Programmatic DOOH yet to reach tipping point, agrees Connects panel
The UK’s programmatic digital out-of-home (pDOOH) market has made significant progress but has yet to reach a tipping point. This was the verdict of a Publicis and IPG agency panel at Vistar Media’s Connects event, held earlier today at The Gallery – Techspace in London (9 October 2025).
The panel featured Emma Glenn, head of programmatic at Spark Foundry, Jacques Du Preez, head of programmatic at Starcom, Hannah Thompson, partner for addressable product and strategy at KINESSO UK and Ireland (IPG Mediabrands’ tech-driven performance marketing agency) and Madeleine Robinson, Northern Europe digital planning lead for Haleon’s Northern Europe Business Unit, part of Publicis.
While adoption is rising and interest from clients is growing, the panel agreed that there are still barriers to full-scale adoption, such as confusion over terminology, a lack of standardisation, and internal fragmentation between teams.
KINESSO UK and Ireland’s Thompson said: “It’s functionally possible now, but we’re only halfway through the data and efficiency stage. Once that becomes the default, that’s the tipping point — but I don’t think we’re there yet.”
Independents leading the way
Notably, the panel highlighted how independent agencies have been quicker to embrace pDOOH due to their agility and flatter structures.
“Indies are running away with it,” was Thompson’s verdict.
Despite larger agencies being open to testing, Thompson exemplified how certain packages they receive require guaranteed delivery, and programmatic is not always able to deliver on this.
“Going into Q4 programmatic feels like a risk,” she added.
However, confidence in the channel is still growing, with the Ad Exchange projecting OOH spend to reach £1bn next year. Spark Foundry’s Glenn pointed to this, also noting that with 75% of inventory expected to be digital by 2027, more brands will begin to embrace programmatic.
Additionally, clients with smaller budgets are also starting to see programmatic as a way to access the reach OOH as a medium offers, but without the high entry costs of digital or TV buys.
Current barriers
Despite clear momentum, several obstacles remain that prevent wider industry adoption.
Starcom’s Du Preez underlined how different definitions of impressions and the terminology are a pitfall: “We don’t even speak the same language,” he said.”What counts as an impression in digital is entirely different from what an OOH buyer understands.”
For pDOOH campaigns, buyers use the same automated systems used for buying online ad slots; however, the way these campaigns are measured and reported on follows traditional OOH, meaning the language surrounding this must be standardised to scale pDOOH campaigns.
Meanwhile, several of the agencies outlined how internal structures still separate programmatic and OOH teams, which has hindered progress and been a learning curve, with Glenn stating: “Processes have needed to be fine-tuned.”
The need for standardisation
Throughout the discussion, the panel made it clear that there is a requirement for industry-wide standardisation across formats, metrics, and measurement.
Du Preez highlighted: “Without it, everything has to be a custom job and that’s inefficient.”
Glenn echoed this, making the point that equivalent standards to IAB are needed for OOH.
Differences in screen environments, impression counting and creative specifications across markets were outlined as ongoing issues.
Additionally, minor inconsistencies such as DSPs doing impressions multipliers differently were cited as reasons for reporting discrepancies, which ultimately slows down progress.
Looking ahead
Even in the face of many challenges, the panel still argued that programmatic was the future.
With digital demand and inventory increasing, lower barriers to entry, and continually evolving measurement tools, it has become clear that the UK market can expect changes in the coming years.
Du Preez emphasised that the industry is moving towards increasing efficiency, arguing that clients will not pay for three or four teams to work on one activation.
“If you’re not getting into a buying platform now, then you should have done it a year ago — the entire industry is moving in that direction,” said Du Preez.
Vistar is a programmatic advertising platform for DOOH media.