Solving the knowledge gap in programmatic DOOH

The increased accessibility of programmatic DOOH (pDOOH) has resulted in a boom in spend in this highly efficient channel. However, many buyers are struggling to harness the full potential of pDOOH due to knowledge gaps. In this piece, JCDecaux's associate director - programmatic, Jon Mundy, explains how to close this gap and gives practical examples of strategies and tactics that work in the real world.

Programmatic DOOH (pDOOH) is becoming a powerhouse channel for driving online and offline sales and supercharging the performance of online, mobile, and social advertising. Brands such as Lucozade, Costa, Mars, The Woodland Trust, Bio-Oil, and InterContinental Hotels Group have all invested in pDOOH with award-winning results. 

Internal data from JCDecaux UK shows that pDOOH has grown over three times more than ‘pure play digital’ (online) in H1 2024 which has grown by 21%. However, one challenge persists – there's still a significant knowledge gap.

The ownership challenge

When pDOOH first burst onto the scene in 2019 the majority of out of home advertising was bought by specialist agency teams with decades of experience (anecdotally, OOH has one of the lowest rates of employee churn, so knowledge has typically stayed within a few companies).

This relatively siloed knowledge meant that when pDOOH popped up in demand-side platforms (DSPs) and trading desks programmatic marketers - highly skilled in data integration, real-time optimization, and cross-channel planning – had little or no knowledge of how best to plan DOOH campaigns. On the flip side, specialist teams who knew everything there was to know about OOH had no idea how to activate and optimize a campaign programmatically.

This disparity of knowledge resulted in a lack of ownership of pDOOH, a knock-on effect of which was that best practices, case studies, and other forms of thought leadership were slow to emerge compared to other emerging channels like retail media which has less of an ownership problem.

Thankfully, those who have put the time and effort into learning about pDOOH are quick to come forward and share their experiences. Phil Duffield, VP at The Trade Desk, has spoken openly about how to make data integration work in pDOOH. Shanil Chande, commercial director UK at Hawk, has shared omnichannel best practices. Hrshida Vekariya, account director - addressable strategy at Matterkind, has explained how to connect online and offline audiences seamlessly. And Hannah Scott, vice president of client services at Scoota, has openly quantified the incremental gains driven by pDOOH.

The unique challenge

Today, even the biggest TV shows are attracting much smaller audiences than in previous decades making it challenging for advertisers to achieve the levels of cut through that used to be possible with TV. Increasingly brands are turning to pDOOH as an alternative to TV because it offers benefits that they can’t find anywhere else – it is unique.

However, the very fact that pDOOH is unique is contributing to the knowledge gap because activations tend to be unique too thanks to the vast flexibility offered by the channel. Instead of seeking a like-for-like case studies, marketers should instead look for comparative examples of objectives and results.

For example, if you want to drive online actions (e.g. sales, memberships, subscriptions etc.) this brilliant case study from Skyrise describes how pDOOH, display, and programmatic audio delivered a 21% uplift in online paid for memberships for The Woodland Trust. The strategy used could easily be applied to other verticals such as fashion, travel, and automotive. Alternatively, if you want to drive footfall, and increase brand awareness, Flow City’s work with Face the Future demonstrates how to use pDOOH to drive thousands of consumers to bespoke locations.

Integration is a must

OOH advertising is integrated into our daily lives, as we move about commuting, socialising, shopping, and more. Of course, we see other types of screens at different times and places too, whether it’s our TV at home or our mobile on the bus. Understanding this concept of audience movement and the corresponding exposure to different advertising is key to successful pDOOH in omnichannel strategies.

Research from On Device showed how brands can harness passenger ‘me-time’ activity to engage and prompt action once on the bus. People spent an average 58 minutes on their phone during the one hour 29-minute journey. Passengers looked at social (12 minutes average), streamed games (13 minutes) and browsed online (five minutes). 

Tapping into the concept of maximizing attention and consumers’ transition from real world to online, new research from JCDecaux and Lumen reveals the link between the time spent in a bus shelter and the amount of attention on a screen – with the headline finding that screens inside bus shelters generate an average 4.4 seconds of attention, ahead of many digital channels.

By using TfL data, available via JCDecaux, these findings will give advertisers a new tool to plan by attention on bus shelters, a channel that delivers 70% of the audience in the UK’s capital. Brands can capitalize on attention through selecting screens inside bus shelters which deliver high attention levels which lead to better effects. Each exposure to an ad in a shelter delivers 4.4 seconds of attention, while 75% of people who were exposed twice recalled the brand.

When you can to join the dots and build a robust picture of your audience’s habits you can integrate pDOOH with other channels to ensure that you: reach consumers across multiple touchpoints, reinforce your messaging in contextually relevant moments, and maximize budget effectiveness.

Here are some examples of how brands have integrated pDOOH along with other channels:

FMCG product launch

Three-month campaign using traditional and pDOOH.

• Traditional OOH ran in two-week bursts supported by pDOOH during downtime.
• pDOOH targeted towards a bespoke audience in contextually relevant locations, not just at supermarkets.
• pDOOH delivered 42% uplift in audience reach compared to traditional OOH.
• Campaign was able to run for longer thanks to increased budget efficiency.

Healthcare provider short-term footfall drive

• One-month, geo-targeted campaign using pDOOH, display, and paid social media.
• Specific call to action in pDOOH messaging.
• Optimized for footfall.
• 16% increase in visits, 10+% paid social engagement rate, well above benchmarks.

Putting audiences first, not channels

With digital ad spend predicted to tip over £30bn in 2024, online audiences are nearing exhaustion. This means that brands must engage consumers in the real world to ensure online advertising investments deliver return-on-investment. It is no longer enough to increase performance budgets; brands and agencies must support online channels with real world experiences. 

PDOOH offers brands the ultimate in reach, flexibility, and optimization and will go from strength to strength over the next few years. As ever, early adopters will benefit from being ahead of the curve but the inclusive, collaborative nature of experts in the pDOOH community is setting everyone up for success and should be celebrated.