US advertisers expected to increase programmatic DOOH spend by a third over the next 18 months, however, they want better measurement of campaign effectiveness

VIOOH,  the global digital out-of-home (DOOH) supply-side platform, released its annual research into the programmatic DOOH market.

prDOOH ad spend is expected to increase by a third (33%) over the next 18 months.
Nearly a third (31%) of US advertisers have included prDOOH in media plans – with more (39%) looking to increase this in the next 18 months.

A third (33%) of US advertisers are reallocating budgets from other digital channels.
80% of respondents from the UK market feel that prDOOH offers the most innovative opportunities compared to any other media channel.

Over two-thirds (67%) believe that prDOOH targets the right people at the right time, with increasing sales and performance (64%), and brand safety (61%) also cited as reasons for growth.

US advertisers are still facing challenges in measuring the effectiveness of prDOOH in their cross-channel marketing campaigns. They want to see concrete data that proves the value of prDOOH and its impact on other marketing channels.

The findings show that the future of programmatic DOOH (prDOOH) remains strong with its popularity surging in the US. Across campaigns US advertisers have worked on in the past 12-18 months, on average nearly a third (31%) have included prDOOH, with the average expected to increase to 39% in the next 18 months.

Survey respondents in the US state that they plan to increase spend by a third (33%) over the next 18 months. A third (33%) are reallocating budgets from other digital channels, and more than one in 10 (15%) are creating new budgets to grow prDOOH. Whilst only 10% of main OOH teams are likely to be accessing new budget for prDOOH, when buying is diversified, this increases to 19% when bought through programmatic/digital teams and 23% when bought through a dedicated prDOOH team.

80% of respondents from the US market feel that prDOOH offers the most innovative opportunities compared to any other media channel, delivering highly targeted activations, the ability to buy placements in real-time, optimise campaigns in-flight and deliver dynamic and contextually relevant creative. Over two-thirds (67%) believe that prDOOH targets the right people at the right time. The distinctive advantages that are popular include targeting the right people at the right time (67%), increasing sales and performance (64%), brand safety (61%).

Currently, 32% of US advertisers use a mix of direct and programmatic buys, and 28% usually or always purchase their DOOH programmatically only. US advertisers leverage prDOOH both in performance and brand. Over three quarters (76%) consider prDOOH important for performance-led campaigns, this figure increases marginally for brand-based campaigns (78%).

Display is used to complement prDOOH both in performance and brand campaigns (80%), while search (74%) is leveraged alongside prDOOH for performance-led activation, and social (79%) for brand-led activation. In the US, prDOOH advertising is now being integrated more closely in multi-channel campaigns (64%), especially alongside other digital channels (41%).

“Programmatic DOOH is becoming mainstream and is now a must-have on every media plan. This year’s State of the Nation report shows not only that advertising budgets continue to be reallocated for increased prDOOH spend year-on-year, but the opportunities from highly targeted activations to trigger-based buying are giving advertisers a raft of flexible high-value tools which complement both brand and performance ad campaigns. With programmatic DOOH becoming more mature, media professionals are also increasingly integrating prDOOH into multi-channel strategies, often using it alongside social media and display advertising,” said Jean-Christophe Conti, Chief Executive Officer at VIOOH.

See the full report here: viooh.com/sotn