Guide · Digital out of home
DOOH: what digital out of home is
DOOH is the digital transformation of outdoor advertising. Billboards, bus shelters, metro panels, pole, rooftop and façade sites become LED screens: nothing is printed any more, content is updated remotely and each site is sold to several advertisers.
DOOH puts every traditional outdoor advertising format on screen.
A screen in a prime location is sold to several advertisers, with nothing to print or dispose of.
Impression-based and audience-based schedules, run by FluidNext’s proprietary algorithm.
Why it is called DOOH
Before digital there was outdoor advertising, the kind you see in the street. Over time it became out of home: a broader term covering any communication in cities and along roads that reaches people when they are away from home, including inside shops. The D for digital stands for the digitisation of formats that already existed.
Street advertising: printed posters and billboards, replaced for every campaign.
Out of home: all advertising that reaches people away from home, in cities, along roads, in public places and in shops. Only mobile is left out.
Digital out of home: the same sites, with an LED screen instead of the poster. Content changes remotely and the space can be sold to several advertisers.
Formats born with digital
Digital domination and spectacular sites
Digital has not only converted the old formats: it has created new ones. Screens with curves, edges and corners that would have made no sense in print, and whole areas of a city covered by the same message.
Spectacular LED sites in Milan
Every outdoor advertising format can go digital
Outdoor advertising is one of the most varied areas of communication, because there are so many traditional formats. Tecnovision has digitised all of them.
Blank walls and billboards
The classic billboard on a blank wall becomes an LED wall.
Metro and railway stations
Panels of every size in metro and railway stations become screens.
Façade sites
Large-format advertising on façades, often on building scaffolding.
Street furniture
Bus shelters, street banners, flags and streamers.
Pole-mounted sites
LED walls on freestanding structures, engineered and certified.
Rooftop sites
Sites on rooftops, visible from far away.
Why media owners are going digital
A static poster has to be produced, transported, installed and disposed of for every campaign. Once a screen is installed in a prime location, it can be sold to several advertisers. That is why media owners, with our support too, are investing more and more in digital.
Static poster
- Every campaign has to be printed on paper or PVC
- Transport and installation at every change
- Removal and disposal at the end of the campaign
- Inks, PVC and plastics to produce and dispose of
- Only one advertiser at a time on the site
Digital site
- No printing: content arrives remotely
- No transport or installation for each campaign
- No material to remove or dispose of
- Lower costs and lower environmental impact
- Several advertisers on the same screen: the sellable space multiplies
How a DOOH screen is sold: three levels
The same screen can be sold in increasingly advanced ways. The more sophisticated the planning, the more the screen earns for the media owner.
Loop schedule
The simplest version: several advertisers take turns in rotation. A minute is usually shared by 6 advertisers, with 10 seconds each.
One minute of schedule
Impression-based sales
Each advertiser buys the number of plays per day they want, based on their budget. It earns more: it lowers the entry threshold for smaller budgets and gives more visibility to those who invest more.
Plays per day per advertiser · example
Audience-based scheduling
Each advertiser goes on air when their audience passes by: commuters in the morning and evening, people looking for somewhere to eat at lunchtime, people out and about on holidays.
One day of schedule · example
FluidNext: the algorithm that makes screens pay
Impression-based and audience-based campaigns need the right software. Tecnovision and FluidNext together make sure our screens are used to the full, thanks to a proprietary distribution algorithm.
- The media owner sets the number of plays wanted for each advertiser
- It sets the rules: which advertisers cannot run one after the other
- It avoids running two spots with the same dominant colour back to back
- The algorithm builds the schedule following every rule
The same schedule, two results
Two reds and two greens in a row: the spots blur together.
Alternating colours and competitors kept apart: every spot stands out.
How a DOOH site is built
DOOH relies on LED sites designed around their location. Each type has its own structural, design and permit requirements.
On scaffolding
The LED wall is mounted on the scaffolding of façade works and stays for as long as the works last.
On poles and gantries
They need freestanding structures, designed by our engineering office and then certified.
Built into the façade
The LED becomes part of the façade, as for Coin in piazza Cinque Giornate and for Banca Sistema.
DOOH from the people who build it
With the TMB (The Mad Box) network we were Italy’s first national DOOH operator. Today we design, install and look after LED building wraps and DOOH sites for Urban Vision, StreetVOX and One, with support and remote monitoring.
DOOH: frequently asked questions
What is DOOH?
DOOH, digital out of home, is advertising on digital screens away from home. In practice it is the digital transformation of static outdoor advertising: billboards, bus shelters, metro panels, pole, rooftop and façade sites become LED screens.
What is the difference between OOH and DOOH?
OOH, out of home, is all advertising that reaches people away from home, in cities, along roads and in shops. DOOH is its digital version: the same formats, with a screen instead of the poster.
How many advertisers can share the same screen?
With a loop schedule, a minute is usually shared by 6 advertisers with 10 seconds each. With impression-based sales each advertiser buys the number of plays per day they need, for example 500, 1,000 or 2,000.
What does selling by impression mean?
It means selling plays instead of a fixed share of the loop. Smaller budgets can start with a few plays, larger investments get more visibility. It needs software like FluidNext, which spreads the plays and follows the schedule rules.
What is a digital domination?
It is a format born with digital: spectacular sites, even with curves and edges, that dominate a square or an area of a city. They would have made no sense in print.
Does a pole-mounted DOOH site need certification?
Yes. Pole-mounted sites need freestanding structures that must be designed and then certified. Our engineering office calculates the structure and handles the permit paperwork.
Why is DOOH more sustainable than printed posters?
Because it removes printing, transport, installation, removal and disposal for every campaign: no inks, PVC or plastics to produce and throw away.
Want to digitise your sites or expand a DOOH network?
Let’s talk about locations, structures, formats and software. Site surveys are always free.