What Are the Top OOH Trends for Mid 2024? Inside Our Advertising Trends Report, Part 3

July 16, 2024

What are the most important trends happening now in the world of out of home advertising? What should businesses and brands heed among the current advertising trends?

This is the third of three blog posts showcasing what you’ll find in OUTFRONT’s Advertising Trends Report, a must-read report with approximately 40 trends that you need to know about and might even be able to act on. The report covers consumers, the media landscape, and out of home.

That last part is what we’re talking about today. Don’t forget to read about the top five consumer trends and the top five advertising media trends if you haven’t already. And without further ado, here’s what’s happening in OOH: 

Top OOH Trend #1: DOOH Does It Better

Digital out of home is hot right now, and for good reason: it drives action. At 49%, its overall likelihood of driving action is higher than TV/streaming, social media, online/web, radio/podcast, and print advertising.

And that impact can be felt on and off consumers’ mobile devices. Digital out of home drives online searches (44%), website visits (38%), and social media visits (30%) as its top digital activations. Outside what we do on the doomscroll machine, DOOH is driving us to watch TV shows (38%), visit restaurants (36%), and make in-store purchases. 

Digital transit advertising is even more impactful, driving 85% of viewers to action. 65% notice digital transit ads en route to in-store purchases; 43% say that transit ads impact those purchases (SOURCE: The Harris Poll).

Bottom line? It doesn’t matter what type of action you’re trying to drive: digital out of home inspires it.

Top OOH Trend #2: Full Funnel Impact

It can be easy to fall into the trap of thinking of out of home advertising as a medium that only builds brand awareness – after all, it is really good at that. But the fact is that out of home makes an impact all the way down the full conversion funnel.

Out of home can influence the entire buyer’s journey. More than 2 in 3 campaigns resulted in lifted awareness, consideration, intent, or foot traffic (SOURCE: Vistar Media).

That impact doesn’t stop at the point of purchase either. 38% of marketing executives said that billboards influence existing customers, 28% said they increase retention, and 27% said they increase loyalty (SOURCE: Journal of Advertising Research).

Top OOH Trend #3: Going Viral with 3D Billboards

You’ve likely seen dimensional OOH creative (aka 3D billboards) on your social media feed but you might not realize how impactful they are. Consumers, are overwhelmingly interested in the ads (72%) (SOURCE: The Harris Poll), likely to record them (55%), and likely to share via social media (58%). Even better, 68% view brands using the technology as more premium, and 66% are more likely to buy the product advertised (SOURCE: MFour).

Something else you might not know: 3D creative is no longer limited to billboards. Our XScape dimensional creative advanced capability, allows advertisers to execute 3D in large-format anamorphic or small-format spatial including transit media like Liveboards and Video Urban Panels.

Top OOH Trend #4: Advances in Attribution

Measurement is everything to marketers, and right now there are more ways than ever to quantify the success of a campaign, thanks to expanded insights into bus campaigns through our partnership with StreetMetrics. Out of home’s measurement and attribution capabilities stand toe-to-toe with today’s top digital formats.

Attribution studies can measure brand lift, sales lift, tune-in, website visitation, and ap downloads. Social listening can measure the virality of a campaign. And for campaigns where digital activation is the desired outcome, QR codes not only convert but measure.

Top OOH Trend #5: Retail Media Networks

For CPG brands, retail media networks are the single most important element of their media plans (SOURCE: Skai). The literal last mile of the customer journey is a powerful place to be, with RMNs promising outcomes like better customer understanding, stronger retailer relationships, better shopping experience, and most importantly, that presence as close as possible to the point of purchase.

And while in-store media may be the last RMN ad consumers see before buying, 60% of RMN advertisers also include offsite OOH assets in their plans (SOURCE: Skai).

Those are the top out of home trends for advertisers to keep in mind as we come down the homestretch of the year. Want more trends? Our full Advertising Trends Report is over 40 pages long and it’s free.

Author: Jay Fenster, Marketing Manager @ OUTFRONT
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