In this installment of our Predictions 2024 series, we step outside into the world of out-of-home (OOH) and digital out-of-home (DOOH).

A segment of the industry in recovery from the days of the coronavirus pandemic, will 2024 see DOOH come to the forefront of media minds? The conditions seem suited, with the (expected) axing of the third-party cookie set to bolster this one-to-many forms of media, Questions, however, remain. Will the meteoric climb of retail media continue to open up a new wave of in-store digital signage? How can the sector respond to questions over sustainability? Will generative AI boost the sector, helping to optimise creative on the fly, or will it suffer under the weight of viral "faux-OOH" campaigns made using these tools? Time will tell, but here's what the experts think:

Data integration to link online and offline

Continuing technological advancements in targeting and measurement will make pDOOH increasingly accessible for brands from a commercial and strategic perspective. The increasing amount of privacy-safe first- and third-party data available to marketers through both the buy- and sell-sides of the industry makes it possible for marketers to reach consumers through pDOOH with more relevant messaging delivering increasingly efficient, effective campaigns 

The ability to integrate footfall and offline sales data directly in DSPs will have a huge impact on how pDOOH campaigns are measured by providing marketers with the data needed to link online and offline activity in a meaningful, timely way.   

Standardised verification of impressions via Playout 2023 - an industry-wide tool that securely centralises out-of-home media owner playout data – will help drive adoption of pDOOH. This will in turn create a more fluid movement of inventory and increased opportunity to overlay performance data to inform future media plans.

Dom Kozak, head of programmatic, JCDecaux UK

Resilient and committed to innovation

If 2023 is any indication of what’s to come in OOH next year, we’re in for an incredible ride. Generative AI, retail media, and sustainability represent just a few of the many trends transforming the industry. We anticipate a wave of bold new OOH advertising creative and planning and measurement innovations to come, bolstered by generative AI experimentation, alongside an uptick in demand for tighter integration of in-store inventory into retail media networks, as interest in retail media soars and more in-store inventory becomes accessible. 

Sustainability will remain top of mind as advertisers, media buyers, and ad tech providers navigate these shifts, and we expect to see more advertisers experiment with cross-territory OOH campaigns. To capitalise on this trend, more SSPs, DSPs, and media owners will work to globalize their offerings further. Yet, for all these opportunities, the industry still faces challenges, including the advent of fake OOH. With its resilience and commitment to innovation, the industry is well-positioned to navigate both in 2024 and the years to come.

Liseanne Gillham, VP of marketing, Broadsign

A bright future for pDOOH

OOH media owners are making more of their digital inventory available programmatically, and erecting new digital screens or converting traditional analogue displays into digital formats. The future of programmatic DOOH (pDOOH) is looking very bright for 2024!

VIOOH’s State of the Nation report showed that globally, advertisers expect to increase the number of campaigns including pDOOH to 40%, and to increase ad spend by a third (31%) over the next 18 months. 

Some markets have yet to embrace pDOOH, while others have advanced significantly with high levels of investment. For example, China and LATAM are earlier on in their adoption journey than fast growing European markets such as the UK and Germany. I anticipate we’ll see a significant step-change in 2024 with even more advertisers and significant budgets embracing prDOOH.

Jean-Christophe Conti, CEO, VIOOH

We'll see a spike in creativity, fuelled by tech

OOH has had a buoyant year in 2023, I would expect some trends from 2023 to continue into 2024.  The versatility of OOH will help cement its place within the marketing mix in 2024, with some clients using the channel to run mass reach, high impact campaigns, and others running tactical, contextually relevant campaigns.

Trends for 2024 are likely to be led by technological advancements in the space, including programmatic OOH, data integration, personalisation and sustainability.  We are likely to see a spike in creativity fuelled by technology, such as 3D and AR, with potential new opportunities to engage with the channel.

OOH is not just a highly effective advertising channel, it is also a channel that gives back, this looks set to continue into 2024, with a recent PWC report revealing that 46% of revenue spent on OOH goes back to communities and infrastructure.

Laura Keith, the7stars