Regarding Programmed DOOH
The outdoor advertising industry has existed for more than a decade. From the age of billboard advertising to digital out-of-home today, the industry has been evolving constantly to tackle ever-changing consumer behaviours. One of the latest innovations in the industry is the programmatic DOOH or pDOOH. But what exactly is it?
In this beginner guide, we will dive into some important topics about programmatic DOOH. What is programmatic DOOH? What are the benefits of using it? And how does it work?
What is DOOH?
To explain what exactly programmatic DOOH is, we will have to look at what is DOOH first.
DOOH or digital out-of-home is a form of outdoor advertising which uses digital technology to deliver content to people in public places.
Unlike traditional out-of-home (OOH) advertising which uses static billboards and displays, DOOH advertising utilizes digital screens such as digital billboards, digital signages, video walls, and digital kiosks.
The usage of digital screens allows a more flexible content delivery which supports a wide range of digital media formats such as videos, images, texts, and animations.
The biggest difference between traditional OOH and DOOH is that OOH is used to display only a static advertisement at one time, whereas DOOH can be used to display multiple advertisements.
In short, DOOH makes both ads rotating and scheduling possible. Advertisers are no longer needed to run their ads 24/7. Instead, they can now reach their target audiences more effectively by running ads at the most suitable time periods.
What is Programmatic DOOH?
Programmatic DOOH (pDOOH) is an upgraded form of DOOH advertising where the process of media purchasing is becoming more convenient.
For both OOH and DOOH, advertisers or business owners will need to contact the billboard owners directly to purchase any media spaces. Besides, many other details such as content delivery, content schedule, and content formats are needed to be discussed and arranged personally with the billboard owners.
The purchasing process can become tedious especially when the advertiser has a huge number of advertisements or campaigns to run. Things can get complicated too if there are too many different locations and media owners involved.
Programmatic DOOH provides a single online platform where the buying and selling of digital ad spaces are automated. Besides, advertisers can also buy spaces only when their specified conditions are met. For example, a workshop that sells weatherproof tyres will want to display its advertisements only when there are rains in the targeted locations.
How Programmatic DOOH Works?
Programmatic DOOH provides high flexibility in running your outdoor campaign. The very first thing you need to do is to look for a reliable and trustworthy programmatic DOOH platform.
The programmatic platform acts as a middleman in the media purchasing process. It helps to connect media owners and media buyers conveniently.
Media buyers do not need to get in touch directly with the media owners. Instead, buyers only need to bid, upload content, and set up what they want to do or buy via the platform’s user interface. This is what we called a Demand Side Platform (DSP).
Demand Side Platform is a platform where media buyers can specify the number of spaces, the targeting locations, the desired publish date or time, and other unique conditions such as weather conditions and foot traffic.
Once the media buyers have placed their bids, the platform will then communicate to a Supply Side Platform (SSP). SSP is a platform where media owners manage their advertising inventories or ad spaces from all kinds of digital screens.
When there is any advertising slot that meets the requirements of the media buyer, a transaction will be made if the bid is won. The media buyer’s advertisements will be then published automatically.
Benefits of Using Programmatic DOOH
Programmatic DOOH makes everything looks so easy and convenient. It offers some benefits to businesses and advertisers that other platforms or channels cannot offer.
Some of the mentionable benefits of using programmatic DOOH are
- Run your campaign faster.
- Data-driven campaign.
- Flexible platform.
- Reduce human error.
- Transparent and competitive pricing.
Run Your Campaign Faster
Running an outdoor campaign is so much easier with programmatic DOOH. Unlike traditional outdoor advertising which could take up to days or months to deal with the media owner and to wait for available spaces, securing ad slots is so much faster with pDOOH.
As long as you have a laptop, a computer or a smartphone with an internet connection, you can run your campaign with just a few clicks. Uploading and updating content can be done easily too.
Data-driven Campaign
Data is extremely important for any business. Same goes to the outdoor advertising campaign. You will want to run your campaign with some specified goals. You will want to achieve the best possible outcome by making the correct decision.
To make correct decisions, using external data in your campaign is a great idea. Data analysis can be hard to implement in traditional advertising campaigns. However, since programmatic DOOH uses various digital technologies to gather audience data and demographics, it is possible to offer highly personalized and engaging experiences to your target audience.
Some of the external data that can be utilized are traffic volume count, age, gender, dwell times, temperature, and weather conditions. All these data can be collected by the DOOH networks via sensors, cameras, and mobile location data.
For example, if you are promoting cosmetic products, you might want to find an ad space that is located in a crowded area where there are more women than men.
Programmatic DOOH uses a data-driven approach to help businesses to do better with their targeting. Besides, pDOOH can also help to measure campaigns’ performance by collecting data such as impressions, footfall traffic, and dwell time.
Flexible Platform
Programmatic DOOH is highly flexible in many areas. Technically, advertisers are free to set any criteria or requirements to target their audiences more effectively. The advertisements will only get triggered when their specified requirements are met.
Besides, pDOOH has pushed location-based advertising to its next level. There are many digital screens in multiple locations in a city, and pDOOH makes all of them easily accessible. No matter who are the media owners behind all these digital screens, ad space purchasing of different locations can be done within one single online platform.
In addition to the two flexible areas mentioned above, programmatic DOOH also offers flexibility in terms of cancellation policy. You can always pause, update or stop your campaign anytime you want. Advertisers are not tied to complicated contracts when they buy ad spaces via pDOOH.
Reduce Human Error
Programmatic DOOH helps to automate many tasks online. From choosing ad space to online payment, not much manual work is involved. When there is less manual work or fewer parties involved, human error can be reduced greatly. In short, pDOOH helps businesses to deliver content effectively with utmost accuracy.
Transparent and Competitive Pricing
The programmatic DOOH platform is an exchange where media buyers and owners gather together. To attract media buyers or advertisers, media owners will have to display their best prices on the platform.
This level of transparency is definitely one of the biggest advantages to media buyers. Buyers can now compare different pricing plans and make the most suitable decisions.
The transparent and competitive environment also encourages media owners to focus on providing the best services, which will ultimately benefit the media buyers in the end.
Conclusion
Programmatic DOOH is still a new player in the market. Although it still has a long way to grow and become mature, it has already displayed its potential to become one of the most effective advertising channels in the future.