Audience addressability is currently causing a dramatic shift in the way digital advertisements are placed, but its movement towards other mediums is slow. However, if the OOH industry continues to shift towards audience addressability, an immense change should be expected. This post will work to define the concept of addressability, and predict its eventual impact on the world of OOH.

Audience Addressability Definition & Digital Impact

So, what is audience addressability? Simply put, it is the practice of using data to target consumers where they are, rather than where they are predicted to be. Doing this can be quite a difficult task. Advertisers constantly struggle to know exactly where their target audience is even when they are utilizing geographic and behavioral data. Addressability, however, is poised to help them solve that problem once and for all.

In the digital landscape, addressability works by creating individual profiles that keep track of user location and behavioral patterns. These user profiles are more effective when they are marked by an identifier, such as an email address, but many of them are anonymous and utilize webpage cookies to track user’s habits. These profiles are then combined with 2nd and 3rd party data and used by advertisers to place the right ads, in front of the right people, on the right devices.

After these comprehensive profiles have been made, targeted ads can be placed. This is done in two primary ways:

• Probabilistic: This method attempts to create a statistical connection between users’ devices using anonymous data, such as cookies. Once this connection is made, the computer can place cross-device ads based on this “predicted” individuals preferences.

• Deterministic: Matches some form of verified identification, such as an email, to a user IP and then places ads based on that user’s preferences and behaviors. This method is more accurate as it can follow a user’s browsing habits with a high degree of certainty.

Audience Addressability & OOH

In an ideal scenario, addressability would allow advertisers to know exactly who is viewing a billboard (or any other OOH medium) at any given time. Whether this is achieved through recognition software, cellular geo-tracking, or even purchase monitoring, addressability will eventually allow real-time delivery of outdoor ads based on location data. There are many ways this could look in practice. Addressability might allow a digital kiosk to change ads when someone who made a recent online purchase walks by. It might enable a billboard to shift it’s messaging at 6 pm every weekday to accommodate a particular group of commuters heading home. There is a wide variety of ways that addressability could impact the industry, and however you look at them, they nearly all seem positive.

So, why is it taking so long for addressability to reach OOH? The primary reason is that OOH is a “one-to-many” medium. It’s hard to make an ad hyper-targeted when the ultimate goal is to have it be seen by as many people as possible. Despite this, addressability’s potential is enticing, and the industry is slowly making the shift.

Initially, addressability was really only being done with the assistance of digital place-based mediums. However, in recent years, improvements made to display tracking systems, and the introduction of beacon advertising have brought the OOH industry one step closer to full addressability.

Tracking systems placed inside of displays are now capable of determining the age, gender, and sometimes the nationality of the people who view them. These systems can even recognize time-patterns and monitor the exact number of people who view them. The use of these systems is allowing advertisers to better understand the demographics that are viewing each location, and as a result, they are placing more effective targeted advertisements.

Beacon advertising is about as close as OOH has come to full addressability, but it still has a ways to go. This method entails that small beacons, emitting low-frequency Bluetooth signals, be placed inside of stores and retail outlets. These beacons are then used to send location-specific ad notifications directly to users’ phones. This method often requires that a user possesses a certain application though, so its productivity is still somewhat limited. The outlook is certainly promising though.

Addressability flips the traditional media-buying model on its head. Achieving full audience addressability would have a massive impact on the world of OOH. Knowing exactly who is viewing a particular board would dramatically increase the value of undervalued assets. Addressability is almost here, and when it is finding the perfect location, and buying the right assets will become easier, and more efficient, than it ever has been before.

Now that you know a little more about the concept of addressability, head on over to DOmedia, host of the largest database of OOH vendors in the US, and get your next campaign started today!

Filter Inventory

We’ve made it quicker and easier for vendors to filter the pre-filled grid to only the inventory that is available and they would like to keep in the proposal to the buyer. If there are twenty units in a proposal but only five are available, you can now enter just the five inventory numbers for the units that are available and quickly remove the other fifteen units that are not.

You’ll now find “Filter Inventory” above the proposal grid:

Once clicked, it will bring up a new screen:

From that screen, you can enter inventory numbers and/or geopath IDs. When you do so, the page updates in real time with whether or not that inventory works for this campaign. Because it is a strict campaign we want to make sure the inventory matches the buyer’s criteria. If it doesn’t, we will show the seller and not allow them to add the unit to the proposal.

Once you click filter, the proposal grid now only has the units that match the buyer requirements.

More Robust Autofilling

Search off client location list

Users now have the ability to select a Client Location list when searching for assets on the DOmedia Search page. Selected Client Location list assets will be displayed on the search results map. Agency users can now also add or modify a Client Location list from the Search page.

Option to expand clustered pins

Users now have the ability to select or deselect whether units should be clustered on a map. Units in close proximity to each other are automatically clustered on DOmedia maps to maintain optimum performance. Users can now turn this clustering on or off. By turning off clustering, users will see all units represented individually on the map.

Improved client and vendor data import from strata

For agencies pushing contract data to Strata, the process has been improved with two new enhancements. Clients loaded in Strata can now be imported into DOmedia and matched with existing DOmedia clients (when applicable), or added to the DOmedia client list. Vendors loaded in Strata can now be imported along with the Vendor ID and Media Type.

Ability to collect production grids and spec sheets

DOmedia now allows buyers to request and collect spec sheets and production grids. This data will be submitted by vendors, then captured and compiled in a new Production Counts page.  Specification and creative detail will also be automatically stored in the Traffic Campaign page.

Tech Fees passed to media ocean

When applicable, DOmedia can now be configured to pass appropriate tech fees (TSF) to Media Ocean (MBOX) for each contract billing line item. TSF data will be pushed to MBOX via a separate Tech Fee .txt file

It is estimated that 66% of the world’s population will live in urban areas by the year 2050. Global urbanization is occurring quickly and having a profound impact on the lives of millions. In the US, however, the population is shifting in an unexpected way. This post will examine population distribution in the US and determine its impact on the OOH industry.

Population Trends

The common trend in thought is that the US is undergoing major urbanization. It is assumed that millennials are opting out of the suburban lifestyle in favor of city living at historically high rates. This, however, is only partially the truth.

A deeper examination of the current situation reveals that the US is actually trending towards “suburbanization.” In America, there are 51 metropolitan areas that have a population of at least 1 million. Of those areas, only 9 have experienced growth in their urban cores. Instead, much of the growth that has occurred in America has happened in the suburbs that surround these large metropolises. These areas are experiencing growth at a rate slightly greater than 2%, which is considerably faster than the growth of urban city centers. Although the populations of cities are generally rising, it is not due to a mass migration. This growth instead follows the broader increase in population in the US.

So even though cities aren’t growing as fast as it might be assumed, they are still growing in some areas and among certain demographics. Affluent college-educated individuals are flocking to cities at a historic pace, and cities in the Sun Belt are defying the odds and growing at unexpectedly high rates. In fact, college educated millennials are around 50% more likely to move into an urban area than individuals without college degrees. Only around 32% of people aged 25-34 actually have a bachelor’s degree, so a considerable chunk of this population is still living in suburban settings. All of these trends are creating shifts in the OOH landscape.

Future Impact on OOH

Ads located between cities and suburbs will become OOH gold.

With the general population moving out of the city and into the suburbs that immediately surround it, OOH ads located between the urban core and the city’s outer rim will gain increased significance. These ads will engage this increasing population as they make their daily commute from the suburbs, and capture the attention of tourists visiting the city. Additionally, these locations will also target individuals who choose to live in the city, but work in less densely populated areas.

Suburb advertising will become more popular, and the annual amount spent to purchase it will increase dramatically.

Suburbs are growing, so it is reasonable to think that more ads will be placed specifically in these areas in an attempt to target this growing population. Ad budget will follow the movement of people, and ultimately cause increased spend in these high population, low-density areas. Also, advertisers are gaining more and more access to information that tells them who these people are, and the motivations behind their actions. This coupled with the power of OOH will allow advertisers to create powerful campaigns even in suburban neighborhoods.

Ad formats tailor-made for cities will shift their strategy to target the millennial audience.

As stated earlier, young college-educated individuals are moving into cities at a very high rate. This movement will cause ad formats, such as transit and street furniture, to change their tactics in an effort to target the millennial population. Although experiential may be the format that resonates the most with millennials, as this population moves into cities, transit and street furniture will soon be competing for the top spot.

Whether you prefer advertising in urban settings or suburban neighborhoods you should always start your campaign planning process at DOmedia, the host of the largest database of OOH vendors in the US!

TV viewership habits have seriously changed in the past ten years. Consumers everywhere are forgoing their conventional cable TV subscriptions in favor of over-the-top (OTT) viewing services such as Netflix or Hulu. By doing so, these individuals are assuming the label of “cord cutters“, and becoming a part of the movement that is changing the way advertising dollars are spent. This post will examine the recent shift in linear television’s viewership, and anticipate the ways this movement could impact the OOH industry.

Currently, there ~22 million “cord cutters” and ~34 million “cord nevers” living in the US. This means that in 2018 about 17% of the total US population will have virtually no relationship with linear television. This declining viewership is causing lower ratings and increasingly ineffective ads. Even can’t-miss TV events, such as the Olympics and the Academy Awards, are being seen as less valuable advertising opportunities. Although TV advertising is still experiencing consistent growth, concerns surrounding rising ad prices and potential industry instability have caused some advertisers to shift their budgets away from this once-prominent medium.

One beneficiary of changing TV viewership habits is digital advertising. In fact, 2016 was the first year where digital advertising accounted for a larger portion of US ad spend than television advertising. As less money is spent on television advertising, marketers are pouring their budgets into digital and mobile ads instead. Popular internet-connected OTT networks are benefiting from this shift, but they aren’t the only ones. Digital companies like Facebook, Google, and Youtube are also optimizing their platforms for advertising and creating large amounts of viewable content to compete with both conventional and OTT networks.

With total ad sales expected to increase to by 1.6% in 2018, the race to occupy the space once inhabited by TV advertising is sure to be fierce. Although digital advertising is effective, it is incapable of dominating the advertising industry completely. Digital advertisers consistently combat intense competition, fleeting consumer attention spans, and a host of security threats. These concerns, coupled with out-of-home’s core competencies, will ultimately allow OOH to compete and thrive in the changing industry landscape. In fact, OOH is growing at a rate second only to digital.

The shift away from linear television and towards OTT media is allowing people to decide what they want to view, and at what time they want to view it. This results in many ads being passed over or ignored entirely. Unlike TV or digital advertising though, OOH advertising cannot be blocked or skipped. The physical elements of OOH advertisements make it unavoidable, and play a large role in it being the most noticed and engaged with ad format in the US.

Another appealing component of OOH is that it is one of the most trustworthy advertising mediums. A survey done by FEPE International reported that 24% of respondents found OOH ads to be the “most trustworthy”, while only 3% of those surveyed felt the same way about digital ads. In an age where credible information is becoming increasingly hard to find, consumers appreciate and gravitate towards the honesty of OOH.

In 2017, the OAAA reported that OOH is the “most efficient medium for driving online activity.” This ability to enhance digital advertising is another feature that will allow OOH to compete in the changing market landscape. As digital becomes increasingly important companies will utilize OOH to maximize their investment. OOH is set to grow alongside digital, and after examining current trends that should definitely be seen as a positive.

Ad budgets will always shift to the mediums that allow each dollar to make its greatest impact. With less attention being paid to TV, other formats will aim to capitalize on this vacancy. Digital might be primed for growth, but so is OOH. Study after study confirms that OOH and digital advertisements are more powerful when they work together. As more advertisers become aware of this fact, the increased convergence of digital and OOH becomes very likely. The void left open by linear TV could very well be filled by both digital and OOH, working together to create more effective campaigns.

If you’re looking for incredible OOH opportunities check out DOmedia, host to the largest database of out-of-home vendors in the US, and find one today!