Programmatic advertising has taken over as the primary way to buy and sell ads online. In 2021, 90% of display ads were transacted through programmatic algorithms, according to eMarketer

Now, advances in adtech are bringing one of the biggest advertising trends of recent years to the out-of-home (OOH) format. 

Digital out-of-home (DOOH) advertising has remained agile and resilient in the wake of the pandemic and global economic turbulence. 

This is because the sector continues to adopt innovative approaches and programmatic trends that keep it relevant while minimizing costs and maximizing ROAS. 

With pDOOH set to take over the programmatic landscape in 2023, let’s take a look at nine pDOOH trends we expect to emerge over the coming year.

1. More Advertising Dollars Will Go into pDOOH

Global demand for programmatic DOOH ads is going to continue growing in 2023. According to Statista, 76% of marketers plan to allocate more of their budgets to DOOH campaigns in 2023 — and much of this spending will be driven by rapid programmatic DOOH expansion. 

In fact, Insider Intelligence forecasts that it will be a billion-dollar advertising industry by the end of 2024, with pDOOH ad spend more than doubling over the next two years.

2. There Will Be More Real-Time Bidding Opportunities

Until recently, the technology that allows for real-time bidding in online advertising (OpenRTB) wasn’t available for the digital out-of-home advertising format. 

Now, with new technological advancements in the pDOOH space, we’ll likely see more real-time bidding opportunities become available through the same mainstream DSPs you use to run your online digital advertising campaigns. 

3. Advertisers Will Use Data More Strategically

Until now, OOH advertisers have used metrics such as impressions, reach, brand awareness, and online and offline sales to measure the success of their DOOH campaigns. 

However, one of the biggest challenges has been attribution and understanding how digital screens fit in with the rest of their media mix. 

Programmatic capabilities have already changed the way data is used in online advertising. For example, trigger-based targeting enables advertisers to predict future behavior and create ads that align with customers’ future needs. 

Another important aspect of programmatic advertising is the ability to update and optimize ads in real-time to improve performance. 

As pDOOH continues to evolve, the data available will become more accurate. For example, visual sensors on screens will detect engagement and dwell time, and screens will be able to tag users’ smartphones for retargeting. This will allow marketers to attribute sales and conversions to pDOOH ads, making it easier to measure the success of a campaign. 

Additional data triggers will also be available, such as the weather, breaking news stories, sporting events, or the time of day. 

4. Programmatic DOOH Will Become More Dynamic

Dynamic creative optimization (DCO) enables marketers to change advertising messages in real-time to suit the preferred target audience and a specific location or environment. 

DCO is already well-established in the world of online digital ads, but in pDOOH, marketers have been reluctant to deploy dynamic creatives, possibly due to the belief that there is a lot of manual work or multiple layers of approvals involved.

However, DCO holds great potential to enhance the returns on pDOOH investment with contextual targeting and contextually-relevant ads. 

More advertisers are likely to start partnering with programmatic DOOH experts to minimize the friction in creating, running, and dynamically optimizing pDOOH campaigns while driving bigger returns. 

5. More Creative Formats Will Be Available

Not only will it be easier to dynamically update ad creatives in real-time, but the number of ad formats pDOOH supports will also expand. 

As brands compete to stand out, the need for creativity will continue to reign. We can expect to see pDOOH ads becoming even more innovative and personalized as they adopt new creative formats to keep audiences engaged.

For example, digital audio will likely break through as an emerging format within DOOH, and new multi-dimensional creative formats like anamorphic 3D video will also become part of the mix.

6. Header Bidding Solutions Will Be More Widely Available

Header bidding is an advanced method of programmatic trading that allows media owners to offer their inventory to multiple supply-side platforms (SSPs) using a unified auction framework.

Header bidding has the ability to streamline media planning for publishers and provide transparent access to premium inventory for advertisers. 

Although some publishers have been hesitant to adopt the solution, it will become more mainstream in 2023 as they begin to understand how it can help them gain greater yield on their inventory.  

The increased adoption of header bidding among DOOH suppliers and publishers will make pDOOH inventory and placements available to more advertisers.

7. Ads Will Become Hyper-Local

The versatility of pDOOH will allow advertisers to reach audiences in a hyper-local way that hasn’t been possible until now. 

For example, advertisers will be able to choose placements for an individual digital display screen or within a radius around a point of interest.

This form of targeting will make ads highly relevant to audiences. Advertisers will be able to leverage context and location to drive footfall to brick-and-mortar businesses or simply raise brand awareness and trust by tailoring to local needs. 

8. pDOOH Will Expand for Greater Impact

The average person sees thousands of adverts per day, which can lead to “ad blindness.” This is when people consciously or unconsciously filter out anything that looks like an ad so they can focus on the information they’re looking for.

Therefore, getting people’s attention with online ads is getting harder — but pDOOH has the potential to make more of an impact by delivering messages in unexpected places. 

pDOOH placements are no longer limited to just billboards. We can expect to see increasing numbers of digital display screens everywhere — from gyms, bars, and coworking spaces to subways, office buildings, and gas stations.

As the number of screen locations proliferates, advertisers that harness pDOOH will be able to make a bigger impact on their target audiences.

9. pDOOH Will Integrate with Omnichannel Marketing Strategies

Customers these days expect a 360-degree experience from their favorite brands — which is why so many advertisers invest in omnichannel marketing strategies that include CTV, video, and audio advertising as well as traditional display ads.

Integrating pDOOH into these strategies will help advertisers deliver more dynamic and contextually relevant ads to increase brand awareness and trust out in the real world. 

For example, on a cold day, a coffee shop could use contextual data triggers like the weather to entice customers to come in for a coffee. Perhaps a person has already seen an ad for this coffee shop through another channel, and learning that they’re just around the corner from a nice, hot cup of coffee could be the nudge that pushes them to go there and buy it. 

Another way pDOOH can integrate into a multichannel ecosystem is through retargeting. For example, a user who has already interacted with a brand online can be retargeted offline with pDOOH ads, adding an extra touchpoint to the buyer journey.

Add pDOOH to Your Marketing Mix in 2023

With technological advancements making pDOOH increasingly accessible, this advertising trend looks set to continue growing throughout 2023 and beyond. 

Brands that adopt pDOOH early will be able to drive more brand awareness and increase engagement, gaining an advantage over their competitors.

The great thing about pDOOH is that it’s easy to add into a digital campaign and can work with any budget level. 

To learn more about the power of pDOOH and how to incorporate it into your marketing strategy, check out our article on “Programmatic DOOH vs. DOOH: Why pDOOH Wins.