The Takeaways and Impact for programmatic OOH

The takeaways and impact for programmatic OOH following the ISBA/PwC Programmatic Supply Chain Transparency Study 

Most will recall Mark Prichard, P&G, landmark speech back in Jan ’17 to prioritise transparency and control on digital media. Following the publication of IBSA/PwC ISBA/PwC Programmatic Supply Chain Transparency Study, many are questioning how much has changed.

To summarise, ISBA commissioned PwC to understand the flow of money from the advertiser down to the publisher. They engaged with15 of the UK’s largest advertisers with a combined annual media investment of £800 million, 10% of which is spent programmatically.

The headline of this research, which took 2 years to complete, reports that only 51% of money ends up with the publishers, with 49% taken in the delivery process. Much of this will be legitimate & add value to the media buy, however, it also reports 15% cannot be accounted for, termed “Unknown delta”

Programmatic is without question complex, but it comes with the promise to simplify the buying process, to allow flexibility, agility & accelerate display, all key elements in the proliferation of Digital Out of Home (DOOH)

The success, development and growth of programmatic OOH has the advantages of learning from the pitfalls of programmatic display. It is critical that none of these issues are replicated nor imported. The sector has such an opportunity to help client/agencies navigate the ecosystem, and remove any transferred doubt from programmatic display

Not dissimilar to programmatic display, OOH needs to accelerate the standardisation of practices, compliance and terminology. The prerequisite for clarification on language is so needed to bring a joined-up approach, both across developed markets and less mature markets. The opportunity to nip confusion in the bud is in the here and now.

Revenue transparency should be much less of an issue in the OOH market. Whilst there are fewer players in the supply chain, many don’t charge commissions on the buy side, so the start is good and strengthens trust. However, a commonality must be agreed upon.

Transparency on data is also worth mentioning. With Route in the UK, Geopath in the US & many more recognised audiences measurement bodies forming the campaign audience foundation, many data sets are overlaid to further drill down on the targeted audience. It remains essential that the introduction of other data sources are clean, clear knowledge of the origin, with an understanding of the collection methodology to guarantee data has not been corrupted.

Accountability on programmatic OOH is simplified with most operators reporting campaign detail through accessible dashboards. From actual frames, environments, time of day through to attribution. As Jean-Christophe Conte of VIOOH says “Due to the nature of the OOH environment, there is little chance of audience fraud, so issues that plague display such as bots are not applicable. We work hard to use a base currency of impressions - either viewed or viewable - applying a methodology authorised by industry bodies wherever possible to ensure we are delivering impressions against the audiences agreed”

There are multiple platforms in existence in Programmatic OOH, independent platforms, Vistar Media, Hivestack; media owner platforms Dax, VIOOH; & specialist platforms, all with differing systems. so collaboration is key in driving programmatic OOH forward in firstly setting standardisation & language. I don’t believe OOH has the issues of programmatic display but we cannot allow any disruptions as we are so forewarned.

We have the opportunity to create phenomenal programmatic success & growth, either by the market or globally with the right industry body/s in place, and to accelerate programmatic OOH usage and platform integration, the future is extremely exciting

Fantastic summary of the ISBA/PwC report on #Mediasnack https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kOF8UzZYahQ