Digital OOH: When will it assume a big picture in India?

We tend to spend a lot of time outside and on-the-go, getting from one place to the next. It's no surprise that the average national consumer is exposed to various OOH formats every day.  Digital OOH in India is at a very nascent stage as compared to China, Taiwan, South Korea, and New York which contribute a large pie of Digital OOH advertising. The largest and most expensive digital billboard debuted in Times Square, New York this past November, with just as many pedestrians expected to pass through the area daily. The overlapping powers of digital, mobile, outdoor, and OOH content seem to be stepping up internationally but the efficacy of DOOH in India is still a matter of question.

Digital OOH encompasses a variety of screen shapes, sizes, and levels of interactivity. From digital billboards and signs on taxis, to digital signage at airport gates and gyms and waiting rooms, these varieties underline a necessary bridge between context and location in relevance and favourable recall - vital components of any media campaign.

When planning for Digital OOH, there are various factors that needs to be considered: infrastructure, consumers, content, engagement and interactivity. Currently, DOOH looks promising with most airports getting privatised and Metros coming up in different metropolitan cities. Tech Parks may prove to be great locations where DOOH can establish big footprints.

The OOH industry grapples with the challenges of interactivity with consumers and lack of measurement metrics for traditional OOH media, so DOOH could serve as the new catalyst for growth.

Top Trends in Digital OOH we may want to see collectively:

1. Cross-platform targeting opportunities are on the rise. As mobile devices become more advanced and ubiquitous, there will be a proliferation of captive digital screens in the OOH space. Interactions with consumers have become more prominent via new mobile technologies like NFC, beacons and more accurate geo-fencing capabilities. Such technologies may allow a marketer to personalise the consumer's experience and even allow for immediate interaction.

2. DOOH will provide increasingly relevant messages in locations that matter. The amount of time spent outside and in transit is increasing in many regions.  New forms of targeting and subsets have made the art of reaching specific audience segments in ideal locations easier - and in our highly distracted modern experience, a consumer's receptivity to new concepts outside the home can be highly impactful. As a consumer, the device you carry with you creates a natural tie-in to your visual experience outdoors, and relevant DOOH messages enhance the value via screens throughout popular locations. Weaving in relevance, right content, right technology and engaging ideas presented through correct format will leverage the DOOH media.

3. Data is where it's at, locally and programmatically. DOOH will benefit from using Big Data to reach the same mobile consumer on larger, higher impact screens and enabling marketers to craft cross-screen, location-based strategies to maximise the impact of advertising to consumers outside the home.       

4. OOH creates a unique canvas for top-notch creativity. From street furniture and cinema ads to augmented reality and live experiences on digital screens and vehicles, the ability to build awareness and drive impressive results will get easier in DOOH. Whether it is part of a larger cross-media effort or a locally focused campaign, DOOH will offer opportunities to reach a unique audience, creating unexpected parallels between location and messaging. DOOH has huge potential to drive immediate impact and scale close to point of purchase.

5. Rise of new measurement and addressability opportunities in DOOH. New location and mobile data sets will lead to new ways of measuring attribution in experiential and OOH media. Location, as an audience definer, is just as important to DOOH as it is to mobile advertisers. A consumer's exposure to this medium can be verified beyond the self-reported opportunity to see, improving marketers' confidence in their ability to isolate the impact of DOOH from other mediums in the cross-channel mix.

If the correct relevance is established between the media and the need of the brands, it can definitely offer greater mileage and the customer interaction will make it more accessible. Thus India needs to get the model right for DOOH so that the ROI comes in.

The need of the hour is intensive action by the OOH industry, a new class of investors, digital technology companies, civic bodies and the advertisers themselves to create a robust ecosystem for DOOH in India. A reformed collaborative attitude is to be taken to change the situation which will surely give an impetus for growth to the entire industry.

Digital OOH being a relatively new industry will evolve and technology will step in to make it more interactive and consumer friendly.