The first DOOH Momentum Report from The Drum and Vistar Media tells the story of how the world’s oldest ad medium (out-of-home) has taken control in a digital world. No longer just a channel finding its place in the modern media plan but actively making a case for being the most essential part of it.
Out-of-home (OOH) advertising has long been a cornerstone of advertising; a powerful canvas where big executions and sharp creatives are showcased for the world to see. It’s a medium that has long been defined by its scale, presence and creative impact but, up until recently, complex buying structures and high barriers to entry meant only the largest brands could take advantage. All of that has changed.
The rapid evolution of digital out-of-home (DOOH) has opened the channel up – not just to more advertisers, but to more ambitious planning. Drawing on new UK research with 250 brands, agencies and OOH specialists, this report reveals how data, automation and real-world measurement are transforming outdoor from a powerful, established medium into a more responsive and optimised ecosystem. This incredible medium now offers the same accountability, flexibility and performance marketers expect from digital channels, activated across the biggest canvases available and increasingly funded by new, incremental budgets.
What emerges is not a reinvention of outdoor, but a more defined realisation of its potential. DOOH investment is accelerating. Confidence is rising. OOH is no longer borrowing credibility from digital. It’s earning its own and making a compelling case to play a central role in modern media plans.
DOOH is storming ahead of CTV in terms of priority for future investment
of DOOH growth is coming from new, incremental budgets
of brands & agencies plan to invest more in DOOH in the next 12 months
Out-of-home has always delivered scale, fame and creative impact. What’s changed is what marketers now expect from it and how they define success. As data-led planning becomes the norm, outdoor is increasingly being evaluated not just on how visible it is, but on the value it delivers after exposure.
Brand effectiveness remains the most important performance metric for DOOH, cited by 50% of the 250 brands and agencies surveyed, alongside attention and engagement (35%). But these traditional strengths now sit alongside outcome-driven measures such as ROI and sales impact (40%), footfall and store visitation (30%), and online search uplift (28%).
OOH is earning greater trust from marketers. Rather than being sidelined as a branding-only channel or forced into a performance framework, it’s now being measured more holistically as a medium trusted to do more. This is a vote of confidence that marketers see it as a serious, accountable part of the media plan that’s being included in conversations about effectiveness, efficiency and outcomes.
"Digital out-of-home allows us to bridge that gap between real-world ad exposure and the digital actions that follow, helping us understand the synergy between the two and how performance comes together"
Dave Ajumobi, Two Circles
This also reflects where budgets are going. Two-thirds of respondents now allocate at least half of their total OOH spend to digital formats (nearly one in five dedicating three quarters or more), with an average DOOH share of 56%, signalling a decisive move into the mainstream.
This blend of brand and performance metrics underlines DOOH’s dual role in modern planning. It remains a brand-building powerhouse, while increasingly delivering on how impact translates into real-world outcomes. It’s a simple but incredibly powerful shift: from presence to precision, from fixed placements to flexible planning, and from impressions to measurable results.
"OOH is an iconic medium that is celebrated for what always made it special - it’s one of the oldest forms of advertising and there’s a reason it’s always stuck around. Now though, technology and data capabilities have evolved to allow the channel to deliver marketers the benefits of other digital channels (targeting, measurement, creative capabilities, flexibility, and more)"
Karan Singh, Vistar Media
The average share of spend for DOOH
of buyers allocate ≥50% of OOH budgets to DOOH
Top 5 most important metrics for evaluating DOOH performance
% of respondents who selected each among their top three metrics
1
Brand effectiveness/awareness uplift
2
ROI/sales impact
3
Cost efficiency/value
4
Attention/engagement metrics
5
Footfall or store visitation (30%)
In terms of investment levels, DOOH is firmly destined for growth. It now sits confidently alongside the most talked-about areas of the media landscape, second only to social and even ahead of CTV when it comes to the channels marketers are prioritising in 2026.
DOOH is storming ahead of CTV in terms of priority for future investment
What’s notable about DOOH isn’t just the pace of growth. The spend is intentional and not drifting into DOOH by default. This isn’t opportunistic spend or experimental testing – it’s actively planned, repeatable investment. Over the past 12 months, 87% of brands and agencies increased their investment in programmatic DOOH, with 90% expecting to invest more again in the year ahead.
As confidence grows, so does DOOH’s share of serious budget – not just within OOH, but across the wider media mix. More than half of buyers (54%) have reallocated that spend from other digital channels and 47% from other offline media such as TV, print and radio. Importantly, 40% say their increased investment comes from entirely new, incremental budgets – clear evidence that DOOH is expanding the media plan, not just reshuffling it.
"The speed of execution, flexibility and overall greater efficiency both in media spend and operations have led us to make greater investment in DOOH in the past 12 months, and that investment will grow again this year. We really do see it as a key channel for growth."
Brook Minto, Haleon
Looking ahead to the next 12 months, 64% of respondents plan to increase their spend in programmatic DOOH. That places it alongside social media (67%) and ahead of both online video (46%) and CTV/OTT (42%) – a powerful signal of confidence in the channel’s role and potential.
Ease of access plays a major role here. Only 19% now buy DOOH exclusively via direct, manual routes, while 41% buy programmatically and a further 40% use a hybrid approach of both. As a result, DOOH planning increasingly involves multiple teams – OOH specialists, programmatic teams, agencies and in-house marketers – reflecting both the channel’s maturity and its growing complexity.
"Programmatic out‑of‑home brings together the strengths we value in a channel: powerful creative, actionable data, high engagement and precise measurement. Momentum remains strong, and we expect that progress to continue."
Hannah Thompson, Omnicom Media
of DOOH growth is coming from new, incremental budgets
of buyers plan to increase spend in programmatic DOOH – ahead of CTV (42%)
Agility is the new advantage. Programmatic DOOH’s appeal lies in its control, intelligence, flexibility, quality and efficiency, but these same strengths also raise expectations, which in turn place greater importance on the planning, explanation and alignment ahead of campaigns running.
The attraction of programmatic DOOH goes beyond efficiency alone. Buyers are drawn to the combination of control, flexibility and intelligence it brings to an already powerful and trusted medium.
"The idea of out-of-home as peeling billboards is, thankfully, a thing of the past. DOOH inventory now represents some of the highest quality, most brand-safe advertising real-estate available, and advertisers are coming to appreciate how they can utilise these screens to reach even niche audiences."
Charlie Haigh-Monk, ECN
When selecting the benefits of DOOH, high-quality, brand-safe environments rank highest overall, cited as important by 86% of respondents. Close behind are real-time optimisation (85%), flexibility and efficiency of buying (84%) and the application of targeting data (80%). Sustainability credentials also matter to more than three-quarters of buyers, reinforcing the channel’s growing sense of responsibility alongside performance.
The benefits associated with programmatic DOOH mirror these priorities. Better targeting and audience data top the list (66%), followed by greater flexibility (59%) and campaign automation/ease of buying (52%). Cost efficiency remains important, but it is not the primary driver suggesting buyers value smarter reach and execution over cheap reach alone.
"Understanding audience mindset across environments is essential, especially for DOOH. Impressions are calculated from real people passing screens, but factors like dwell time, movement, and screen size influence true impact. Strong creative increases value further. Accurately capturing every impression ensures media inventory isn’t undervalued as the channel evolves."
Layla Soufi, Vistar Media
Taken together, these findings point to a market that knows what it wants from DOOH – and expects the channel to deliver consistently. As capabilities increase, so do expectations. Programmatic is enabling growth, while also setting a higher bar for how confidently DOOH is planned, explained and justified.
Top 3 attributes when choosing DOOH
1. High-quality, brand safe environments
2. Real-time optimisation
3. Flexibility/efficiency of buying
Top 3 benefits of programmatic DOOH
1. Better targeting and audience data (66%)
2. Greater flexibility (59%)
3. Campaign automation and ease of buying (52%)
It’s not just all about the data, though. Creative ambition is growing alongside planning sophistication. Building on OOH’s strength, programmatic activation is extending the creative canvas, allowing creative to adapt to context, moment and audience - without sacrificing scale or quality.
Creativity has always been OOH’s superpower. Long before automation existed, the medium built its reputation on bold ideas and iconic canvases that were guaranteed to stop people in their tracks. That will always be a cornerstone of OOH, regardless of how it’s bought. The difference now is how that idea can respond – to context, audience and moment, without sacrificing scale. It enhances how brands can show up, making great creative more timely, relevant and dynamic than ever before.
81% of buyers say dynamic creative opportunities are important when choosing DOOH, with nearly half rating them as extremely important – reinforcing the value and importance of creativity not just as an executional flourish, but as a strategic capability.
"Digital out-of-home offers a triumvirate of relevancy, scale and truly impactful creative. By shifting away from just 'buying billboards' and leaning into programmatic data and dynamic tech, DOOH has become a living, breathing canvas where advertisers can trigger real-time, high-impact stories that connect with their audience."
Martine Hammink, Vistar Media
This creative flexibility now plays a role upstream, strengthening the case for DOOH at the point where budgets are allocated and channels are compared. When combined with data-led targeting, creativity becomes both a performance lever and a planning argument, helping DOOH stand out in an increasingly competitive media environment.
"Dynamic creative is like a superpower for out-of-home, ensuring our message has the best possible chance of connecting with its audience in that specific moment. We've recently used live API feeds to enhance creative elements and the results have been fantastic."
Becky Lightfoot, One L’Oréal UK
of brands and agencies say dynamic creative is extremely important when choosing DOOH
say more creative flexibility will help to drive more investment in programmatic DOOH
As outdoor becomes more flexible and data-led, expectations around measurement are also rising. Success is increasingly defined by what happens after people see the screen. Like all media now, programmatic DOOH is being evaluated using outcome-driven metrics traditionally associated with digital media and proving its value across them, even if planners and buyers don’t always talk about it that way.
OOH is still valued for its ability to shape perception, but it’s increasingly expected to demonstrate how that impact translates into real-world behaviour – reflecting a more rounded view of effectiveness.
"We’re able to drill down looking at things like device movement… and map that back into the campaign rather than just using it for planning… we’re able to be a bit more dynamic with how we can target and then also able to measure it more effectively and sync it back to other campaigns as well."
Emma Glenn, Spark Foundry
While brand awareness remains the top metric, buyers are placing growing emphasis on ROI and sales impact, footfall, store visits and online search uplift. This doesn’t signal a rejection of brand building but reflects a more rounded understanding of effectiveness, where brand impact and real-world behaviour are increasingly linked.
When it comes to performance, it’s a balance of cost and impact, with brands more likely to lean into cost efficiency and value, while agencies emphasise ROI and sales impact.
Encouragingly, satisfaction with current measurement solutions is high. 92% of UK buyers say so, with half describing themselves as very satisfied. This suggests the tools are in place, even as buyers continue to seek clearer attribution and stronger benchmarks to build confidence internally.
"There are a whole host of past technologies and channels that have gotten caught up in their own success, only to stumble. The attitude in DOOH right now is different. I’m not aware of any leader in the space who isn’t working diligently to gather genuine feedback from buyers and advertisers, so that we can solve for the remaining hurdles and ensure that growth continues to accelerate."
Karan Singh, Vistar Media
of UK buyers express high satisfaction with current DOOH measurement solutions
say there’s still more to do on the measurement front to unlock further investment
The opportunity ahead is about enablement and confidence, not demand or capability. As more teams, roles and stakeholders become involved in DOOH planning, education and understanding will become the real unlock.
With growth and momentum firmly established, what comes next is removing any remaining friction and accelerating adoption. The barriers buyers cite – limited understanding of capabilities, lack of clear ROI or attribution, and complexity of the tech stack – are not signs of failure, but symptoms of rapid progress.
As DOOH becomes more central to media planning, more stakeholders are involved, each with different levels of familiarity and confidence. Brands tend to focus on cost efficiency and internal justification, while agencies prioritise optimisation and future planning. Education, enablement and shared understanding are now the key growth levers.
Buyers are clear about what would drive further investment: better audience data and targeting, improved measurement and attribution, and greater creative flexibility – items that are much more accessible and actionable through dedicated learning tools like Vistar Academy. Growth will be fuelled less by easier buying and more by confidence in performance, precision and possibility.
"Education around what’s possible in digital out-of-home is consistently highlighted as one of the only remaining barriers to even greater growth, and we’ve taken that on as somewhat of a personal challenge. If we, alongside our peers and partners in the industry, can better communicate all the ways brands can leverage DOOH, as well as straightforward it is to do so, the really impressive growth years could still be ahead."
Nick Crowe, Vistar Media
Top 5 barriers to greater investment growth in programmatic DOOH
1. Limited understanding of capabilities (42%)
2. Lack of clear ROI or attribution (38%)
3. Complexity of buying/tech stack (34%)
4. Limited creative resources/complex requirements (33%)
5. Limited creative best practices (29%)
Top 5 opportunities to learn more about programmatic DOOH
1. Networking (59%)
2. Case studies (57%)
3. Training on benefits/how to buy (52%)
4. Thought leadership content (45%)
5. Best practices for data activation (40%)
Conclusion
Out-of-home is clearly a channel that has protected its iconic status while building the capabilities required for modern media plans. The foundations are in place. What comes next is enablement. The next chapter for DOOH is about helping the industry make the most of it.
Enter Vistar Media: the home of out-of-home.
With class-leading solutions for the demand and supply sides of the industry, Vistar Media is working to drive the growth and effectiveness of OOH for all parties, by tackling the remaining hurdles so that all can benefit.
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