Out-of-Home advertising (OOH) refers to any visual advertisement found outside of home. Common examples include billboards, signs and posters at bus stops or transit areas. Before Google ads, OOH dominated the advertising industry. They are often employed at prime locations where footfall levels are high.
In 2019, OOH accounted for $40 billion in advertising activities. In the same report by GroupM, OOH is expected to grow (albeit slower) during the pandemic times.
A key contributor to growth in OOH is its progression towards digital transformation. Known as digital out-of-home (DOOH), it refers to the digitisation of existing medium. Instead of printed signboards, they are upgrading to digital signboards where ads can go beyond static print outs.
Powered by AdTech, this technology brings forth newer, more powerful uses of OOH. Thus, putting it on par with digital marketing.
Powered by AdTech
AdTech is short for Advertising Technology. It is the umbrella term for the technology that targets, delivers and analyses digital marketing efforts. Ad Tech revolutionised the OOH industry by enabling accurate audience targeting and campaign tracking.
In the past, OOH wasn’t popular due to its inability to track results. This deterred marketers from engaging it, as it was hard to justify its high costs.
Now with data available for analysis and optimisation, this gave rise to programmatic advertising in the OOH industry. Naturally, this enabled brands to see the benefits of OOH and could weigh the pros and cons.
Programmatic Advertising
Ring a bell? Programmatic advertising in DOOH works the same way in Google ads. However, programmatic DOOH buys media space in physical locations rather than virtual spots. Furthermore, it targets audiences outdoors instead of on personal devices. The difference between DOOH and digital marketing are the campaign set-up and tracking mechanisms.
Un-skippable Ads and Undistracted Space
It is common for users to skip or disable ads with third party tools. That is if we’re in the digital space.
In the real world, however, skipping ads may not be as possible. Well, not unless you have a way to install ad-blocker in real life. *Cues Black Mirror*
Picture Credit: Netflix
When people are around digital displays outdoors, chances are they’re going to see it. Sure, they can look away. But without ad-blockers or alternatives such as switching to a different tab, avoiding the ad isn’t as easy in the real world.
Furthermore, it helps that there are lesser distractions out in the field. This means that when an ad does grab the attention of users, they can focus on it. This is especially true for ads that are displayed at transit areas. These ads tend to receive higher views as audiences are usually idling at those areas without much else to look at.
On the other hand, billboards along busy roads may fare worse. A reason may be because audiences need to pay attention to traffic conditions and road safety, thus making it harder to focus on an ad.
Data-driven Approach in Real Time
In programmatic DOOH, marketers bid for media space based on a set of specific conditions. These conditions are derived by data collected across multiple touch points.
Traditionally, researchers collected data manually. Today, third party data tools and insights are used to provide data for audience targeting.
Simpler options include targeting based on location, or time. Advanced targeting options may include the current weather, or types of audience passing by at a particular timeframe. Of course, BTL targeting is also possible by displaying ads when multiple conditions are met. Marketers can plan campaigns with higher accuracy and lesser wasted ad spend.
The Future of Digital Out-of-Home Advertising
As the industry progresses rapidly towards digital transformation, brands should consider the digital out-of-home advertising landscape. Powered by data and technology, the right use of OOH can help stimulate growth in the industry.
