Technology powers growth in OOH

Powered by Data, Technology and Automation, US’s OOH Growth will become more obvious. 

OOH Industry Trends

The Out of Home (OOH) industry has seen incredible growth in 2019, and there aren’t signs of it slowing down. In addition to the most influential and emerging brands, capitalizing on the reach and impactful benefits of OOH, technology and automation will continue to improve the medium’s efficacies by driving positive results. With new key insights and findings will mean more discussion points to share with brands already utilizing the space but also allowing the ability to engage new advertisers. Additional emerging categories governed by restrictive media and legal regulations will continue developing their OOH efforts.

Digital OOH (DOOH) will continue to make waves

Expectations are high for DOOH’s growth, with more interactive, engaging, relevant, creative digital campaigns set to explode in 2020. Creativity and optimization are of particular interest to brands. DOOH offers dynamic capabilities, allowing brands to change messaging based on specific criteria and outcomes, giving advertisers the ability to create multiple content streams to deliver engaging campaigns. Brands will continue to leverage DOOH to display audience- targeted, contextually relevant messaging, making it easy for when short-term programming makes the most sense. In 2019, we began understanding consumer journeys and in 2020 brands will have more opportunities to follow these journeys.

Location Planning and Data

OOH companies have invested in technology and data to deliver advanced solutions as part of an integrated ecosystem. Heading into 2020, OOH will be even more sophisticated, evidence-led and will drive better performance, opening up opportunities for brands to serve more relevant ads to more relevant audiences and with improved returns. As the move towards automation continues, OOH’s accountability will be driven by the support of device-level data, new audience insights and behaviors proving they can be reached in the physical world. Additionally, giving advertisers the ability to include their first-party data.

Automation and real time OOH opportunities through tech advancements

Along with connected TV, programmatic OOH is the emerging channel that everyone is excited about. Currently, it is enabling some automated transactions, but it is still far from a perfected solution. In actual fact, tempering the enthusiasm for a solution are a number of platforms which claim to be programmatic but are not. Few media owners are able to share real-time availability, and no one has yet built OOH programmatic to RTB standards.
In 2020 programmatic OOH will have the potential to be a game changer for brands as marketers will have the opportunity to make informed strategic bids using data and see real-time attribution. Programmatic will thrive but not at the expense of OOH experts who can provide needed support around location planning, strategy, industry/market knowledge, and rate negotiations. The growth of programmatic will help open new revenue streams, drive the industry, be accountable in a thriving sector increasingly working with other media.

Evidence and improved audience measurement 

Campaign planning, measured performance outcomes are a big, if not the biggest, part of the advertising picture. Accountability is in demand. With the development of workflow tools and Data Management Platforms (DMP), OOH is well positioned to deliver tangible information every step of the way. With mobile device data readily available, along with the ability to plan against most audience segments and leveraging online behaviour, OOH will deliver better-than-ever campaign ROI supporting measurable KPIs, including footfall and online activation.

Privacy laws are top of mind

US Privacy laws, and GDPR type restrictions will continue to weigh heavily on brands and consumers, as the effort to ensure protection of mobile data and personal information continues to blur the lines between what is and isn’t allowed. Agencies will need to create principles around privacy.

OOH and consumer experience will surface stronger experiential outcomes for brands

As digital enables brands to reach larger urban audiences with smart, contextual messaging reaching the consumer experience through experiential activity and creativity will become an even bigger part of OOH media service and budgets. Look for OOH providers to blend experiential and digital OOH offerings drive action through visual and physical engagement.

Authored by Irina Zeltser, Managing Director, New York.