DPAA, the global trade marketing association, driving the growth and digitisation of out-of-home (OOH) media and its growing role in the Omnichannel mix, announced this week the findings from its first study of UK brands’ perceptions of the growing industry.
The ‘DPAA UK Omnichannel Decision Makers Study‘ sponsored by DPAA member Alight Media and conducted by research firm Advertising Perceptions [1], zeroes in on the opportunities for brands that are taking advantage of, or plan to invest in, DOOH – an area that according to GroupM, makes up two thirds of total OOH revenue, which grew approximately 7.7% in 2024 to £1.4 billion. The full study and whitepaper are available exclusively as a members-only benefit for those who are part of the global organisation.
Among the key findings are:
- 95% of omnichannel advertisers plan to maintain or increase DOOH spend in the next 12 months, with increases driven by bigger budgets, strong performance, expanded and better-quality inventory, and improved measurement; in fact, 93% believe that integrating DOOH with other channels improved ROI.
- 88% believe DOOH has become less siloed and an integrated part of cross-channel strategies, with 78% managing omnichannel video campaigns by an integrated or hybrid video group (including TV, mobile, online, DOOH).
- 68% of omnichannel advertisers launched a new DOOH campaign in the past 12 months, while 81% plan to recommend DOOH in the next year.
- 83% of brands believe digital screens can offer upper funnel marketing value in retail stores.
- Advertisers project that programmatic will continue to be a bigger part of DOOH, with allocation of DOOH spending on programmatic rising from 26% in 2024 to 41% in 2026.
- The top five reasons that brands include DOOH in media plans include to complement a digital plan (43%), the ability to geo-target (41%), the connections made with consumers on the path to purchase (39%), contextually relevant targeting (32%), brand safety and the lack of commercial skipping (tie-31%).
“It has become clear that omnichannel planning and buying is the future of DOOH advertising, as silo walls come down, budgets come from overall digital ad budgets, and data and automation place DOOH on a more even playing field alongside its digital peers,” said DPAA President and CEO Barry Frey. “What’s more, by doubling down on data-driven capabilities for all parts of a DOOH campaign lifecycle, UK brands are seeing greater efficiencies and ROI, increasing relevance along the customer journey, which when including retail media networks, can now include both the path to purchase and point of purchase.”
Additional findings include what the most commonly-used real-time triggers are for dynamic creative, key trends impacting perceptions of DOOH, how brands are using data to inform planning, and the value of continued education of DOOH capabilities and best practices.
“Out-of-home is still the only advertising platform that reaches nearly the entire UK population, and the advancements in digital innovations means brands now can now marry unrivalled reach with creative and targeting flexibilities,” remarked Alight Media [2] CEO Matthew Dearden. “This study shines a light on what is driving this growth so we can better understand our customers, benefits they see from using DOOH and where can we work with them to fully maximise the platform success.”
Insights were collected in November 2024 by the DPAA, in partnership with Advertiser Perceptions, which surveyed 75 UK brand marketers involved in omni-digital advertising decision-making. To qualify for the study, marketers had to be spending a minimum of £500K GBP on advertising annually.