Last month, the Global OOH industry trade body, the DPAA, released its report into the media decision-making of omnichannel brand advertisers. The report paints a clear picture of an industry going through an exciting and generational shift as media owners and advertisers lean into the opportunities of programmatic buying and digital OOH.
But as an industry we should be clear-eyed about the fact that global investment in the channel is dwarfed by that of Online, which today commands more than 10x that of OOH. In the US, share of OOH ad spend is even forecast to go down, falling to just 2% by 2028.
So when advertisers tell us directly the changes we need to make in order for them to increase their investment in OOH, we need to stand up and take action.
We know that making measurement a priority will unlock growth and empower the industry to become a 10% channel. And on this front, the data from the survey was clear – the most important component of measurement for brands is the implementation of third party, fully independent verification.
When asked which measurement capabilities were important for driving the future growth of DOOH, third party independent verification was top of the list. More than half of all respondents (55%) cited third party independent verification as a driver for growth – on par with those who responded with marketing mix models (MMM) demonstrating positive OOH advertising outcomes, and significantly exceeding those who said multi touch attribution (MTA) and in-store behavior attribution.
Analyzing these results, it’s not hard to see what advertisers are trying to tell us: They’re looking for confidence and certainty that their OOH advertising investment is delivering as planned, and that it is having a positive impact on their business.
And as an industry, it should be our urgent priority to be proactive and give it to them .
Here at Veridooh, our mission is to make OOH a more trusted, automated and effective channel. Fully independent Verification is an essential part of this, offering advertisers access to a level of transparency that is essential for building trust in OOH as a reliable and effective medium.
We are incredibly proud of, and inspired by, the many stories from advertisers, media owners and media agencies of how independent verification has helped drive growth in OOH.
Nowhere is this more evident than in Australia, where fully independent third-party verification has become an indispensable tool for giving advertisers confidence in OOH and creating the conditions for growth in the channel.
When Veridooh launched in Australia just five years ago, there was uncertainty regarding the type of impact this would have on the industry. Not only did these concerns prove to be unfounded – today, OOH’s share of ad spend is a global example at more than 12%. The industry today is growing at nearly double the annual rate as it was before independent verification achieved mass utilization.
That this would happen should not have come as a surprise: Australia’s fantastic OOH media owners offer an exceptional product, and independent verification gave them a platform to prove it.
And advertisers have responded in kind: 75% of Veridooh’s top spending clients have increased their OOH investment since introducing independent verification, by an average of 60%.
So, how can the industry learn from this example?
We must move forward with implementation of fully independent verification, giving advertisers unparalleled confidence in their campaign delivery and effectiveness.
In my role as Co-CEO of Veridooh, I often find myself out of the road talking with senior marketing leaders about how they factor OOH into their channel plans. I always walk away from these conversations buzzing by how much passion and support for the channel there is: they appreciate and understand that no other channel can offer both the scale, targeting and brand impact of OOH.
They’re excited by how DOOH and programmatic are presenting new opportunities for their marketing teams to be both more data-driven and more creatively dynamic.
And they’re crying out for the industry to support them with independently collected campaign delivery data that gives them the confidence to increase their investment into OOH.
By owning and championing the implementation of independent verification as a channel feature, OOH can offer a meaningful point of differentiation vs Online and other traditional channels. It’s a huge step forward to building a truly data-driven, innovative and future-facing channel that answers the needs of our most important stakeholders – our clients.
As the results from the DPAA survey illustrates, independent verification is not just a nice-to-have; it is a necessity for building trust and demonstrating the effectiveness of DOOH campaigns. For the industry to continue its growth trajectory, it needs to embrace the implementation of fully independent verification today.
Original author:
Mo Moubayed
Co-Founder and Co-CEO
Veridooh