What 11 OOH Professionals are
Saying about the Categorization
of DOOH Inventory

 

Yesterday Adomni, Broadsign, Place Exchange, Verizon Media, VIOOH, and Vistar came together via an announcement, to define and label DOOH inventory in programmatic marketplaces based on screen type, audience and environment.  See OOH Today post from yesterday⇒ Your OOH Formats’ New Classification or Inventory Reference in the Near Future —

We provided our supportive commentary and accolades yesterday. Today we asked a handful of experienced OOH and ad tech professionals and Industry leaders to share their thoughts. Here is what they said. 

 

Barry Frey, President, CEO, DPAA

“We are happy to see this develop. This initiative began at our DPAA Board of Directors table last year and our DPAA leadership members took on this work.  It is good to see all come together and we look forward to this expanding even more.  As DPAA promotes the growth and digitization of our business, this allows for more facile understanding of different venue types, paving the way for advertising revenue growth.”

 

Anna Bager, President and CEO, OAAA

“Standardizing the way DOOH inventory is termed and categorized is a significant step forward for efficiency in our industry and can greatly facilitate buying and expand opportunities for all stakeholders. Of equal importance is the out of home industry’s collective commitment to developing the best possible experience for advertisers and our entire channel.”

 

Jeff Gunderman, President & CEO at EYE Corp Media

“For many years the industry has been saying it needs to standardize and committees and activities have occurred spearheaded by OAAA and DPAA bringing together buyers and sellers to formulate a framework, but in the end no major agreement or shift and OOH remains complicated. When you add the “D” it’s even more so, as in addition to screen size and location, you have all the specs for the digital file. It’s inherently complicated and although no one likes the idea of someone else defining the standard for one’s own business, the traditional media owners and specialist buying agencies and industry associations have tried many times without success. If this group can do it, I suspect we will be a step closer and everyone will benefit. It’s a leap of faith, but likely the best shot we have if these companies are actually aligned on this task!”

 

Daniel Wilkins, Founder, Agency672

“The recent efforts to standardize the lexicon used within programmatic OOH is a huge and necessary first step forward in making the vertical easier to plan and buy. I am encouraged by the level of collaboration and cooperation amongst the different platforms to advance this effort. My hope is that this is just the first step in many more to come in the near future.”

 

Paul W Ducharme, Managing Partner, Liquid Outdoor

“What a significant step forward for the outdoor advertising industry! The mission of the Open RTB project was to spur growth in the programmatic marketplace, and there’s no better way to fuel that growth than standardizing labels for DOOH inventory. Liquid’s lifestyle network will significantly benefit from the new standards by better defining our digital environment AND audience.   

From the onset of our digital development, it was always Liquid’s goal to remain “exchange agnostic.” Our SkyOS software, designed by Smartlink, will allow us to take advantage of ALL of these great companies and platforms. Congratulations to the consortium and their vision for the future!”

 

Brian Atwell, Chief People Officer,  Atwell Media Services

“Only concern is OAAA not being involved…makes no sense as “other tech firms” are, for all practical purposes, defining DOOH. Average clients do want to know that they are buying malls as opposed to general retail. Assets also vary from one type to the next. Creating umbrellas will create ambiguity and OAAA can assist in defining….”

 

 

Peter MacDonald, Founder / CEO, Algooh Media

“I think it’s great for the industry when companies work together to help lower the barrier to entry to outdoor planning and buying.  Standardization is something sorely lacking across many facets of OOH, so this could be a great first step in making things simpler in the programmatic world.  

I have always been a believer in the adage ”A rising tide lifts all boats”.  When we all work together, we can accomplish so much more.  I would love to see more of this type of collaboration in the future.”

 

James E. Johnsen, Managing Partner, Johnsen, Fretty & Company 

“Love the fact that they are shaking things up and redefining the “product”.  I think more thought needs to be put into what it does versus what it is though. Would really like to see more constituents get behind it too.  Otherwise, we end up with varying definitions and more customer confusion.”

 

 

James Heller, CEO, Co-founder, Wrapify

“I think it’s great that these DOOH Industry leaders are coming together and establishing standards and working collaboratively to grow the pie.  Waiting on the big three, DPAA or OAAA to help them collaborate is obviously not a concern to them.  Why should it be?

I think this collaboration can eventually (and probably will) lead to adoption by others in the OOH space.” 

 

 

Chris Bates, Solutions Product Manager, Daktronics

“Daktronics is supportive of efforts that make it easier to purchase space on OOH platforms. We have been heavily involved in various industry standardization movements over the last 20 years and we continue that trend with programmatic initiatives. Understanding that common language, embracing some standardization and collaboration has historically proven beneficial for the OOH industry, we believe this movement will propel the velocity of maturation of the programmatic space. We see these standards evolving over time to support the ease of purchase of OOH inventory, while speeding innovation. We continue to collaborate with the leading DOOH technology platforms and aim to make it as easy as possible for our customers to integrate these offerings to successfully operate and grow their businesses.”

 

 

Nick Coston, OOH Media Buyer, Coston Booking Agency

“First off, these are all excellent companies that are listed in the article. They all do things slightly a little different but they’re all full of incredible talent, ideas and execution. Standardization for formats can really make buying a lot easier for us media folks and I think will benefit these six tech companies in the long run. As a buyer, I believe it’s imperative that we know the screen type and venue, product sizes and retail category of the DOOH is in or around a store. More information available to media buyers on these products is incredibly valuable considering it probably makes up less than a quarter of all the out of home available here in the United States.”