Ahead of ATS Singapore, Franck Vidal, director of Southeast Asia sales & partnerships, Vistar Media, discusses programmatic digital out-of-home (pDOOH). In this exclusive Q&A, Vidal assesses the evolution of pDOOH, how data can enhance pDOOH, and how advertisers are leveraging the medium in Singapore and the broader APAC region.

What can programmatic DOOH offer advertisers?

Whether commuting to work, walking through a city, or waiting in line at the grocery store, today’s consumers spend a significant amount of time outside of their homes. While consumers may be reachable at certain times through TV, mobile, social, and search ads, as they move throughout their day, these channels may not always be available – that’s where programmatic digital out-of-home (pDOOH) really shines!  

PDOOH provides advertisers with a privacy-compliant and brand-safe way to reach consumers with high-impact ads while they are out and about. By activating screens in high-traffic environments like public transportation hubs, roadside billboards, malls, grocery stores, and apartment buildings, advertisers are able to engage buyers at multiple touchpoints in the real world to drive awareness and generate interest through repeated brand exposure. 

In addition, buying programmatically gives advertisers unparalleled access to screens in contextually relevant environments from office buildings to convenience stores, where people are more likely to be in the market for specific products. This presents an incredible advantage to advertisers, as they can now launch DOOH campaigns in targeted locations knowing an in-market buyer is more likely to see their ad. 

Finally, the advanced data-driven targeting and creative capabilities, in-depth measurement solutions, and mobile extensions available allow advertisers to incorporate pDOOH into their existing omnichannel strategies – seamlessly integrating their branding and messaging between online and offline touchpoints and ultimately moving consumers down the sales funnel.

How are developments in programmatic informing other OOH formats?

Programmatic DOOH is informing and transforming the entire OOH advertising landscape. The tremendous strides programmatic DOOH has taken in recent years are changing the way advertisers think about OOH as a medium, and where it sits within their broader marketing mix. 

Historically, OOH has been known as an awareness driver, but that view is rapidly changing. Advertisers are now able to leverage pDOOH as both a lower-funnel conversion engine as well as an integral part of their omnichannel mix – allowing them to consistently reach their target audience with powerful messages and drive measurable value for their business. For example, we know OOH drives online activation and prompts consumers to take action, with 41% of consumers using a search engine after being exposed to OOH advertising. 

Furthermore, the advanced targeting and measurement capabilities of programmatic OOH have refreshed interest in traditional OOH advertisement and opened up new possibilities for adopting data-driven approaches – pushing the OOH industry toward greater efficiency and effectiveness and enabling all OOH formats to work together to achieve greater business outcomes for advertisers.

What can data do for OOH? How can data be overlaid on programmatic OOH transactions?

From beginning to end, data plays a pivotal role in nearly every facet of a programmatic DOOH campaign. Starting with audience segmentation and targeting, advertisers have the ability to tap into privacy-compliant first- and third-party data sources to build DOOH audiences from demographic data, visitation patterns, purchase history, and such. 

Advertisers can then layer on location data to target specific points of interest, times of the day, or days of the week to programmatically activate DOOH media at perfect moments throughout their audiences’ day. This allows advertisers to dramatically improve the effectiveness of their campaigns and maximise the value of their investment. 

Going further, advertisers can pull real-time data feeds into their pDOOH campaigns to incorporate elements like countdowns, the nearest store location, weather conditions at a highlighted destination and more, into the actual creative design of the ad itself. This capability enables brands to drive home relevance, create a sense of urgency and encourage immediate audience response with every single ad play – all without having to build multiple versions of their creative.

What measurement tools exist to allow programmatic OOH to be measured? How have these developed in recent years?

Measurement is a core component of programmatic OOH, demonstrating the effectiveness of a campaign, which is why Vistar works with top-tier third-party measurement solutions. This helps advertisers to understand the real-world outcomes of their DOOH campaigns across the KPIs that matter most.

Using brand lift surveys, advertisers can gain insight into top-of-funnel performance metrics like awareness, favourability, consideration, and purchase intent. Brands can also measure the impact of DOOH campaigns by the lift in store visits through footfall attribution studies.

The increasing supply of measurement solutions available for DOOH provides brands with granular information and clear insight into how their campaigns are moving the needle on upper- or lower-funnel metrics and allows them to make more informed decisions. I am excited to see the development of measurement tools continue to evolve in SEA as it has in other markets.

How are advertisers leveraging programmatic DOOH in Singapore and the broader APAC region?

Overall, while programmatic DOOH is still relatively nascent in SEA and mature in ANZ, the channel has seen explosive growth in recent years. 

Singapore in particular has led the charge in adopting pDOOH. We’ve seen a steep rise in the digitalisation of local inventory and an increased savviness among agencies in leveraging this vast supply of screens to reach their audiences with impactful messaging. 

Additionally, as the cross-channel capabilities and measurability of the channel continue to grow across APAC, we’re seeing more marketers than ever utilising pDOOH within their broader omnichannel strategies to maintain a cohesive presence across the consumer journey. 

With ATS Singapore on the horizon, what are you looking forward to most about the event?

This will be my second time at ATS Singapore, and I can’t wait to be part of it again! I’m very excited to engage with brands and agencies, listen to their wish lists, understand their challenges and hear about their ambitions for the remainder of 2023 and 2024. I’m also looking forward to meeting and sharing knowledge and experiences with other ad tech partners.

To hear more from Vistar Media, and a wealth of other experts in ad tech, get your ATS Singapore 2023 tickets today.