By Tim Murphy, Chief Sales Officer, QMS
The marketing world has hit a wall. Around the world, CMOs are wrestling with the same nightmare: how to win the battle for attention without annoying the hell out of their customers. The digital space has become a complete mess; oversaturated doesn’t even begin to cover it.
But while everyone’s been scrambling around chasing the next shiny digital object, one medium has been quietly getting its act together and proving it’s the answer we’ve all been looking for. Out of home (OOH) advertising isn’t just surviving, it’s thriving, and for good reason.
Nowhere is this more evident than right here in Australia. The local OOH industry is leading the way in terms of digital technology, innovation, creativity, data and insights, and critically, the results it generates for clients. The recent World Out of Home Organisation’s (WOO) annual congress in Mexico City put the spotlight on many of the opportunities and challenges facing OOH companies around the world – and Australia is at the forefront of capitalising on the momentum and tackling the challenges ahead. Call me biased, but the OOH companies overseas can learn a lot from what we’re doing here!
Beyond reach
The OOH industry has been stuck with the “reach medium” label for way too long. Don’t get me wrong, reach is still OOH’s superpower. But focusing only on reach hides what OOH has really become: a medium that delivers on all the things marketers want – reach, impact and brand fame.
Recent research is finally putting some hard numbers behind what we’ve always known. In October last year, QMS and Amplified Intelligence dropped some game-changing data that completely debunked the myth that OOH is just a “glance medium”. The research, which was the first-ever human attention study ever conducted on OOH, found that OOH ads scored an average of 12 seconds of total attention. Let that sink in for a moment.
But here’s the kicker: 90% of tested sites delivered more than 2.5 seconds of active attention, which is the magic threshold where an ad may potentially be committed to long-term memory. And OOH was 5.9 times more likely to hit that memory threshold than other digital channels. While digital fights for scraps of attention, OOH is serving up the main course.
What we heard loud and clear at the WOO congress was that when marketers are deciding where to spend their money, they want three things: reach, ROI, and CPM – in that order. Two-thirds specifically call out reach as crucial. But OOH isn’t just playing the one-to-many game anymore. Through social amplification, we’re seeing reach multiply dramatically with minimal social buzz. It’s evolved from one-to-many to many-to-many-to-many communication, something digital channels are struggling to pull off authentically.
Quality beats quantity every time
The numbers game is changing, and it’s changing fast. History tells us that when a medium launches a new measurement system, impressions drop but revenue generally jumps – just like what happened with the launch of the original MOVE system here in Australia 15 years ago. The message is clear: impression numbers, accuracy and trust work together to drive revenue.
OOH is far more than a fleeting glance: it captures real, measurable attention that translates into meaningful brand impact. This is based on hard science backed by the Amplified Intelligence research.
What we’re seeing is the OOH industry finally growing up. We’re moving past vanity metrics to measurement that actually means something, measurement that reflects real consumer engagement. And guess what? We’re the best at measuring what matters most: that amplification effect that happens when OOH intersects with people’s lives in authentic, unavoidable moments.
Playing nice with digital
The question isn’t whether OOH can compete with digital: it’s whether digital can keep up with what OOH brings to the table. As a marketer pointed out at the recent WOO congress, the real questions are: can OOH share the stage with digital, can it complement digital without becoming the sidekick and, most importantly, can it offer measurement that justifies serious investment?
The answer to all of these is a resounding “yes”, but only if we keep pushing forward strategically. OOH’s natural strengths – unavoidable presence, contextual relevance and that amplification magic – make it the perfect partner for digital strategies, not some afterthought add-on.
The path forward
To fully realise OOH’s potential, our industry must focus on several key areas: measurement and data, innovation and technology, creativity and content, sustainability and social responsibility, government relations and regulation, standards and professionalisation, and commercial strategy and growth.
These aren’t just nice-to-haves; they’re essential capabilities that will determine whether OOH claims its rightful position as an indispensable medium in the modern marketing mix. Each area requires dedicated leadership, clear ownership and strategic investment.
From an operational standpoint, the path is equally clear. The OOH industry must invest in inventory discoverability, plan for how we support retail and performance strategies, and embrace the flexibility that global buyers demand. The programmatic future, for example, isn’t coming: it’s here and OOH must be ready to operate within this ecosystem seamlessly.
The attention economy’s secret weapon
While digital channels are chopping attention into tiny, forgettable fragments, OOH is delivering something revolutionary: 12 seconds of genuine, committed attention that doesn’t feel like an intrusion. In a world where consumers are overwhelmed and increasingly resistant to pushy advertising, OOH offers permission-free attention that actually works.
This is OOH’s moment to shine. Digital channels are getting more crowded and expensive by the day. Consumers are becoming pickier about what deserves their attention. Brands are desperately searching for authentic ways to connect. OOH can deliver exactly what marketers need the most: real impact at scale that sticks.
The question isn’t whether OOH will keep growing: it’s whether our industry will step up and grab the opportunity that’s staring us in the face. The data is there. The research proves it. The market is practically begging for it. It’s time for OOH to stop being modest and start being the multi-dimensional powerhouse that modern marketing needs.
If we learnt anything from the WOO congress, it’s that the future of advertising isn’t about picking sides between digital and traditional: it’s about understanding what each medium does best. And what OOH does best has never been more valuable or more needed than it is right now.