October 25, 2023 | Spotlights

Spotlight: US

A deep dive into the programmatic digital out of home (DOOH) landscape in the US

A deep dive into the programmatic digital out of home (DOOH) landscape in the US

Introduction to the Market: US 

As the world’s largest ad market, the United States has a population of 334M across fifty states expanding over 2,800 miles from coast to coast. 

From an advertising perspective, traditional linear TV and CTV still remain as two of the top mediums for advertisers, however as people continue to travel outside of the home, DOOH is consistently on the rise. In fact, US DOOH ad spend will increase to $3.16B in 2024 from $2.94B in 2023. 

The DOOH Landscape 

The US’ digital out of home (DOOH) revenue accounted for nearly one third of total OOH net media revenue in 2022, largely driven by the increased adoption of technology and automation such as programmatic DOOH. There has never been a more important time for advertisers to fully leverage the advantages that programmatic DOOH can bring to any omnichannel strategy, including increased flexibility, efficient audience targeting and unprecedented capabilities for measurement. 

Moving away from traditional mediums such as linear TV, online and CTV, is often the biggest barrier for some advertisers but with more brands beginning to see the true power of a data-driven programmatic approach in driving higher performing OOH campaigns with precision and the ability to do so on a global scale, it's clear that there is still a huge opportunity for growth. One thing is for sure, the future of DOOH is bright in the US. 

The Opportunities

With a robust suite of products and solutions to service both buyers and publishers, Hivestack is perfectly positioned to drive growth for its clients. The United States is the second largest OOH market in the world and our platform is integrated with all of the leading DOOH media owners covering over 304K+screens across 267K+sites with access to 494 billion impressions among a variety of valuable audiences and popular advertising seasons (i.e. Super Bowl and Black Friday).

* Based on available screens for Q4 2023

Audiences

  • Urban residents

  • Luxury retail shoppers

  • Sports fans

  • Commuters

  • IT professionals

  • Business and leisure travelers

  • Tourists

  • Music festival goers

  • Back to School shoppers

  • Millennials

  • Holiday shoppers

  • Summer travelers

  • And many more!

Popular Advertising Seasons

  • January - New Year's 

  • February - Super Bowl & Valentine’s Day

  • March/April - March Madness, Spring Breaks & Easter

  • May - Mother's Day, BBQ season, beginning of summer

  • June - Father's Day

  • July - 4th of July

  • Aug - Back To School

  • September - Labor Day

  • November - Thanksgiving &  Black Friday

  • December - Holiday season

DOOH screens are available to be activated programmatically throughout all 50 states across some of the most prominent media owners including Outfront, Clear Channel Outdoor, Lamar, Volta and Zoom Media.

Popular Locations

  • Times Square - NYC

  • NASDAQ Tower - Time Square (NYC)

  • The Reef - LA

  • Las Vegas

  • Market Street - Philadelphia 

Venue/Format Types

  • Retail Media Networks 

  • Airports

  • Large format roadside billboards

  • Doctors offices

  • Hotels

  • Malls

  • Office buildings

  • Subways

  • Taxis

  • Train stations

  • Bus stops

  • Gas stations

  • EV charging stations

The dynamic and fast evolving DOOH industry is experiencing continued growth and with that, media owners and advertisers are increasingly seeking sophisticated solutions to enhance their strategies. The importance of unified solutions in this field has become evident, with a plethora of options emerging for DOOH publishers to boost revenue. Amid this growth, the emphasis on optimizing and maximizing yield has taken center stage. Hivestack’s DOOH Ad Server plays a pivotal role in streamlining screen network management and campaign optimization. It offers a unified platform that empowers publishers to achieve critical KPIs efficiently. Two years ago, Hivestack also opened up its Ad Server to work with multiple SSP/Exchanges with the introduction of a new, unified auction framework that optimizes publisher yield across various sources - the industry’s first DOOH Header Bidder

The Power of Outside-In

Brands, agencies and omnichannel DSPs have a unique opportunity to activate cross-border campaigns using the Hivestack platform, and target audiences at scale in markets all over the world. Whether US advertisers wish to reach audiences outside of America, or whether US media owners want to attract revenue from foreign buyers - Hivestack’s advanced programmatic DOOH technology enables local and global buyers to achieve precision with scale, all over the world.

“Current market conditions present a huge opportunity for DOOH here in the US. As an industry we have a unique and trusted channel which stands out from all other mediums in terms of its ability to drive successful brand campaigns with precision at scale..” - Hector Gonzalez, Chief Revenue Officer, Americas 

Conclusion

As brands continue to seek new opportunities to connect with audiences outside of the home, competition is increasing as is the need to be consistently strategic, impactful and ultimately drive successful business outcomes. In addition to creating the ability to precisely plan, activate and measure across campaigns, DOOH is perfect for leveraging technology and automation to be flexible and agile, meeting the consumer where they are with the messages that they will most likely engage with at any given moment. 

With audience attention continuing to dwindle, the ability to capture attention and drive meaningful engagement is not an achievement that all digital channels can boast in 2023. Programmatic DOOH uses unique sources of audience data to truly target the right groups at scale and should absolutely be considered a crucial part of a brand’s omnichannel strategy, paving the way for successfully integrated campaigns in the US and globally.