Why Perion believes programmatic DOOH has entered its next era

Perion is pushing programmatic digital out-of-home deeper into the digital media plan, arguing that advances in targeting, automation and measurement are making the channel a more natural part of broader digital and omnichannel strategies. 

For Matt Bushby, Perion’s managing director for ANZSEA, the opportunity isn’t simply about making more outdoor screens available programmatically. It is about changing what advertisers expect those screens to do. 

“We’re getting to a point where programmatic DOOH shouldn’t be sitting off to the side as this separate outdoor conversation,” Matt tells Mediaweek. 

“It can be planned with audience data, bought programmatically, optimised dynamically and measured alongside other digital channels. That changes the conversation considerably.” 

The pitch comes as digital out-of-home increasingly adopts the targeting, automation and measurement capabilities that have long underpinned digital advertising. Perion believes that shift gives PDOOH a stronger role within the broader digital media plan.

From outdoor buy to digital channel 

Rather than buying a screen primarily because of where it sits, programmatic technology lets advertisers consider who is likely to be around it, when they will be there, and which creative will be most relevant at that moment. 

“That’s where it becomes really interesting,” Matt says.

 “You’re not losing what makes outdoor powerful. It is a premium canvas positioned in quality and relevant locations that cannot be skipped. You still have that physical presence and that ability to command attention at scale. But now you can layer much more intelligence behind it.

“You can start asking: who are we trying to reach? When are they most likely to be there? What should we be saying to them at that particular moment? That starts to look much more like the way marketers already think about their broader digital strategy.” 

For agencies facing increasing pressure to demonstrate the return on every media dollar, Perion believes that combination of physical scale and digital targeting strengthens DOOH's proposition.

Perion's bet on AI 

Artificial intelligence is also becoming a bigger part of Perion's play. 

The company has integrated AI into its planning capabilities, allowing users to search, plan and measure investment across DOOH screens in Australia and New Zealand, as well as global markets.

Its self-service platform can move from hyper-local campaigns to global activations, while audience targeting can incorporate first-party or third-party data, including audiences such as lapsed customers and potential new buyers. 

“The interesting part of AI for us isn’t AI for AI’s sake,” Matt says. 

“The media landscape has become incredibly fragmented. There are more screens, more data, more audiences and more decisions that planners have to make. If AI can help simplify that and help someone get from a business problem to a smarter media plan faster, then it becomes genuinely useful.” 

Fighting for the digital media dollar 

The larger challenge is getting PDOOH onto digital plans already dominated by entrenched platforms and buying habits. 

Search and social are biddable, measurable and familiar to agencies. Perion's argument is that PDOOH can now offer similar flexibility while retaining the physical presence that differentiates outdoor. 

Its technology can activate campaigns through its DSP or SSP across outdoor publishers. Plans can also be built within a user's seat and pushed into external DSPs including The Trade Desk, Yahoo, and DV360.

“Agencies don’t need us to come along and tell them to throw out the technology they already use,” Matt says. 

“We need to fit into the way they work. If an agency wants to activate through our technology, great. If they want to build a plan with us and push that into another DSP they already use, they should be able to do that too.

“The easier we make DOOH to include in the wider digital plan, the more naturally it can compete for those budgets.” 

Outdoor's trust advantage 

Perion also sees another advantage for DOOH as marketers scrutinise brand safety and placement: the physical environment itself. 

Unlike some areas of digital advertising, an outdoor screen exists in a known location, its publisher is identifiable, and the environment can be assessed before a campaign runs. 

“There’s something quite powerful about that certainty,” Matt says. 

“Advertisers are asking much harder questions about where their brands appear, and rightly so. With digital out-of-home, you have a physical screen in a known environment and strong governance around where that advertising is being delivered. 

“That level of transparency and quality matters.” 

A seat at the omnichannel table 

Ultimately, Perion wants marketers to stop viewing PDOOH as an isolated outdoor buy and instead consider it within an omnichannel digital strategy. 

“We’re not trying to turn an outdoor screen into a search ad or a social ad,” Matt says. 

“That would miss the point. Outdoor has its own strengths. What’s changing is everything sitting behind that screen: the audience data, automated buying, dynamic creative, AI-assisted planning and measurement.

 “When you bring those things together, you start to see why programmatic DOOH deserves to be part of the same digital planning conversation.” 

The screen on the side of a building isn't becoming a search ad, nor does it need to. 

What's changing is the machinery behind it. 

For Perion, the opportunity now is to turn those capabilities into a bigger share of the digital media plan.