What gives in OOH advertising spend?

2023 is nearly here, we are all returning to work and increasing business travel, I’ve been bombarded by (OOH) ads. Per, Wikipedia, “Out-of-home (OOH) advertising, also called outdoor advertising, outdoor media, and out-of-home media, is advertising experienced outside of the home. This includes billboards, wallscapes, and posters seen while “on the go”. It also includes place-based media seen in places such as convenience stores, medical centers, salons, and other brick-and-mortar venues. OOH advertising formats fall into four main categories: billboards, street furniture, transit, and alternative.”

Looking at advertising spend in OOH, its intuitive that it should grow, particularly digital OOH (dOOH). Yet traditional OOH spend still accounts for an overwhelming 70.8% of total spend while dOOH still sits at ~30% (see link to Insider Intelligence for more data)

Furthermore, there’s a ton of programmatic dOOH as well with dOOH expected to grow nearly 40% by 2026 (source: Out of Home Advertising Association of America), curious to hear from performance marketers and #DTC advertising leaders; is dOOH a focus in 2023 for you and beyond?

Some key concepts taking shape in 2023 within the general OOH space with dOOH making things more interesting

Storytelling – Not surprising but this is a general trend within the performance marketing trends. Advertisers will focus on how to bring a cohesive advertising campaign to life in a physical setting, understanding the audience segments tied to the placements for OOH.

Integration – OOH are beacons not just billboards made of print or digital LCD expressions. We’ll see smart dOOH advertising tactics that geo-fence and target opted in consumers to take advantage of the experience in more vivid detail, whether it’s the continuation of the story or activating an attractive offfer.

Measurement – Goes without saying but any good performance marketer or advertiser will bring in ways to understand sales lift direct or indirect to effectively measure the ROI and profitability of the dOOH campaign.

If dOOH is not part of your advertising strategy, why? If so, how? Which platforms are primed to support programmatic dOOH? Reply to me directly, would love to hear how your organization is handling DOOH in the coming months and years.

Here’s the latest from Insider Intelligence, How OOH ad spend is evolving – Insider Intelligence Trends, Forecasts & Statistics