The advertising signage market has been around for decades. But programmatic digital out-of-home (pDOOH) advertising has upped the game for retailers. These highly effective programmatic displays can be in places beyond the locations of traditional signage. This makes it possible for retailers to craft more relevant shopping experiences with the ability to change ads quickly to respond to trends, breaking news, or even weather conditions.

Early adopters are fully aware of the benefits this transformed medium offers. The pDOOH market is growing fast, set to reach around $59 billion by 2031. Just like highly targeted ads online, this transformed medium extends highly targeted omnichannel marketing to the offline world. The real-time aspect of these immersive experiences can influence customers and differentiate brands, upping the game in retail advertising.

 

What is pDOOH and Why You Should Care?

What makes pDOOH so powerful? It’s agility. The devices are programmatic and easy to change when and where to advertise. Companies can target customers by demographics, behavior, relevant interests, and more. Further, the dynamic nature of this medium means advertisers have more options like time of day and specific location. Marketing executives in the retail sector know how important influence is to potential customers when adopting new marketing practices and technologies within their organization. The pDOOH signage allows marketing teams to extend targeted campaigns in non-traditional spaces. 

Better Targeting and Agility in Offline Locations

Programmatic ads have been a successful strategy in online advertising, allowing companies to fine-tune their targeting to optimize campaigns. Now, companies can leverage this same highly targeted aspect of advertising in the offline world. Companies can push relevant ads like location-specific or time-of-day relevance, making the ads more pertinent. One of the main advantages of programmatic OOH platforms is that they enable data-driven targeting. Companies can use various sources of data such as location, weather, traffic, time, and demographics, to reach your ideal audience at the right place and time. Companies can respond quickly to breaking news, changes in weather, etc. to achieve maximum relevancy. The agility and flexibility of this medium provide maximum customer impact, a coveted goal for every advertiser.

pDOOH Provide Better Measurement

Advertising and branding efforts must be dynamic and real-time to be profitable. With traditional outdoor signage, advertisers placed one ad and waited for weeks to change strategies. Digital signage provides dynamic performance measuring. With pDOOH, ad influence can be measured faster due to the ability to serve up new ads quickly and see the impact in near real-time. Companies can even track and measure impressions with mobile tagging. 

An Unexpected Benefit – New Revenue Stream

But there is another way to approach pDOOH. Retailers and other companies will find that pDOOH initiatives provide mutually beneficial partnership opportunities with businesses unrelated to their industry. Large office complexes, shopping districts, national gas station chains, etc., can add revenue streams by installing pDOOH displays and selling ad space. As mentioned above, programmatic displays can be in many areas outside the traditional locations for signage. For example, airports and sporting or entertainment venues have leveraged this revenue stream effectively. But what about in restaurants and cafes, gas stations, elevators, gyms, office buildings, etc.? Owners or operators of these locations can add valuable revenue streams by selling space and time on their digital signage.

Fast Growing Area of Advertising

Due to the flexibility of pDOOH, the demand for this medium is growing. By the end of 2024, ad spending in pDOOH will more than double. Many top companies are already leveraging this new advertising medium. Businesses like Apple, Coca-Cola, Expedia, American Express, and IHG are among the top 10 advertisers on the platform. Incorporating pDOOH solutions is simple, offers endless targeting opportunities that can boost sales, provides faster measurement than traditional signage advertising, and can provide new revenue streams. 

Digital advertising changed the game in internet marketing. And now, pDOOH is a game changer in offline advertising. Solutions like Wipro’s VisionEDGE pDOOH help companies leverage this innovative technology. It is flexible and scalable, and the real-time aspect of these immersive experiences helps companies create offline world immersive experiences that will inspire and motivate customers and differentiate brands.

About the Author

Chris DiPierro 
Head of Global Market Development, Wipro VisionEDGE, Wipro Limited

Chris has more than 20 years of experience building fan engagement, marketing, and partnership activation programs inside professional sports teams and venues. He now leverages that experience to help sports and entertainment organizations, retailers, and transportation hubs engage customers and create revenue opportunities with dynamic digital signage and IPTV.