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The spectacular rise of Digital Out Of Home (DOOH) media as one of the most attractive advertising destinations for top brands across global markets is significantly powered by the application of cutting-edge Internet and Internet of Things (IoT) technologies. While the 2-year long Covid-19 pandemic had delivered a curveball to the DOOH industry, with audience levels dropping in the wake of curbs placed by governments on people movement and travel in the urban conglomerations, year 2022 forebodes a great spirit of business revival with the world seemingly tiding over the catastrophic consequences of the global health crisis. People everywhere are coming of their confines with the steely resolve to reclaim the different facets of regular living, and that is bringing audiences in huge numbers out of home, a matter of great encouragement for DOOH business.
In recent years, DOOH has unravelled itself in all its resplendence, with spectacular displays and arresting content. This medium has been commanding an increasing share of audiences who are on-the-move, at airports, Metro networks and railway stations, malls and shopping plazas, as well as places like corporate parks, pubs and restaurants, and residential complexes. These are typically audiences that are not consuming TV while out of home and on-the-go. These factors have greatly influenced the shaping of a bullish global outlook on DOOH growth. A Research and Markets report released in June 2021 stated that the DOOH market was expected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 10.35% in a 5-year period to reach a market size of $33.372 billion in 2026 from $16.750 billion in 2019, led by the advent of latest technologies and devices.
The increasing traction for DOOH is also helped by the fact that content on this medium is ‘unskippable’, unlike those on digital media. The Internet has made this DOOH a connected media. In keeping with these developments, Lemma developed its own platform for connecting DOOH media assets and networks.
However, the moot question was, is DOOH content comparable with those on connected TV, over-the-top (OTT) channels and the like. Leveraging the Internet applications for DOOH, Lemma took strident steps to build and promote a platform for delivering streaming content on DOOH screens, providing similar, if not superior, user experiences offered by YouTube on the small screens.
While YouTube and OTT content are usually consumed on small screens like mobile, laptop, connected TV, Lemma is facilitating content streaming on large format DOOH screens, across geographies. Thus far, streaming content was largely delivered one-to-one on personal digital screens, but Lemma has disrupted the content delivery by building the platform for streaming content on DOOH screens, targeting mass audiences that would be of the essence to advertisers.
Keeping in view the wide reach of connected DOOH screens, and the option of running streaming content on the networks, TV entertainment channels themselves are sizing up the opportunity of undertaking promotional activities for their new releases on DOOH networks. In the last 12-18 months, a number of movie promotions have been streamed on DOOH network screens in the US and South-East Asia markets, with Lemma playing an instrumental role in the content delivery. As a case in point, Lemma has played streaming content for multiple brands on DOOH globally in consonance with their objective of establishing significantly scaled-up audience reach.
Lemma has made delivery of streaming content on DOOH screens a seamless experience as our platform, being wholly compatible with the International Advertising Bureau (IAB) standards, is able to run content developed for other digital media directly on DOOH networks. Brands and agencies opting for this omnichannel communication also have the advantage of uploading the content on a centralised cloud-based platform to measure performance effectively across mobile, desktop, CTV and DOOH . This also obviates the need for repurposing content created for digital media before streaming them on DOOH screens.
In the emerging scenario, DOOH asset and network owners are gaining access to the large $500 billion advertising spends on digital media, instead of banking on a fraction of those spends that are set aside for DOOH advertising.
As much of the streaming content will be directed to DOOH screens installed in closed environments like airports, railway stations, Metro stations, pubs & restaurants, salons and the like, the streaming content need not be muted. However, even if the content is required to be muted at select locations, that would not be a show-stopper as dynamic ad content streamed on digital media is muted by default and studies show that nearly 60% of that content is consumed as it is, without being unmuted.
With calibrated application of the rapidly evolving data technologies, planners and advertisers are able to target their streaming content to audiences with great precision. Robust audience data, available real-time, ensures the content is being played to the right audiences at the right time. Moreover, the streaming content itself is today well curated with animation graphics that deliver impressionable impressions on the audiences.
Looking ahead, streaming content on DOOH networks will prove to be the compelling game-changer for advertising on the medium, setting the ground for DOOH media operators to stake claim to a far greater share of the advertising spends.