What is the ROI of Out-of-Home Advertising?

Here at OneScreen.ai, we're big believers in the power and effectiveness of out-of-home advertising. Why else would we pour so much time and energy into building a platform that makes OOH easier to buy and sell? We've seen firsthand that OOH generates great ROI from our own advertising, and we've seen impressive performance metrics from so many brands that power their campaigns through our platform.

But what about the broader spectrum of marketers?

We partnered with our friends at Kickstand Communications to get to the bottom line regarding the economic impact of OOH. Our nationwide survey of more than 600 marketers who buy OOH produced some informative findings. You can read the entire report here, and I'll give you a quick summary below.

OOH advertising pays for itself

Yes, you read that correctly. OOH isn't perfect, but it's pretty close! Nearly all survey respondents (96%) told us they are satisfied or very satisfied with the ROI they’re seeing from current OOH marketing. It’s easy to understand why:

• Marketers using OOH spent an average of $248,040 over the past 12 months
• During that same period, their OOH advertising generated $402,252 in revenue

That’s an average 51% monthly increase in revenue.

And that’s enough to bring a big toothy smile to the face of even the grumpiest CFO. With ROI like that, it’s a lot easier to get approval for a marketing budget increase. But you don't have to tell them twice: 92% of marketers planned to increase their OOH budgets for 2022.

New research conducted by the Outdoor Advertising Association of America (OAAA) in conjunction with Solomon Partners further confirms what we suspected: OOH delivers the “greatest audience ROI of most major media channels.”

Specifically, they cite “significantly more value” in reach compared to TV, radio, and print, as well as the highest overall ad recall.

Nonetheless, manual tools and additional hires eat up OOH budgets

In a perfect world, more budget would pay for more advertising. But additional OOH advertising often means additional tools and people to facilitate the deployment of outdoor advertising campaigns. In order to expand OOH efforts, marketers told us they will have to invest in more back-end support.

• 61% said their budget will include funds to hire more marketing staff
• Half say they’re budgeting for additional creative hires, too
• 48% are directing budget toward tech and other tools needed for OOH planning

That leaves less for the advertising itself. It’s the sort of balancing act that frustrates many a business person in any department, especially in companies focused on post-pandemic growth. For marketing, however, there are special challenges.

OOH advertising is a complex, limitless medium. The very diversity of options that makes this channel so versatile also makes it more confusing and time-consuming to plan and execute. Many describe the scene as “chaos.” You can’t hire just anyone to fill key OOH marketing positions, you need people with specialized knowledge and skills. That affects hiring budgets and likely makes it more difficult to land the top talent needed.

Acquiring the technology (and related training) your staff needs to effectively create, disseminate and track OOH advertising can be costly, too. And the one constant with technology is that it is constantly evolving, so whatever you invest in now will likely have to be upgraded or replaced sooner than you’d like.

Successfully navigating the OOH landscape is a major frustration

Marketers find barriers end to end – choosing the best media, choosing the best locations, finding the best suppliers and tracking the impact of their campaigns. They complain that dealing with OOH is costing them an extra 17 work hours every week! Some are so frustrated they’re hesitant to use OOH.

What will help?

Survey respondents were united in their desires. Seven in ten told us two improvements would boost the value of their OOH investment and the likelihood their company would spend more on OOH:

• Having a single point of contact  
• Having better visibility into available OOH inventory

OneScreen.ai's vision to make OOH easy and accessible for all

Our dream is for everyone to be able to easily and freely access the power of real-world advertising, but for that to become a reality, some things have to change. This is why we are building the essential infrastructure needed for brands to efficiently plan, create, implement, track and analyze advertising campaigns within a single platform.

No need to hire a squad of new creatives and marketing managers to wrestle with a multitude of placement options and suppliers. No need to invest in a fleet of tech tools to coordinate and streamline the work. Just one technology that allows you to create and manage effective campaigns efficiently.

OneScreen.ai is simple to use. And it’s free. Goodbye headaches, hello greater ROI.