Times Radio delivers breaking news on outdoor programmatically
Times Radio has launched a dynamic campaign broadcasting reactions to live breaking news across digital out-of-home (DOOH) sites in real-time.
The data-driven campaign uses WPP specialist agency Kinetic’s global programmatic OOH platform Sightline to target audiences interested in news and current affairs at the most relevant moments. It features messages reacting to the biggest breaking news stories like Partygate (pictured- collage main image) the scandal in which Prime Minister Boris Johnson was found to have broken his own Covid lockdown laws.
DOOH.com and mSix&Partners, the joint venture from GroupM and The&Partnership, also contributed to the campaign which uses dynamic creative across digital 48-sheets in cities across the UK within eight hours of news happening.
Neil McKenney, chief commercial officer at DOOH.com, described this campaign where DOOH.com handled the dynamic creative as “unusual” because of the fact it marks an advancement from typical OOH lead times.
He told The Media Leader: “We’re working in partnership with Kinetic to pull off a programmatic and dynamic campaign that is truly reactive.”
“The really powerful part of this is partnering it up with the programmatic side that overall makes it a lot more reactive,” he added.
“Normally with dynamic you’ll see it’s based on a campaign that is already booked weeks or months in advance and then obviously, we can change content instantly, but with this, it’s a case of right, there’s a news story about to break, let’s get the dynamic file on the screen via the programmatic booking with the initial piece of news creative, and then, if it’s needed, it can be changed instantly once it’s live up on the screen as well.”
This campaign is the latest in a series that Kinetic and Times Radio have run over the past few months around contemporary news stories like the publication of the Sue Gray report, local elections in early May and Johnson’s vote of confidence when related ads were released on the same day the stories broke (see pictures above and below).
Alys Donnelly, head of programmatic at Kinetic, said: “It’s great to be able to show the true extent of OOH’s abilities for a brand that absolutely relies on demonstrating its ability to keep on top of consumer interest and breaking news.”
“We’re proud to once again prove that Kinetic is ahead of the pack in data-driven programmatic DOOH advertising, and hope this serves as a case study for brands who are yet to see the tremendous steps our medium has taken in its ability to adaptively reach consumers with the right ads, at the right time,” she commented.
Times Radio celebrated two years on air in January this year and in the most recent quarterly RAJAR figures registered 40% quarter-on-quarter audience growth, going from an average 502,000 weekly listeners to 703,000 between Q4 2021 and Q1 2022.