Now, patents for DOOH advertising

The Korea Bizwire has reported that the average number of patents for digital out of home advertising which stood at less than 50 prior to the 2000s, rose to some 300 from 2001 to 2010, and to 600 since 2011 – rapidly increasing alongside technological advancements. The report was based on data that the news portal gathered from the Korea Intellectual Property Office.

The report states that ‘in the past, outdoor advertising was mostly limited to billboards, poster columns, or means of transportation (i.e. public buses), but starting in the 2000s, patents for digital advertising such as digital signage equipped with wired or wireless communications and display technologies have been increasingly sought after.”

Other digital ads highlighted recently include patents incorporating virtual reality technologies, or “media façades”, in which LED lights installed on the sides of buildings are used as an advertising platform.

The reports adds that traditional mediums are also making breakthroughs lately. For instance, a “dancing air billboard” patent, better known as the “inflatable airdancer”, which used to only dance in random movements with the repeated injection and discharge of air, now has fine-tuned movements, and can dance to specific music.