For the second year in a row, JCDecaux, the UK’s leading out-of-home media owner, has partnered with MTM to produce new research exploring the programmatic digital out-of-home (pDOOH) landscape in the UK.
New Digital Age spoke to Dom Kozak, Head of Programmatic at JCDecaux UK, to unpick the research results…
What are the key findings of the research?
For me, there are three main standouts. The first is that integrated planning and buying is becoming more common, compared to last year. We found that 77% of programmatic OOH buyers are now likely to be directly involved in at least one other channel, such as display, mobile or whatever. That’s a 16% growth year on year, which is pretty significant.
Next, this year’s research found that the most common reasons for including pDOOH in the media mix are operational efficiency (28%), viewability (27%) and ability to reach incremental audiences (26%) representing a shift away from the basic hygiene factors (such as performance and measurement) that we saw on top last year. That suggests a growing maturity in the marketplace.
Finally, I found it interesting that more than a third (35%) of respondents are implementing an ‘always on’ or ‘always ready’ strategy in relation to programmatic OOH, whether that’s to boost OOH in specific locations, to support activity on other channels or to prime online audiences as and when required.
Has programmatic OOH entered mainstream thinking with media planners?
I think it has become mainstream among a certain community of planners, but maybe not across the entire UK ecosystem just yet. The key benefits of the channel make it great at delivering reach at scale and providing a very flexible canvas for more engaging, more relevant, more creative advertising. When you then combine those with the capabilities of programmatic tech, marketers can now be really precise with their activity and base their decisions and optimisations on consumer reactions to their advertising in real-time.That sort of precision at scale is gold dust for marketers.
With the deprecation of third-party cookies, we’re seeing emerging channels like CTV and programmatic OOH becoming much more relevant and useful to advertisers. A lot of agencies are moving towards post-cookie strategies that are based around location. That gives the programmatic OOH ecosystem a massive advantage over other channels. As OOH practitioners, we are experts in location based planning and attribution. Merging that with the programmatic ecosystem means that we can help to meet the challenges associated with cookie deprecation.
What advice can you offer marketers who are keen to use programmatic OOH for the first time?
Programmatic OOH is fairly idiosyncratic, so you can;t compare it directly with other channels. Approach it with a ‘test and learn’ mindset. If you’re looking at flipping the switch and starting to get involved, get as much advice as you can from people with experience in the channel. It’s also worth considering upfront how you can unify your analytics platform to gather performance data from different channels in a single dashboard. Also, consider how you can integrate CRM data and other available data streams into your media planning and measurement strategies.
The great thing about programmatic OOH is that the incredible flexibility of the channel makes it perfect for ‘test and learn’ activity, allowing brands to explore OOH and its capabilities at whatever speed they are comfortable with. I recommend a ‘crawl, walk, run’ approach. It’s really easy to master the basics and get live when compared to traditional OOH. From there, you can move on to establishing a measurement framework and proper KPIs for your campaigns. The real time nature of the channel makes it easy to iterate, allowing you to quickly learn and develop on the fly.
The full report – Programmatic DOOH: A Tale of Evolution – can be read here.
JCDecaux and New Digital Age (NDA) have partnered to stage the Programmatic DOOH Live Awards on 24 April 2024 in London (deadline for entries is 22 March). Learn more about the award categories and entry requirements.
