Planners expect to continue their current level of spending on digital place-based (DPB) and digital-out-of-home (DOOH) or increase it over the next three years, a new industry survey has found. The Digital Place Based Advertising Association's (DPAA) eighth annual survey of media planners identifies the growing importance of DPB and DOOH media in today's advertising ecosystem. This year the survey is punctuated by the industry's increased focus of reaching consumers outside the home, continued disruption of television, significant enthusiasm for the use of mobile in conjunction with OOH and the potential offered by programmatic buying. For the first time in the history of the survey, the percentage of planners (61%) who included DPB/DOOH in their media plans in the prior 12 months shot well past the 50% mark. Last year's figure was just slightly over 50%. At the same time, the outlook for future DPB/DOOH spending growth is bright, with 94% of planners saying they will be spending the same or more over the next three years. Also, 44% of planners said they had recommended media plans that combine DPB/DOOH and mobile over the prior 12 months. Planners also revealed that they would be more likely to recommend DPB/DOOH in the future if mobile were used for retargetting ads that have been delivered on DPB/DOOH (78%), to measure DPB/DOOH audiences through tracking devices (75%) and as a means of enabling interaction with DPB/DOOH creative (69%) Programmatic Buying Seen as Key Opportunity Nearly nine out of ten (89%) planners reported that their agencies were buying media programmatically today. A majority of the planners said they were more likely to recommend DPB/DOOH because of its availability in programmatic buying systems. However, only 39% said they were aware that DPB/DOOH can be bought programmatically today. Rise of Video Everywhere, Decline of Television Respondents said they see the importance of DPB/DOOH screens in video everywhere campaigns rising over the next three years at a faster rate than that of other video media. Of note is that DPB/DOOH is expected to catch traditional TV in importance in video everywhere campaigns by 2019. Planners Concerned About Online Advertising A majority of planners expressed concern over various issues surrounding online advertising. On a five point scale, with five being highly concerned, the following issues generated substantial ratings of 4 or 5: transparency (86%), viewability (82%), ad fraud (78%), brand safety (76%), data privacy (71%) and ad blocking (64%). Geo-targeting Targeting is Key Reason for Including DPB/DOOH Media in Recommended Media Plans For the third consecutive year, the same three key reasons emerged as the most important for including DPB/DOOH in media plans: geo-targeting by DMA, zip codes or hyper-locally (67%); connect with consumers on path to purchase (55%); reach a specific audience (46%). DPB/DOOH's ability to complement a TV buy to reach light viewers grew significantly as a planning factor, from 20% in 2015 to 26% this year. Based on its findings, the study recommends that the DPB/DOOH industry should focus its efforts on three general areas that included, for the short term, providing data on audiences, targeting and effectiveness at a level of quality that gives planners confidence that they can invest as wisely with this medium as they believe they can with other digital platforms. For the medium term they recommend developing additional technology that can empower targeting and measurement and for the longer term a fully developed programmatic platform for buying DPB/DOOH media. Barry Frey, president & CEO, DPAA, said: "Results of this study will be extremely valuable in helping to inform media planners and our members' sales efforts. Our industry is rife with growth opportunities, particularly in the areas of mobile, programmatic and hyperlocal targeting. This study provides great insight into how we can capitalize on these strengths and maximize revenue."
About 94% of planners expect to at least maintain their current level of spending on digital place-based (DPB) and digital-out-of-home (DOOH) advertising over the next three years, a study from the Digital Place Based Advertising Association's (DPAA) found. While just over 50% of planners included DPB/DOOH in their media plans in 2015, for the past 12 months the figure was 61%. In the same period, 44% of planners recommended media plans that combine DPB/DOOH with mobile. The DPA said it is not yet clear whether this trend will continue or if there are any signs of decline.