Digital out-of-home advertising has traditionally sounded like something only large brands and media agencies buy. That is changing.
Digital screens now appear across high streets, transport networks, shopping centres, gyms, retail environments and other physical locations.
But what exactly counts as digital out-of-home advertising — and what should an advertiser understand before paying for it?
What does DOOH mean?
DOOH stands for digital out-of-home advertising.
Out-of-home advertising — OOH — is advertising encountered in physical environments away from the home. Traditional OOH includes formats such as posters, billboards and bus-shelter advertising. DOOH uses digital displays instead.
- roadside digital billboards
- digital bus-shelter displays
- railway and transport screens
- shopping-centre displays
- retail screens
- screens inside leisure environments
- place-based digital advertising networks
The common feature is that advertising appears on a physical digital screen in a real-world location.
Is DOOH the same as digital advertising?
Not quite. The creative is digital, but the advertising environment is physical.
An online display advert is delivered through a website or app. A DOOH advert is displayed on a screen located somewhere in the physical world.
Content can potentially be scheduled and changed digitally while the media placement remains tied to a physical location.
How large is DOOH in the UK?
DOOH is an established part of the UK out-of-home advertising market. The important point for a small advertiser is not the size of the category but what a specific placement actually includes and how it is measured.
Market growth should never be treated as proof that an individual DOOH placement is effective.
Where does DOOH advertising appear?
The category contains very different environments. A giant roadside display and a screen inside a local venue might both use digital out-of-home technology, but the audience experience is clearly not identical.
Roadside
Large-format digital displays designed to be visible to passing traffic.
High streets
Digital panels encountered by pedestrians, shoppers and traffic.
Transport
Railway stations, airports, bus stations and other transport environments.
Retail
Shopping centres, supermarkets and other retail locations.
Place-based media
Screens positioned within particular venue types and environments.
The distinction matters because evidence from one OOH environment should not automatically be assumed to apply identically to another.
How is a DOOH campaign bought?
Direct buying
An advertiser buys space directly from the owner or operator of the screens.
Media agency buying
An agency plans and purchases inventory on the advertiser's behalf.
Programmatic DOOH
Advertising inventory can increasingly be activated using technology and automated buying systems.
Self-service and fixed-price models
Some operators make smaller placements available directly to businesses through simplified packages or self-service platforms.
The buying model does not determine whether a placement is good. It changes how the advertiser accesses it.
What does an advertiser actually buy?
An advertiser is generally buying the right for creative to appear on specified digital inventory according to agreed campaign conditions.
Those conditions might include locations, screens, dates, times, plays, share of rotation, audience parameters and campaign duration. Advertisers should establish which are actually guaranteed.
What's the difference between a screen play, impression and audience?
If a system records that an advert successfully played on a screen, that establishes the advert played.
It does not automatically prove that a person saw it.
Likewise, counting people entering a venue or passing a location does not automatically prove those people looked at a particular screen.
Is footfall the same as advertising reach?
No.
A venue having a certain number of visitors does not automatically mean an advert displayed there received the same number of views.
Some visitors may never pass the screen. Some may pass without it being visible. Some may have an opportunity to see it without actually noticing it.
Footfall can tell an advertiser something about the environment. It should not simply be relabelled as advertising impressions.
Does DOOH guarantee attention?
No.
Physical presence can create an opportunity for advertising to be seen. Opportunity, attention, memory and action are separate things.
Avoid language such as “guaranteed attention”, “captive audience”, “can't scroll past” or “everyone sees it”.
What role does context play?
A digital screen doesn't exist independently of its surroundings. The same creative encountered beside a road, inside a shopping centre and inside a leisure venue exists in different environments.
Research suggests advertising context can influence how advertising is processed. But context should not be turned into a blanket effectiveness claim.
A screen being inside a particular venue does not automatically mean the audience trusts the advertiser, pays more attention or is more likely to buy.
What are the practical advantages of digital screens?
Depending on the network, creative can potentially be changed without replacing a printed poster, scheduled, rotated, updated, managed remotely and monitored for successful playback.
Those are properties of the technology. Whether they produce better advertising outcomes depends on how the media is used.
What should a small business ask before buying DOOH?
- Where exactly will my advert appear?
- Which screens are included?
- How often will my creative play?
- How many other advertisers share the rotation?
- How is successful playback verified?
- How are audience figures calculated?
- Is footfall being presented separately from advertising audience?
- Can I change my creative?
- What is the minimum commitment?
- What happens if the promised inventory isn't available?
How LocalLoop approaches indoor digital advertising
LocalLoop is building an indoor local advertising network starting in Newport.
Selected venues host LocalLoop screens and local businesses purchase placements within a managed advertising rotation.
The current base operating assumption is ten advertiser slots per screen. This is an operating assumption. It is not a claim about current live advertiser inventory.
LocalLoop manages the screens, creative setup, advertising rotation and ongoing operation.
As the network develops, measurement should distinguish clearly between screens operating, adverts played, venue activity, opportunity for visibility, measured audience, attention and advertising outcomes.
Do not collapse these into one metric.
Related: Local advertising guide · Reach vs attention · Further reading: IAB UK Digital Out-of-Home Hub · Indoor digital advertising · How LocalLoop works
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