as it transforms itself to a smarter,data-driven version called DOOH.

DOOH Vs OOH: Key Advantages of Digital Out-Of-Home (DOOH) Advertising

Digital out-of-home (DOOH) advertising plugs many holes that makes traditional outdoor advertising obsolete by post-digitization standards, mainstreamed by online advertising platforms such as Google and Facebook.

While DOOH is rapidly evolving and growing, here are the 6 key areas where DOOH is a much needed upgrade on OOH:

1. Cost effective, dynamic and flexible: DOOH is all about digital displays, which means, multiple ads can be rotated within the physical confines of a single space or banner. This not only optimizes revenue for the owner of the media unit, it also helps marketers save on expensive print costs and share media costs with multiple advertisers. Perhaps more importantly though, the ability to change creatives dynamically based on everything from outdoor weather conditions to flight arrivals is a huge advantage that DOOH brings. This offers a whole new level of flexibility to advertisers when it comes to dynamic creative display and personalization. Because real-time-bidding for DOOH media happens programmatically, media buying can be centralized even for media units spread far and wide geographically, adding to the cost and operational efficiencies of DOOH. Last but not the least, the fact that a single media unit is seen by multiple audiences at the same time leads to what is called as the impressions multiplier effect.

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2. Connecting outdoor to online: as DOOH evolves, one of the trends already at play is moving DOOH data to the cloud. This is already happening in cities like New York where road-side pavements have been installed with kiosks with ad displays that are not only connected to the web, they also serve as free public wifi hotspots. This way, it can track the number of devices connected to each kiosk and measure much more accurate footfall of viewers.

There is also an increasing ability to connect DOOH to mobile and other smart devices- from wearables to smartphones,whatever can connect to the cloud can help with smarter dynamic display on DOOH.

One use-case of this is that since consumer information is stored on cloud, brands will be able to connect DOOH to their centralized customer data platform to re-target DOOH viewers once they go online.

Another possibility is the use of mobile locational data to connect to dynamic creative served to passersby.

3. More accurate metrics and measurements: Most demand side platforms for DOOH provide analytical dashboards on ad performance, locations of ad displays, play times for each ad, total spends etc. While digital ads offer much more granular details and transparency, DOOH is catching up. One of the biggest issues with DOOH in comparison to web ads is that its still playing catch-up when it comes to programmatic buying and selling. Attribution from DOOH will be much more data-oriented and clear, as more and more digital displays upgrade to cloud-data. A lack of metrics for measuring ad performance has been the bane of the traditional OOH advertising. Today, companies like Snap (owned by Snapchat) are starting to offer innovative tech to correlate individual smartphone data with public display ads. Ofcourse, DOOH still needs a lot better attribution of metrics, however, the digital transformation of outdoor is well underway and the free market will respond to this digitization with apps and software, for exponentially better tracking and measurement. Already DOOH is impacting key advertising metrics including brand lift and correlated in-store footfalls.

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4. Leveraging true rich media: digitization of displays has resulted in more engaging video ad format- that tells a better story than just image banners, as is the case with traditional outdoor media placements. It is well-known that video ads greatly outperform static / print image ads, especially when it comes to grabbing attention of passing crowd. Afterall, unlike online inbound marketing, where a consumer already has an intent to purchase and they discover you as a result, in outdoor media, the main gameplay is the bet that while consumers may not be actively looking for the product / service, they will pay attention if the ad is engaging and interesting enough. This lends itself well to the powerful combination of locational advertising and impulse purchasing behavior. For example, think of a fast food company playing ads about lunch deals to people at a mall. Video formats, and increasingly, new formats like Augmented Reality and Holograms are critical to outdoor advertising success, and DOOH technology is making it all possible.

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5. Better ROI: The complete elimination of ad printing requirements, low labour cost, coupled with stronger metrics and data on ad performance and associated dashboards – marketers free up resources, while having the right information to optimize their advertising plans and deliver ever more seamless brand experiences and interactions, both online and offline. This in turn leads to significantly higher return-on-investment (ROI) margins on overall advertising budget, more so in outdoor ad budget.

6. Weather durable: All modern digital displays are weatherproof and ads can play all year round. Unlike physical display banners that wear and tear the creative (and often the display stand itself) during rain and wind, out of home advertising space are a much secure option. Although of course digital displays are also prone to vandalism, it is possible to install built-in security cameras and alarms for more prompt response.

What is Programmatic DOOH (pDOOH) Advertising?

In simple words, programmatic DOOH is automation of buying and selling of ad inventory (ad spaces) using computer programs. It is real-time, open to all bidders and the highest price is selected, much like how online advertising ecosystem work today.

Advantages of programmatic approach to DOOH (pDOOH)

• Programmatic DooH drives speed and flexibility for campaign optimization on-the-fly

One of the traditional challenges with OOH was that getting the creative to each location, setting it up and then even taking it down on time was a manual, labour-intensive and cumbersome process. With digitally connected media display units, sending creatives to the media units is as simple as a few clicks, but more importantly, advertisers enjoy a lot of flexibility and cost-effectiveness in changing display ad creatives based on the situation, and this powers in-flight campaign optimization for advertisers. Often marketers like to change creatives based on a specific happening and now DOOH offers the same flexibility to change creatives as digital advertising does. For example, when a baseball team brings home the cup, its easy to change the creatives at the airport to welcome them home and congratulate them. Similarly, mall kiosks can offer deals and coupons based on the weather- when its stormy, switch the creatives to offer a hot cup of coffee, and when the sun comes back out, offer a nice cool drink! In fact now advertisers can change creatives dynamically based on the context, weather, time of day etc.

• Programmatic DOOH enables better audience targeting
  

with the ability to integrate with the larger programmatic adtech ecosystem it is possible for media buyers to view a more holistic plan and ensure that audience targeting gets more effective for each medium in the mix. With the ability to execute a campaign across devices, platforms, screens and media units, it is easier to move budgets around, adjust audience targeting, and change creatives to audience needs for optimal effect and outcomes.

• Real-time bidding (RTB) eliminates brokers, price-fixing and ad space-domination

The main reason for sky-high prices of outdoor advertising is the manual pricing strategy used by ad space owners. A minimum price is set and buyers can only bid at this fixed price or higher. There are also middle-men who primarily have the work of negotiating prices in media buying, especially considering the geographical scatter of OOH media units. This effectively leads to the domination of DOOH / OOH by the most cash rich companies, while smaller, mid-sized companies cannot compete, even for empty slots. Ad space owners mostly prefer to leave the space empty than lower prices and spoil their market.

RTB will eliminate all mandatory minimums in the bidding process, as well as the need for brokers and middlemen, allowing free ad spaces to be bid fairly by smaller buyers. Also since the digital format allows for multiple creatives to share the same media unit, media owners can optimize the revenues from a single unit by selling play time to more than one advertiser.

Read more: Top 5 Programmatic Advertising Platforms for 2020 and Beyond

Challenges with Programmatic approach to DOOH:

• The need for advertiser awareness and education: DOOH adoption depends on all stakeholders of the ecosystem embracing the benefits of programmatic trading including the media agency, advertisers and marketers audience targeting, dynamic content, and in-flight campaign optimization and to ensure that programmatic traders understand that OOH is a one-to-many medium so some digital programmatic techniques will need to be adapted for pDOOH.
• Industry fragmentation: media buyers have asked for more consistency in defining the specifications of OOH ad formats and media units. This will make it easier to choose units to buy across larger geographical spreads and across channels (DOOH and smartphones or kiosks and close-circuit TV, for example)
• More standardization in the industry measures, metrics, and governing regulations around audience and media performance measurement, attribution and audience segments. For example, a common industry definition of what constitutes an impression, or how pricing for dynamic creatives should be monitored.

Read more: What Is Display Advertising? Definition, Targeting Process, Management, Network, Types, and Examples

Top 6 Digital Out-Of-Home (DOOH) Advertising Trends in 2020

1. The rise of programmatic DOOH: as weve discussed so far, pDOOH is the way DOOH is going, not just because the technology makes it possible, but because its a very real need for media buyers to integrate every kind of media into a centralized, programmatic console.

2. Stronger links between mobile locational marketing and DOOH: this one is almost a no-brainer since mobile locational data marketing lends itself so well to a continued or extended brand experience with DOOH. FOr example, if a known customer enters a supermarket, its possible that not only will she receive offers and coupons based on her location, time of day, weather etc on her smart device, but also the creatives displayed on OOH media units can be personalized to her context, say in the aisle where she is standing at that moment.

3. Data-driven dynamic creatives: from DOOH display being able to read smart device data on the go to personalize creatives, to facial recognition and contextual advertising, DOOH is getting smarter by the day. With the racing technological advances with video, voice, AR/VR and the 5G revolution on its way, advertisers can expect real-time intelligence to feed DOOH units with the data it needs for campaign optimization on-the-fly.

4. More brands will use DOOH to deliver real omnichannel marketing

More and more brands appreciate the fact that DOOH is the only form of digital advertising that is beyond a consumers personal devices, thereby filling an important gap in brand engagement across multiple channels, devices and platforms. With the emergence of digital signage kiosks that are compatible for use in-door and out-door, this trend is only expected to gain momentum.

For example, the Avengers movies by Marvel were promoted using one of the most omnichannel advertising campaigns in cinema. From online ads on YouTube, social media and search engines (all of which were compatible with any type of size of device) to TV, newspapers and – DOOH! NYCs recently installed public internet hotspots ad screens lit up with Avenger commercials as people on pavements walked by. This is also followed by standard DOOH advertising on digital screens across subway entrances, inside local train screens (wherever available) and popular public squares. In other words, a true omnichannel advertising campaign definitely helped expand the Marvel and Avengers brands beyond their initial popularity and helped encapsulate newer audiences.

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5. DOOH will compliment online and TV advertising

According to 2012 report by Outdoor Advertising Association of America (OAAA), simply adding OOH advertising to your media mix can potentially increase the effectiveness of TV ads by 18% and of online ads by 316% (especially mobile). Todays DOOH displays are far more immersive , innovative (such as road side kiosks ad displays with free wifi) and effective.

This is because, with 98% audience reach using OOH (which is evolving to DOOH), these ads drive brand searches online. The most impulsive consumer action today is Googling what they find interesting. It should be no surprise that public ads drive up online brand searches, and this has a cumulatively larger impact when combined with online and TV ads.

6. New DOOH platforms will increase ad effectiveness and improve metrics

DOOH platforms are evolving. The 1950s invention of large road-side and public square print ad billboards is far less effective in today in the digital age. As brands aim for more immersive forms of advertising with mobile, VR, large screen HD TVs – DOOH is being pushed for evolution.

Above, we showed how Avenger movie ads utilized public kiosks that are more than just another form of display – its a form of utility because those kiosks provide public hotspots within a range. The display size is also more of a human height, which makes the ad viewing experience more immersive, much like a TV screen. And these ads are actually being used by the government to fund these free public hotspots. Being connected to the internet – these kiosks provide live ad impressions data to their demand-side platforms dashboard for marketers to monitor in real-time.

Both – the technology of DOOH and the monetary model of the business is evolving. Rather than just be a display of commercials, DOOH have the opportunity to add utility to the public – who after all are their target audience.