Programmatic out-of-home advertising: a quick-start guide

Out-of-home advertising means ads people see outside the home: billboards, bus shelters, shopping centre screens, airports and train stations. Many of these are now digital screens, and a growing share can be bought “programmatically”, meaning through software, by time, place and audience, rather than by booking a site for weeks at a time.

For a business, that means you can show ads on screens near your stores, only at the times that matter, with budgets far smaller than a traditional billboard campaign.

How it works

• Media owners run the screens. In Australia, these include large outdoor companies and smaller networks in shopping centres, gyms, venues and transport.
• Buying platforms let advertisers or agencies buy screen time across many media owners in one place. You choose locations, days, times and budget, and the platform buys the ad slots.
• Audience measurement estimates how many people are likely to see each screen. In Australia, the Outdoor Media Association’s measurement system, MOVE, describes itself as representing “nearly 100% of Australian media owners and all OOH environments”. Ask any seller whether their audience numbers come from MOVE.

Most small and medium businesses buy programmatic out-of-home through an agency or a specialist, because the buying platforms are usually set up for professional buyers. Some platforms offer self-serve access for smaller advertisers. It’s worth asking around.

Before you start

• Be clear what the ads are for. Out-of-home is best at building awareness and reminding people you exist, especially near where they can buy from you. It’s not a direct-response channel like search ads.
• Pick locations that matter. Screens near your stores, in your delivery areas, or where your customers spend time.
• Pick times that matter. A café might want weekday mornings; a bottle shop might want Friday afternoons. Programmatic buying lets you choose.
• Prepare simple creative. People see a screen for a few seconds. Use one message, a strong image, your brand and, at most, a short web address.

How to judge whether it worked

This is the hard part, because people don’t click a billboard. Some practical approaches:

• Compare areas. Run ads in some areas and not others, then compare sales, store visits or website visits from those areas over the same period.
• Compare time periods. Look at results before, during and after the campaign, allowing for seasonality.
• Watch branded search. If more people search for your business by name in the areas where ads ran, that’s a useful signal.
• Use a simple offer or web address that only appears on the screens, so you can count responses.

Be cautious of reports that claim precise sales from a screen campaign. Ask how the figure was worked out.

Common mistakes

• Spreading a small budget too thinly across too many locations.
• Too many words on the creative.
• Expecting immediate online sales.
• Not planning how to measure the effect before the campaign starts.

Where Blend can help

We can help you design the before-and-after comparison so you can tell whether a screen campaign moved the numbers that matter. Get in touch, or see how we measure ad results against real sales.