What Is Programmatic DOOH and Why It’s the Future of OOH

For centuries, OOH advertising has been used to build brand awareness and connect with consumers at a scale that few other forms of advertising can match.

As technology has evolved, so has the format, bridging the physical and digital divide to help marketers reach consumers wherever they are through DOOH advertising.

Now, thanks to better targeting, measurement, and creative control, DOOH is entering its next evolution in the form of programmatic DOOH advertising, a shift that’s making campaigns easier to activate, optimize, and evaluate alongside other digital channels.

As a result, programmatic DOOH now makes up 30% of the category’s revenue, with ad spending projected to climb 18.8% YoY in 2026. It’s currently on track to reach $1.37 billion USD by 2027.

Whether you’re new to programmatic advertising or want to learn more about programmatic DOOH, this article breaks down everything you need to know—from how it works and why it matters to the benefits it unlocks when used as part of an omnichannel strategy.

What Is Programmatic DOOH?

Programmatic DOOH (also known as pDOOH) refers to the automated buying, selling, and delivery of DOOH advertising through programmatic advertising platforms.

Unlike traditional OOH, which often requires manual negotiations with media owners or long-term commitments, marketers can use real-time data, audience insights, and bidding technology to activate campaigns across digital billboards and signage in transit shelters, airports, malls, gyms, and other high-traffic environments.

With programmatic DOOH, marketers can plan and deliver campaigns with far greater speed, flexibility, and precision. Advertisers can target specific audiences, adjust messaging based on context—like time of day or weather—optimize budget in real time, and measure performance with far greater transparency than manual or fixed OOH buys allow.

As a result, programmatic DOOH offers a more adaptable and efficient approach to DOOH—one that mirrors the precision and control of programmatic advertising but with the scale and impact of OOH.

What Are the Differences Between Traditional OOH, DOOH, and Programmatic DOOH?

Traditional OOH and DOOH both excel at delivering high-impact visibility in high-traffic environments. They offer consistent exposure, unskippable formats, and strong cost efficiency for long-term campaigns, helping brands stay top-of-mind as consumers move through their day.

Programmatic DOOH takes those same strengths and enhances them with automation and greater control. Marketers can access multiple media owners and digital screens through a single platform, target audiences with greater precision, adjust schedules or creative in real time, and measure performance with more transparency. This added agility makes programmatic DOOH easier to scale across markets (depending on the region), adapt to changing conditions, and use as part of omnichannel campaigns, making DOOH an even more dynamic, performance-ready channel.

Here’s a side-by-side comparison to help illustrate the key differences between traditional OOH vs. programmatic DOOH:

Feature	Traditional OOH	Programmatic DOOH
Creative	Static print formats (vinyl billboards, large-format wraps, posters)	Digital, dynamic, and video
Buying method	Primarily manual, upfront	Can be automated but also supports direct or guaranteed deals when needed; also done in real time
Targeting	Limited (based on location and traffic estimates)	Audience-driven + contextual triggers
Speed	Slow (requires manual production & installation)	Fast (creatives are uploaded & campaigns can be launched from a single platform)
Optimization	None (requires manual updates and replacements)	Dynamic (can be updated in real time)
Measurement	Estimated impressions	Attributed visits, lift studies, audience reach
Flexibility	Low	High

Benefits of Programmatic DOOH

Programmatic DOOH builds on everything marketers already love about DOOH while adding the automation, agility, and precision needed to drive stronger performance across the funnel.

Here are some of the main advantages of programmatic DOOH:

More Precise Targeting

Programmatic DOOH makes it easier to reach the right people, not just the right places. Marketers can use demographic, behavioural, and movement data to target audiences with far greater precision, layering in contextual signals like weather, time of day, or nearby events to fine-tune campaigns and deliver messages when they’re most relevant.

Greater Campaign Flexibility

With programmatic DOOH, advertisers don’t have to wait weeks to launch, pause, or adjust campaigns. Creative swaps don’t require site visits, and ads can be updated based on campaign performance. This real-time control makes DOOH even more responsive and adjustable, especially for brands operating across multiple markets.

More Dynamic Capabilities

DOOH’s digital canvas opens the door for big, bold, and beautiful storytelling. Marketers can run video, animations, countdowns, or data-triggered messages that adapt to what’s happening around the screen. Advertisers can also easily repurpose creatives from video or CTV ads, making it easier to extend existing assets into the physical world and improve brand recall.

High Visibility and Consumer Impact

Adblockers don’t work in the physical world. Because DOOH ads are larger than the majority of digital ads and shown in public spaces, they’re harder to ignore, making them highly visible and impactful. In fact, a study by the OAAA found that 73% of US consumers view DOOH ads favourably—that’s higher than other forms of media, such as television (50%), social media (48%), and print (31%) advertising.

Measurable Foot Traffic and Sales Impact

DOOH ads are highly effective at driving foot traffic to physical locations such as brick-and-mortar stores, restaurants, and entertainment venues. A study found that 51% of people who noticed a DOOH ad with directions to a nearby store visited the business (93% of whom completed a purchase).

Read more about the effectiveness of DOOH advertising.

Privacy-Friendly Precision

Programmatic DOOH often relies on contextual and location-based signals rather than personal identifiers, making it a privacy-friendly way to deliver relevant messages at scale. Whether triggered by traffic, proximity to a store, or other environment triggers, DOOH connects brands with audiences in meaningful, future-proofed ways.

Expanded Inventory Across New Environments

Programmatic DOOH provides access to a rapidly growing network of digital screens that were previously inaccessible or challenging to buy across multiple locations, such as big box stores, fitness centers, transit hubs, universities, workplaces, and even EV charging stations. This expanding footprint makes it easier to reach audiences throughout their day and closer to key decision-making moments.

Interactive Engagement

DOOH isn’t just something people see. It’s something they can interact with. Programmatic DOOH campaigns can include interactive elements like QR codes and touchscreens, encouraging direct interaction and providing trackable paths to conversion.

Better Budget Allocation

With automated pacing and performance-led delivery, programmatic DOOH ensures that every dollar is used efficiently. Instead of committing to fixed placements, marketers can shift spend toward the screens, venues, or audiences driving the strongest results, helping them maximize impact while minimizing wasted ad spend.

Flexible Buying Options

Programmatic DOOH gives marketers the ability to access multiple publishers and screen networks through a single platform, simplifying the buying process and reducing the need for one-off negotiations while still offering control over where and when ads appear.

Advanced Measurement and Reporting

DOOH provides clearer visibility into who you’re reaching, how often, and the impact it’s having, helping marketers plan campaigns more confidently and align DOOH with other digital channels.

Stronger Omnichannel Integration

Programmatic DOOH fits naturally into any multi-channel or omnichannel strategy, allowing marketers to re-connect with exposed audiences across other digital channels. For example, through StackAdapt’s integrations, marketers can retarget users across display, native, video, CTV, and audio, expanding reach and creating cohesive cross-channel journeys that drive engagement and conversions.

How Does Programmatic DOOH Work?

Understanding how programmatic DOOH works starts with the technology that powers it. Here are the key pieces behind the process and how they shape the way campaigns are planned, managed, strategized, and delivered.

The Role of DSPs in Programmatic DOOH

Demand-side platforms (DSPs) are the central tool advertisers use to plan, buy, and manage programmatic DOOH campaigns. They streamline the entire workflow, from automated buying and selling to the delivery of ads across thousands of digital screens.

Inside a DSP, advertisers can define campaign objectives, select preferred screen types and locations, upload creative assets, and monitor performance. DSPs also integrate DOOH alongside other digital channels, allowing marketers to manage everything within a single, unified platform rather than juggling multiple systems or vendors.

On the backend, DSPs connect with supply-side platforms (SSPs), ad exchanges, media owners, and other programmatic supply partnerships. This connection gives advertisers access to a vast network of digital screens.

As DSPs evolve, they’re being built to support marketers with transparent inventory discovery, smarter planning, and more informed decision-making.

For example, StackAdapt’s new interactive, map-first inventory discovery tool allows advertisers to visually explore and filter available screens by location, media owner, and venue type, replacing spreadsheets and static lists with real-world context. With full transparency into screen details and supply opportunities, marketers can seamlessly activate inventory directly and incorporate selected media owners into new or existing campaigns in just a few clicks.

Types of Programmatic DOOH Formats

Programmatic DOOH spans a wide range of digital screens in public spaces, giving marketers the ability to reach audiences in the real world across their daily journeys. These screens fall into a few core format categories, each designed to align with specific environments, behaviours, and campaign objectives.

The most common DOOH formats are:

• Large Format: Oversized digital billboards in public spaces like highways, airports, and major city centres that are built to maximize visibility and drive broad brand awareness.
• Place-Based: Venue-based digital screens found in and around public spaces like gyms, malls, gas stations, stadiums, and medical offices, allowing marketers to reach consumers in contextually relevant moments when intent is naturally higher.
• Transit: Found in airports, subway platforms, bus shelters, taxis, and rideshares, making it ideal for engaging commuters while they’re travelling and influencing decisions on the move.
• Point of Purchase: Used near store entrances, checkout aisles, and product displays to influence buying decisions and drive impulse purchases directly at the point of sale.
• High Impact: Massive digital screens that deliver unmatched visibility for brands looking to create unforgettable, attention-grabbing moments (think Times Square in New York or the Sphere in Las Vegas).

Targeting in Programmatic DOOH

Targeting in programmatic DOOH works similarly to other digital channels, but with the added advantage of reaching people in public spaces as they move throughout their day. 

By combining location data, audience demographics, contextual signals, and other real-time data, marketers can deliver timely, relevant messages that reflect both the physical environment and the audience’s mindset.

Common targeting types include:

• Location-Based Targeting: Target campaigns by country, region, DMA, city, or zip/postal code to ensure ads run in the most relevant areas.
• Contextual Targeting: Select specific venue types—like airports, gyms, malls, or gas stations—so creative naturally aligns with the environment and audience behaviour.
• Dynamic Targeting: Adjust delivery based on real-time conditions such as weather, time of day, sports scores, or local events to keep messaging timely and actionable.
• Media Owner Targeting: Prioritize specific media owners or screen networks, similar to choosing preferred publishers across other digital channels. 
• Audience Targeting: Use mobility and 3rd-party data through programmatic guaranteed deals to target screens that overindex for key segments, such as frequent travellers or soft drink buyers.
• Retargeting: Re-engage exposed audiences across channels like display, CTV, or audio to reinforce messaging and guide them further along the customer journey.

StackAdapt streamlines the targeting process and provides even more precision. For example, you can target by venue type, inventory package, media owner, and at the screen level, as well as see real-world screen previews and venue-level pricing. In doing so, it simplifies how advertisers target placements and activate campaigns more efficiently without relying on cumbersome deal IDs or custom lists.

How Measurement Works in Programmatic DOOH

Measuring the impact of DOOH has historically been challenging, especially compared to digital channels with closed-loop reporting. But with the right tools, advertisers can confidently quantify the role DOOH plays across the full funnel.

Footfall attribution uses mobile device IDs captured by location partners near DOOH placements to connect store visits back to specific campaigns. This lets marketers understand which placements drove store traffic, restaurant visits, or events, helping them evaluate the offline impact of their campaigns.

Brand lift studies measure changes in awareness, recall, consideration, or purchase intent by comparing a group exposed to DOOH ads with a control group. This provides clear insight into how DOOH improves brand equity and influences top-of-funnel KPIs.

Sales lift analysis connects exposure to actual purchases, helping marketers determine whether people who saw a DOOH ad went on to buy the promoted product.

These capabilities continue to expand through SSP integrations, 3rd-party measurement partners, and technological advancements, offering marketers increasingly sophisticated reporting across reach, frequency, and performance.

For example, StackAdapt’s recently revamped DOOH reporting provides heatmaps, screen-level metrics, and exportable data, allowing marketers to demonstrate the impact of their campaigns and prove ROI to clients and internal stakeholders with confidence.

Programmatic DOOH Case Studies

Programmatic DOOH is helping brands activate more effective, measurable campaigns in the real world. 

Need proof? Here’s how four agencies and brands are using DOOH to drive awareness, engagement, and performance through StackAdapt.

Elevating Brand Awareness Across Germany

MOBSTA activated premium DOOH placements in airports, malls, and luxury shopping districts to boost visibility for Michael Kors Jewelry. The campaign delivered 14 million impressions and drove a 39% increase in brand lift in Berlin and 13% increase in brand lift in Hamburg.

Powering Performance with a Full-Funnel DOOH Strategy

Octopus Energy used DOOH across six major Spanish cities to reach commuters and urban audiences. The campaign generated 3 million impressions, and by retargeting exposed users across other digital channels, achieved a 1.34% average CTR and more than 1,000 conversions.

Inspiring Travel Intent Through High-Impact Airport Screens

Digital Willow ran DOOH ads across airports in the UK and Ireland to boost awareness for Visit Isle of Man. The campaign contributed to a 263% increase in search click volume, highlighting DOOH’s ability to influence consideration among travellers in high-intent environments.

Brewing Brand Growth with DOOH and Multi-Channel Precision

Somebody Digital partnered with StackAdapt to help sustainable spirits brand Ramsbury stand out in a competitive market. By pairing strategic DOOH placements near premium retail locations with multi-channel retargeting, the campaign delivered 32.4 million impressions and nearly doubled website traffic (+99%).

The Future of DOOH Advertising Is Programmatic

Programmatic DOOH is reshaping how marketers think about OOH advertising.

With ongoing advancements in targeting, analysis, and attribution, DOOH has become a measurable, performance-ready channel that can confidently hold its own alongside other digital channels.

StackAdapt makes DOOH even more accessible by offering a single, unified platform to plan, buy, optimize, and measure programmatic campaigns alongside the rest of your media strategy. 

To learn more about StackAdapt’s DOOH solutions, speak with our team.

Programmatic DOOH FAQs