SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico – If you thought TV and billboards were entirely different media channels, think again.
In the emerging world of digital out-of-home (DOOH) advertising, electronic signage installations are staring to borrow from the same palette as connected TV.
In this video interview with Furious Corp CEO Ashley Swartz for Beet.TV’s Beet Retreat San Juan, Chris Signore, VP, head of sales, for ad server firm SpringServe, explains why CTV can solve some of the same challenges faced by out-of-home.
Billboards on the up
Despite electronic media’s ascent, out-of-home ad spending was growing before the pandemic.
And, despite the streets being emptied of eyeballs, eMarketer forecasts steady growth returning.
“I’m super bullish on digital out-of-home,” says SpringServe’s Signore. “There’s just been an explosive growth most recently, as I think we hopefully are finally in a real post-pandemic world, where people are back out in the world and experiencing media in the out of home format.
“A lot of companies are ahead of the game for good reason. There’s a huge opportunity, and I’m really excited to see where that goes in the very near future with SpringServe as a player in this space.”
Signs of similarity
DOOH includes large-scale electronic billboards, but also a host of in-store and other smaller screens and formats.
eMarketer thinks programmatic sale of DOOH inventory will be 16.4% of total DOOH sales in 2022.
At the most basic, a range of companies is lining up to facilitate the purchase, targeting and delivery of those ads, just like with digital display and CTV before them.
As that happens, though, Signore acknowledges software is also going to be needed to solve for some of the challenges of the automated buying methods.
Smart sign targeting
“I think there are user and ad experiences that are very similar across these formats … frequency capping, (and) competitive separation,” he says.
“There’s a new component to that from a geographical perspective, as far as where an ad gets played.
“You don’t want to see a McDonald’s ad when you’re in Burger King – just like, within CTV, you don’t want the same ad playing over and over and over again.
“The same challenges we’ve been working hard on on CTV are popping up and are a core issue within the digital out-of-home space. But it’s something we can solve with our partners who are leaning into this exciting format.”
Serving local screens
SpringServe’s technology handles inventory routing, customized ad experiences and advanced podding logic for CTV publishers.
Its Bingewatcher software, for example, analyzes video content, turning attributes into valuable plain-text metadata that publisher systems can use to fulfil ad demand.
The company was acquired by Magnite last year.
SpringServe is already working with OOH networks like Atmosphere, Loop and Octopus.
“A lot of these folks are honed in on the local opportunity, which needs an ad server and needs that functionality that we provide,” Signore says.
“Certainly, as SpringServe sits strategically close to our brethren at Magnite, as far as SSPs and when that marketplace develops, and there’s additional liquidity in the space, we’re set up perfectly to capture that.”
You are watching coverage from Beet Retreat San Juan 2022, presented by AppScience, Infillion, MadHive, SpringServe, Univision & VideoAmp. For more videos, please visit this page.
