Hasta La Creative!

Buying ads that target audiences in real time has colonized all forms of digital display advertising — except one. Out-of-home advertising, that amalgam of digital billboards, gas-station TVs, screens in elevators and on treadmills, has proved resistant. The Outdoor Advertising Association of America counted 4,400 digital billboards by midyear, but the path to programmatic is riddled with tech and regulatory roadblocks.

Tracking and measuring audiences on foot is more difficult than tracking audiences online, said Patrick Bonomo, chief operating officer of WPP’s Spafax Networks. In January, Spafax launched a marketplace for out-of-home inventory called SN: Xchange. Mr. Bonomo said he’d like for 10% of WPP’s spending on out-of-home to go through the programmatic buying process. But “that’s not happening,” he said. “It still needs more work. Right now we’re at about 4%.”

The closest digital out-of-home players have come to tracking the kinds of conversions that make programmatic buying so attractive to advertisers is through call-to-actions on mobile phones. Mr. Bonomo’s group recently placed a client’s ad that included “text here for more info” across various out-of-home screens. It also directed consumers to a landing page. “We saw a 40% uptick in engagement based on benchmarks we established,” he said.

Continue reading at AdAge.com