• by Erik Sass , Staff Writer @eriksass1, March 5, 2010

As the digital out-of-home medium continues to grow dramatically, a number of companies have introduced business strategies and services intended to simplify DO for advertisers, making it easier to aggregate networks and scale up advertising buys to reach more consumers on the go. Now the trend is expanding to include content creation, with a new service from X20 Media that promises to help advertisers and network operators produce slick-looking ads with a minimum of effort.

X20 Media -- which provides software and network management for digital signage operators, as well as content creation -- says its new DO Ad Production Service gives users access to an online library of pre-existing templates, animated backgrounds, video clips, data feeds, and the like. The users then select the X20 content they want and send their own ad content to X20's creative services team, who will combine it into a finished product. Among other things, this quick process should help clients repurpose their ad content to target a particular venue or demographic, or convey a seasonal theme.

Some other companies already specialize in helping smaller advertisers create professional-level online video ads, which can probably be repurposed for IP-based digital out-of-home networks. For example, StudioNow, an online network of video advertising freelancers, has helped local advertisers produce professional-grade video and display ads for local station Web sites maintained by Clear Channel.

As noted, streamlining content creation is just one of several trends aiming to make DO advertising easier and thus more accessible. On the scale side, there are several companies which have focused on aggregating DO networks to allow broad but highly-targeted ad buys, including SeeSaw and Adcentricity, which positions itself as an adjunct to media strategy, planning, buying and execution.