Out-of-home advertising, meaning billboards, posters and screens in public spaces, is one of the oldest forms of media. For most of its history, it was bought in fixed blocks, weeks in advance, with little flexibility and broad estimates of who saw it.
Digital out-of-home (DOOH) has changed much of that. Digital screens in transport hubs, city centres, shopping malls, airports and office buildings can show different ads at different times, and a growing share of them can be bought programmatically, through the same kinds of platforms used to buy online display and video.
Why DOOH is attracting digital advertisers
It cannot be skipped or blocked.
Public screens reach people in the physical world, beyond ad blockers and crowded feeds.
It adds scale and presence.
A campaign on large screens in a busy location gives a brand visibility and credibility that small screens rarely match.
It is flexible.
Ads can be scheduled by time of day and day of week, and changed quickly, rather than printed and installed.
It can be bought programmatically.
Many DOOH screens are available through demand-side platforms, alongside other digital channels, with smaller minimum budgets than traditional out-of-home.
Using context and timing
The strongest DOOH campaigns make use of the setting in ways other media cannot.
| Time of day. | Coffee in the morning, food at lunch, entertainment in the evening. |
|---|---|
| Location. | Messages that reference the place, such as a nearby store or a local event. |
| Conditions. | Some screens can change creative based on triggers such as weather or live data, showing, for example, different products on hot and cold days. |
| Audience movement. | Commuter routes, airports and shopping centres attract different people at different times. |
Creative for a glance
People see DOOH ads in passing, often for only a few seconds and from a distance.
- Use very few words, set in large, clear type.
- Make the brand instantly recognisable.
- Use strong contrast and simple images that read from far away.
- Keep motion simple, and make sure the message still works if someone sees only one frame.
How DOOH is measured
Measurement in DOOH relies on estimates of how many people pass each screen, usually based on location and movement data aggregated by media owners and measurement companies. Beyond that, advertisers commonly use:
| Brand lift studies | comparing awareness among people in exposed and unexposed areas. |
|---|---|
| Footfall studies | using aggregated location data, to see whether visits to stores rise in areas with campaign exposure. |
| Geographic comparisons | of website traffic, search volume or sales between regions with and without DOOH activity. |
As with any channel, it is worth understanding how each measurement is produced and treating the results as estimates rather than exact counts.
DOOH alongside online campaigns
DOOH rarely works best on its own. It is most effective as part of a wider plan, building visibility in the physical world that makes online ads more familiar and more likely to be clicked. Some advertisers coordinate DOOH with mobile campaigns in the same areas, so that people who pass a screen see a related message on their phones later.
The street as a screen
Digital out-of-home brings the reach and presence of public advertising within range of advertisers used to the flexibility of digital media. Planned around context and timing, designed for a glance and measured with realistic methods, it can add a physical dimension to campaigns that otherwise live entirely on small screens.
