The agency shift that finally unlocked programmatic DOOH 

Opinion

Vistar Media’s sales director explains why he believes pDOOH will account for around 30% of UK OOH spend by the end of 2027.

When I first tried to get Vistar Media’s programmatic digital out-of-home (pDOOH) offering onto the media plans of holding company advertisers, it felt like a game of hot potato. The programmatic teams pointed me to the OOH teams. The OOH teams didn’t want to talk about programmatic. Round and round it went, no one took ownership, and nothing moved forward.

Sound familiar? CTV was once the hot potato, too.

That experience taught me that the real barrier to pDOOH adoption inside the UK’s biggest media agencies isn’t budget or technology, it’s structure. Or rather, the absence of a dedicated structure for this specific channel.

The breakthrough eventually came through the planners, who I found got genuinely excited about the possibilities pDOOH could offer. 

These teams care about creativity, are used to working with data, and want outcomes measured. Creativity, data, and measurement are among the biggest innovations programmatic technology offers for OOH, and once planning teams got excited about them, they spread quickly to their advertiser clients and eventually to the rest of the agency.

Fast forward almost two years, and we’re seeing the major media agencies implement the right internal structures to manage the planning and buying of pDOOH. OOH teams now understand the benefits of programmatic technology and are requesting training on the platform.

Senior leaders from programmatic, planning, investment and OOH are sitting in the same room to discuss ways of working. This is a huge shift, driven by the innovation offered to their media plans and, of course, the increased revenue it’s bringing into the agencies.

Where the budget is actually coming from

A recent DOOH Momentum Report indicated that while 54% of those surveyed have reallocated spend from other digital channels, 50% is from traditional OOH, and 40% say their increased DOOH investment comes from entirely new, incremental budgets.

This suggests a channel expanding the media plan, rather than simply competing within it. Over the past 12 months, 87% of respondents increased their investment in programmatic DOOH, with 90% planning further growth in the year ahead.

My personal experience aligns with this report: the majority of budgets I see flowing into pDOOH are from digital channels, primarily display and YouTube. Agencies may finally be realising that a race to the CPCV bottom on YouTube and boring display banners may not actually be driving outcomes for their advertisers.

Digital-first brands that have been heavily invested here can and have easily adapted to pDOOH. It’s the same discipline applied to a much more exciting canvas.

This is brilliant news for the OOH ecosystem, as new money is entering the industry, driving overall growth. The UK OOH market continues to expand strongly, with digital formats leading the way, and pDOOH acting as a major driver.

In addition, a significant portion of agency spend growth is coming from multi-market campaigns. London is increasingly being used as a hub for planning and executing international OOH, providing agencies with a new string to their bow and aligning neatly with their approach to centrally buying other digital channels.

Three benefits that make the case to clients

When agencies are presenting pDOOH to brand clients, the three benefits that stand out are the new opportunities presented by: data, creativity and measurement.

On data, the ability to plug in any API feed is genuinely transformative for OOH. Weather targeting is the obvious starting point, but we’re running campaigns triggered by flight data, traffic conditions, product feeds, location and more.

You can also use third-party and first-party audience data to ensure campaigns appear on the right screens at the right times. As well as driving efficiencies, data can enable agencies to leverage audiences from their online campaigns for OOH activity, tying online and offline together in a way never seen before.

Creatively, those same data signals can be pulled into the ads themselves, for example, the nearest store locations, live scores or real-time weather. This ensures the work is more relevant and more likely to capture attention; it’s a material upgrade on what traditional OOH has offered.

For measurement, the digital pipes have made OOH genuinely accountable. We can now track sales, brand impact, footfall, and search intent. These metrics allow agencies to demonstrate solid return on investment (ROI) to clients in a way that simply wasn’t possible before.

A recent HelloFresh campaign hit the pDOOH holy trinity by using data, creativity and measurement.

Third-party audience data was used to ensure ads were appearing on screens and, at times, relevant to meal kit subscribers and families with high food expenditure. First-party data and real-time location signals were used to dynamically enhance the creative, highlighting the nearest town and the recipes HelloFresh was offering that week.

The results were measured through a brand study and showed meaningful lifts in consideration (+10%), purchase intent (+9%), and preference (+38%) in one of the UK’s most competitive categories.

What great agency engagement looks like

To get an innovative campaign like HelloFresh over the line, a purpose-built agency set up is required. One where planning, OOH and programmatic teams are fully integrated, each bringing their distinct strengths to the table and all working closely with their pDOOH partner.

* Planning teams play a critical role in shaping ambitious, creative ideas and selling them into clients. Whilst ensuring the DOOH strategy aligns with the rest of the plan.

* OOH specialists ensure those ideas are grounded in channel expertise, helping to optimise plans and develop stronger, more informed briefs.

* Programmatic teams act as platform specialists, managing activation and driving campaign performance.

When these three disciplines work in sync, the result is better briefs that understand OOH and the benefits programmatic offers. The result is more strategic, better executed and ultimately more effective DOOH campaigns.

Thanks in part to changing agency structures and on-the-ground work by pDOOH specialists like Vistar Media, adoption is now moving at pace in the UK. It’s been a fascinating two years watching this change happen, and there’s still more to come. 

In 2024, the IAB predicted pDOOH would account for 16% of UK OOH spend by 2027. That stat seemed relatively ambitious at the time. But now? I don’t think it accounted for the excitement we’ve seen, nor the growth this next twelve to eighteen months has in store.

My prediction is that by the end of 2027, pDOOH will account for something closer to 30%. Bringing the UK in line with comparably innovative markets for ad tech, such as the Netherlands, Germany or the US.

The opportunity is clear: the technology is proven, and brands are increasingly ready to diversify beyond over-reliant channels. By bringing OOH, programmatic, and planning teams together and confidently presenting pDOOH case studies to clients, agencies can significantly accelerate adoption.

Those that do will be best positioned to lead – and benefit from – pDOOH’s continued growth.

Tom Barbour is the sales director for the UK at Vistar Media.