Out Of Home (OOH) is one of the oldest forms of advertising. With larger-than-life posters, huge hoardings at traffic stations, billboards over metro pillars or digital advertisements at transit hubs, OOH offers brands unparalleled, impactful, large-scale visibility. While the formats have evolved, the medium is yet to stand tall in an ecosystem where ROI drives budgets and creative decisions. Measurability is tricky without standard metrics and frameworks. It’s also one of the biggest challenges facing the OOH industry.
Shriranga Sudhakara, Founder & Managing Director of Vyoma Media feels there needs to be a common currency in OOH advertising. “If you look at digital advertising today, they are winning because of attribution. They are able to say that through our platform, brands can achieve these objectives. Measurement thus becomes a strong proposition for the medium,” he explains.
He adds that concepts like CPC and CPM are a common currency in digital advertising, which helps strengthen measurement and attribution. He says, “That cost per click is a common currency, whether I go on Google, Facebook or any other media publisher. Presently OOH doesn't have that common currency,” adding that a potential benchmark could be the opportunity to see (OTS).
Television and radio have long benefited from third-party research organisations that provide robust measurement indices and frameworks, making it easier for advertisers to allocate budgets confidently. Diving into how the OOH industry too needs a common currency, Sudhakara explains that it’s directly linked to profitability and growth. “As an industry and an ecosystem, we must rally behind and adopt one common currency. It's key to pull more ad budgets to OOH,” he explains.
By adopting technologies and metrics that can quantify its impact on brand objectives, OOH media can elevate its value proposition. For example, if a campaign's objective is lead generation, the OOH industry can develop tools to attribute the results directly to OOH efforts. This could involve integrating digital tracking technologies, leveraging QR codes, or employing sophisticated audience measurement systems.
Digital OOH opens up exciting opportunities for brands with its ability to run dynamic and targeted campaigns. But as Sudhakara points out, there’s still a lot of untapped potential. While DOOH offers plenty of creative flexibility, things like standardisation, measurement, and showing clear results are areas that need work. To truly make the most of what DOOH can do, the industry needs to focus on closing these gaps and helping brands see the real impact OOH can deliver. “Currently, OOH is mostly being used for top-of-the-funnel objectives but better measurability metrics will help brands consider it for bottom-of-the-funnel objectives too,” he explains.
Sudhakara also highlighted the efforts of the Indian Outdoor Advertising Association (IOAA) in improving the OOH ecosystem, particularly through the launch of RoadStar, a unified audience measurement system. He praised this initiative as a significant step in the right direction, expressing hope that it will bring much-needed standardisation to the industry. With tools like RoadStar, Sudhakara believes OOH has the potential to secure a larger share of the AdEx pie in the coming years.