By Vicky Foster, VP Global Commercial Partnerships, Adform
Few channels can stop people in their tracks quite like digital out-of-home (DOOH). Think of the electric buzz of Piccadilly Circus at rush hour, the neon heartbeat of Times Square at night. This is advertising you can feel.
DOOH has a reputation as a spectacular yet stubborn member of the media family: big on impact, short on flexibility. That perception is shifting rapidly thanks to programmatic DOOH. Brands can now combine the cinematic power of large-scale OOH creative with the precision, measurability, and agility advertisers have come to expect. Whether during a lunch break, en route to a gig, or outside a retail hotspot – serving dynamic ads in real-time based on context and environment.
With global DOOH spend projected to hit £19 billion ($25 billion) by 2029, and with more outdoor inventory transitioning to digital, the opportunity is massive. However, these screens are only one piece of the puzzle.
Consumers’ attention flows seamlessly from the mobile in their hand, to the audio in their ears and the billboard they see in the street. No channel can operate in a vacuum, and programmatic DOOH is no exception. To reach its full potential as a powerful multiplier of other channels’ reach and engagement, advertisers must break down DOOH’s silos and weave it into the full omnichannel experience.
Transparency and fragmentation
Today, unified media buying workflows and third-party integrations have made DOOH much simpler to use. Historically, DOOH’s biggest hurdles were opaque measurement and fragmented planning tools. Activation was complex, cross-channel integration was near impossible, and return on investment was hard to prove. What would have required serious technical lift and specialist expertise can now be managed by a single media buyer.
Crucially, this has made cross-channel measurement much easier. Full-funnel metrics like ad recall, brand lift, and purchase intent can now be paired with programmatic DOOH data as well as performance from mobile, display, CTV and retail media, etc. This helps advertisers close the loop between exposure and outcome. In addition, greater reporting transparency, in-flight optimisation, and advanced tools like visual map interfaces are unlocking more opportunities for advanced planning and dynamic creative.
Creative and cultural power
DOOH remains one of the most potent visual storytelling formats, and often lends itself to organic cross-channel amplification. In a world of skipped video pre-rolls and scrolled-past display banners, DOOH is unique in that it is unblockable and experienced in a public, shared environment. People see it, photograph it and share it on social media.
Programmatic DOOH has the power to make those moments even more relevant to individuals while maintaining its broader cultural footprint. For example, using contextual data and real-time dynamic delivery, DOOH inventory can react to a sudden downpour or update after a local sports result to maximise relevance.
Take PHD’s campaign with KFC in Prague. The agency paired programmatic DOOH ads for milkshakes only when the weather was sunny and the temperature was over 20°C. The result was higher sales at nearby KFC restaurants and reduced media waste on cooler days. It’s a perfect example of how programmatic data can enhance DOOH creative to drive better impact and efficiency.
The big picture
As media consumption becomes increasingly fragmented and audiences demand more relevance and authenticity, DOOH stands out as a channel that can deliver scale and attention. Once considered a spectacular but opaque and difficult-to-control channel, DOOH has now been supercharged with programmatic technology to become more measurable and agile. Moreover, with a growing number of outdoor screens being rolled out every year, programmatic DOOH is becoming increasingly accessible to brands and agencies of all sizes.
To maximise its strength as an omnichannel multiplier, advertisers keen to use DOOH in their campaigns should carefully consider how to unite its insights with those of other channels. By leveraging integrated workflows that power other digital campaigns alongside third-party data, advertisers can transform everyday spaces into relevant brand touchpoints where they can seamlessly measure performance alongside other media buys. From hyper-local to global campaigns, programmatic DOOH amplifies the full media mix and drives game-changing results.
