• by Larissa Faw , October 14, 2020

More than nine in 10 U.S. media agencies and advertisers credit flexibility as the reason they planned or bought programmatic out of home (OOH) in the past 18 months, according to the annual State of the Nation report from VIOOH, the programmatic OOH trading platform.

As of Q2 2020 there are now in excess of 200,000 programmatically available DOOH screens in multiple formats, including pedestrianized and vehicular roadside, transit, taxis, malls, gyms and offices.

Programmatic OOH is a relatively new revenue for digital OOH. The research finds this category is poised to form a crucial part of U.S. digital advertising strategy in the future.

U.S. respondents planning to include programmatic OOH will reach 51% of all digital campaigns in 2021, up from 47% in 2019. Nearly all U.S. respondents (99%) plan to increase their spend on programmatic OOH in 2021. In addition, programmatic OOH is increasingly becoming part of omni-channel strategies.

When asked where they plan to allocate spend in the future, respondents ranked social media (85%) as their priority, followed by digital/programmatic OOH (74%), broadcast TV (70%), digital audio (69%), and search (65%).

There are still growing pains with this category. Nearly two in three American advertisers (62%) say they would like more information about cross-channel measurement and attribution. This reasoning is reflected globally as well with 57% of respondents in the UK and Germany looking for more information about cross-channel measurement and attribution. This suggests there is a universal concern over the lack of standardization measurement and attribution with programmatic OOH.

Nearly half (44%) of global respondents in Germany, UK and the U.S. admitted a lack in understanding of the benefits of programmatic OOH. This was particularly prevalent among more senior marketers, who may not be involved on a day-to-day basis with this emerging area within the channel. In the U.S., in particular, 47% of executives would like training and further education on the benefits of programmatic OOH advertising.

“In such uncertain times, where marketers are looking to maximize the value of their advertising budgets, the agility, flexibility and trigger-based decisioning that programmatic OOH offers play a crucial role in the effectiveness of campaigns,” says Jean-Christophe Conti, CEO of VIOOH. “The onus is now on us, as an industry, to ensure we are creating the best environment in which programmatic OOH can thrive.”

VIOOH’s report surveyed 600 executives from media agencies and advertisers across the US, UK and Germany during August 2020.

Access the full report here.