In terms of its impact on the industry, I believe the VIOOH Intelligence system will significantly change how DOOH advertising works
Changing the game for OOH Media Owners: blending long-term planning with real-time ad delivery
By Carrie Ward, Director of Data Science at VIOOH
When I joined VIOOH, we were in the middle of building VIOOH Intelligence – the set of algorithms and microservices powering the relationship between Supply and Demand on our Supply Side Platform (SSP) – within our VIOOH Trading Manager platform.
Early on, I became the Lead Inventor of the patent we submitted to protect our work breaking new ground in the world of Out of home (OOH) advertising. Being part of an innovative company like VIOOH, it’s crucial to safeguard our intellectual property, to ensure we have the freedom to develop our ideas without infringement concerns.
Our patent covers a system rather than a single component, which makes it easier to protect since its uniqueness lies in how the components work together. My role involved helping with these components, and it was interesting to be part of designing the system and submitting a patent simultaneously. Now, with the system fully built and the patent awarded, it is incredibly satisfying to see it in action with our clients.
VIOOH Allocation Engine
The system we patented is a part of VIOOH Intelligence, and it includes three main components. The first is the VIOOH Allocation Engine, which matches supply with demand using a mathematical optimisation technique called ‘Mixed Integer Programming’. For instance, if an OOH media owner has a supply of screens they want to fill with ads, the engine helps them match these screens with demand based on specific criteria, for example proximity to a Starbucks or targeting a particular demographic.
This matching process happens in our SSP booking interface on VIOOH Trading Manager, where the media owner inputs criteria, and the engine proposes the best screens to fulfil the campaign’s needs. It aims to maximise criteria such as budget delivery, audience targeting geographical spread, and occupancy balancing, to minimise unsold inventory and opportunity costs. This process can be run at any time throughout the campaign.
The engine also allows multiple campaigns to be planned together, called ‘portfolio allocation’ or ‘reshuffling’. This adaptability ensures that the media owner can respond to shifts in demand, accommodate new campaigns, and reallocate existing ones to optimise the use of their inventory.
Serving ads in real-time
The second component is the VIOOH Ad Server, which receives requests from the media owner’s screens for the next ad to play. It performs a real time auction with Demand Side Platforms (DSPs), which can include both guaranteed and non-guaranteed campaigns (aka deals). It combines this with any pre-planned demand that was allocated in advance to ultimately decide on the winning ad to play on the screen based on a combination of price and pacing.
Demand forecasting
The third component is a system for Demand Forecasting that predicts future demand, helping to balance long-term planning with real-time ad serving. It ensures that when an ad is planned months in advance, VIOOH’s Demand Forecasting can anticipate and potentially accommodate the subsequent real-time demand at the time of the inventory slot. It does this by steering allocations considering screens that may have lower demand and those which are more valuable in real-time auctions.
The forecasts also help media owners to make informed decisions about pricing, promotions, and inventory allocation. By anticipating demand fluctuations, the media owner can adjust their strategies proactively, ensuring they remain competitive and maximise revenue potential.
VIOOH Intelligence
These three components form the core of VIOOH Intelligence, which equips media owners with advanced tools and insights to optimize their digital OOH inventory, maximize revenue, and maintain a competitive edge in the market, whilst simultaneously maintaining quality and satisfaction for advertisers.
This system we’re developing is significant for the digital out-of-home (DOOH) advertising industry because it bridges the gap between traditional upfront ad buying and real-time programmatic buying. This evolution is crucial as the industry shifts towards more digital and real-time models, which are the norm in other digital channels, and further supports DOOH’s inclusion in multi-channel campaigns.
In terms of its impact on the industry, I believe the VIOOH Intelligence system will significantly change how DOOH advertising works. It blends long-term planning with real-time ad delivery, reflecting the industry’s evolution, and while long-term planning will still exist, integrating it with real-time capabilities is a game-changer.
For more information visit: viooh.com
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