Programmatic digital OOH is taking off at airports globally - here's why
After a turbulent couple of years, the travel industry is bouncing back and is currently experiencing exponential growth
With this increase in travelers, we are reminded of the prestigious, luxury and premium environment airports offer for advertisers. As highlighted in a recent JCDecaux global study, airport advertising confers the highest perceived value for brands when compared with other media such as online display, social media and TV and press advertising, a perception that held true even during the pandemic.
Over recent years, programmatic advertising has expanded to include the OOH world and most recently, programmatic DOOH has been taking off at airports for the first time. Combining the capabilities of programmatic advertising with the premium and high dwell time at airports enables brands to create highly targeted, flexible and measurable ads on high-impact screens.
To take a deeper dive into programmatic digital OOH advertising at airports, we spoke to several industry experts across the globe to get their latest insights and opinions.
Capitalize on high dwell times, empty moments and increased receptivity
Brad Palmer, national programmatic director at JCDecaux Australia
"The airport environment provides advertisers with a unique attentive mindset where they can capitalize on high dwell times, empty moments and increased receptivity with brand messaging on premium assets.
"Business travelers and leisure travelers can be reached with precise placement across both domestic and international terminals. The C-suite audience is naturally difficult to reach yet airports play a key role in their typical commute, especially in Australia where the Sydney to Melbourne route is one of the busiest in the world.
"Activating an airport campaign programmatically allows advertisers to strategically flight their campaigns by day-parting and time-targeting. This allows movement data to play a role in determining the most relevant times to reach certain audiences with certain panels to intercept their airport journey. Programmatic also allows smaller tactical budgets to be activated in the airport environment and aligns nicely with other online channels attempting to reach the business and leisure audiences across the omnichannel ecosystem.
"Currently, passenger numbers are exceeding expectations in Australia with a combination of business and leisure travelers returning to the air across the first half of 2022. Additionally, many travelers have flight credits owing and are ready to start travelling internationally again. Advertisers and brands can capitalize on this and form a deeper working relationship with our airport partners as we explore all the rich data available to activate within out-of-home media."
Foreseeable pathways of passengers with large target group data
Sandra Müller, business development manager at Media Frankfurt GmbH
"Since we started offering programmatic DOOH at Media Frankfurt a few months ago, we’ve noticed a high interest in the market regarding this new way to book airport inventory. There is high demand for education among agencies and clients to learn and understand more about how the database and trading model works for this special inventory.
"The market is amazed by the variety and depth of data that is already available for airports, which leads to minimized scatter loss and precise targeting for bookings. The foreseeable pathways of the passengers together with the large target group data we’ve collected in the last few years are the optimal base to find the right slots at the right time.
"At Media Frankfurt, we always had the guiding principle to be a market leader, especially in case of consultation and support during the booking process and we will continue to do so with our programmatic trading model. This helps to reduce prejudices and help more clients to take their first steps into the programmatic airport advertising environment.
Activate turnkey campaigns and easily turn them on and off
Robert P. Cilia, chief commercial officer at JCDecaux North America
"There are many benefits of advertising in airports. First, airport advertising reaches an incredibly attractive audience that is typically very hard to reach. Flyers are active lifestyle consumers. They range from C-suite executives and business decision-makers to some of the most affluent and influential consumers. The airport environment is unique. Air travellers typically spend an hour or longer inside an airport. That “dwell time” is unique in media and it gives advertisers the best opportunity for their ads to be seen. And like other out-of-home mediums, airport OOH offers the ultimate in brand safety - a major plus when thinking about other forms of programmatic.
"From a programmatic perspective, airport advertising is greatly enhanced as advertisers can activate turnkey campaigns and easily turn them on and off. Besides this enhanced flexibility, campaign measurability is also improved with key impression data and the ability to provide audited campaign results. Programmatic further offers targeting and creative freedom with dynamic content and triggering. And with the extended dwell times in airports, advertisers have the best opportunity to do cross-device targeting with mobile.
"When looking at brands who are interested in airport advertising, our top three verticals recently have been financial, entertainment/leisure, and travel. So far we’ve seen that programmatic DOOH also attracts advertisers that are new to airport OOH like Starbucks, Monos Luggage and Chase Sapphire.
With the ability to capture audiences across borders as travellers pass through both departure and arrival airports, as well as opportunities around global events such as the FIFA World Cup taking place later this year, it’s clear to see why programmatic airport DOOH is creating such excitement. Together with our media owner partners across the globe, VIOOH is uniquely positioned to take advantage of the surge in audiences taking to the skies, and bring programmatically enabled DOOH advertising to airports and audiences around the world.