The world of advertising has always moved at the speed of light – and while it’s still early days, the demand for programmatic outdoor has surpassed expectations, cementing itself as a key trading solution in digital out of home (DOOH).

Five years ago, I first began exploring the idea of using automatic content recognition (ACR) in real-time via outdoor and radio campaigns.

I was surprised at the challenges it posed. It was obvious that real-time activation options in outdoor advertising were extremely limited. As a result, getting cross-media campaigns up and running was typically thrown into the “too hard” basket.

Fast forward to today, and real-time programmatic outdoor has exploded with omnichannel cross-device execution. Brands, publishers and media agencies have quickly realised the power of programmatic advertising and are harnessing its capabilities with full force.

The growth we’ve seen in client briefs and campaign executions of programmatic DOOH is extraordinary – especially considering the challenges posed by Covid-19. With the pandemic seemingly nearing an end, the scale of adoption is forecast to grow even further over the next three years, with greater campaign customisation set to see more brands across all categories using a programmatic solution as part of their campaign mix.

According to IAB Australia’s 2022 Attitudes to DOOH report, a whopping 83 per cent of agencies are using programmatic out-of-home as part of their media plan. And as one of the fastest-growing advertising sectors with a 20 per cent year-on-year growth forecast, programmatic outdoor has evolved from purely an experimental solution to an advertising cornerstone. Fifty-two per cent of media buyers now actively considering programmatic outdoor in their media mix in 2022.

The native advantages of programmatic automation – like flexibility and real-time scheduling – are well known. But adding multiple layers of technologies (like fusing location data and dynamic creative) to deliver brand objectives gives programmatic outdoor a unique trading mechanism, rather than just a solution on its own.

Programmatic uptake fast-tracks innovation

This programmatic uptick is already driving changes at an industry level, with OMA’s outdoor audience measurement system MOVE 1.5 (and upcoming MOVE 2.0), upgrading to real-time ad verification, dynamic creatives and advanced attribution technology.

Since joining VMO, I’ve seen first-hand the enormous demand from clients to deliver more tactical, contextual and data-driven solutions as brands place even greater importance on delivering greater campaign metrics and ROI.

As early adopters of programmatic outdoor, VMO has had four years of learnings from working closely with brands in the programmatic space. We’ve been able to test, learn and evolve, creating even more advanced data-driven strategies that contribute to our clients’ bottom lines.

Our latest example of this came about after several years of analysing data and realising clients were demanding time and audience-triggered creative. This spurred the creation of our latest programmatic offering, ‘Roadblock’. Roadblock gives brands access to time-targeted takeovers to capture screens, audiences, and moments, available across our entire outdoor network.

As programmatic adoption continues to grow, we expect to offer many more custom products within the programmatic space.

Case study: Smart targeting becomes fashionable

A recent fashion client of VMO wanted to generate increased product sales with a culturally and linguistically diverse target audience using a cross-channel approach in the lead-up to an annual cultural event.

With this target audience in mind, we customised a DART360 campaign solution to give the client a deeper understanding of their audience: what they think, what they do and where to locate them.

Several data points like demographic, consideration and proximity were then fused together to identify VMO locations in areas that over-indexed on the target audience. This achieved both broad reach and high frequency via a programmatic outdoor Roadblock campaign.

The result? The client was able to deliver multiple multi-lingual messages in key target areas to exceed the campaign benchmarks for sales in both their physical and online stores.

The education and technology gap must be addressed

The need for education and training in programmatic OOH is one of the glaring gaps needed to be addressed with the help of publishers, industry groups, demand/supply platforms, and verification/attribution partners to keep programmatic outdoor at this growth trajectory.

One of the most collaborative efforts addressing this education and training gap is IAB Australia’s Digital Buyer’s Guide. However, similar collaborative initiatives are needed at scale to make sure training needs are addressed in a timely manner.

Programmatic outdoor technology will continue to transform as clients requirements evolve. Major upgrades are expected to occur at the product level as all tech platforms work towards easier integration across various supply, demand and data partners. This will result in increased scale and standardised processes helping buyers and publishers alike.

Creative technologies will also undergo a major transformation from real-time dynamic creative to the adoption of emerging technologies such as Extended reality and Virtual reality.

The proof is in the data

Every day we’re seeing more evidence that tactical programmatic activations significantly boost attribution and campaign outcomes, delivering brands both increased awareness and ROI.

I’m excited to be part of the journey with VMO as we continue encouraging our clients to challenge us to deliver smarter campaigns so we can continue to pioneer and accelerate the next phase of programmatic outdoor.