Out-of-home advertising and programmatic DOOH

01

What is out-of-home advertising?

Out-of-home (OOH) advertising reaches people outside their homes: on streets, at bus stops, in shopping centres, stations, airports and along roads. It comes in three types, which differ in how the space is bought and how much the campaign can change mid-flight.

With classic out-of-home you buy a printed site for an agreed period, and the poster stays up for the whole flight. With digital out-of-home (DOOH) you buy airtime on a digital screen where the ad rotates with others, and the creative and its hours can be changed. With programmatic DOOH (pDOOH) you buy individual impressions on digital screens through a buying platform, and screens, areas, hours and the budget split can change mid-flight.

The types can be combined in one campaign. A common mix is a printed or large digital site in a key location, with programmatic buying adding frequency across several cities.

02

When to invest in out-of-home

Out-of-home works when a campaign needs to be widely visible in a specific area in a short time, when a launch needs a visible start, or when a store or location wants to remind people of itself close to the point of purchase. The same channel can build awareness across a city and support an offer near the store. The job is chosen from the campaign goal.

The weight of out-of-home is decided in the media plan, once the media strategy has set the channel's role. It is usually planned alongside channels where an interested person can look further or buy straight away, such as search, social or the online store.

03

Where and when your audience moves

60 %* visit their own city centre at least weekly. The age gap is small: 68 %* of 18–29-year-olds visit the centre weekly, and 58 % of 60–74-year-olds. Out-of-home can therefore also reach young adults, whom linear TV reaches less well.

Holidays change the rhythm. 62 %* say they move around outside the home more than usual during holidays, and 32 %, about 1 268 000 people, clearly more. Flight dates and hours are chosen by when the audience is on the move, and the holiday season can change which sites are worth buying.

04

Environments: shopping centres, streets, transport and roadside

The environment tells you what the passer-by is doing when they see the ad. In a shopping centre they are shopping, at a bus stop they are waiting, by the road they are driving past.

Of the programmatically buyable screens, 683 are in shopping centres, 373 on streets and 97 on city panels, 319 in bus shelters, 264 in gyms, 131 by the roadside, 93 at ski resorts, 86 in the metro and 80 at airports. Another 1 075 are in other environments, 3 201 in total.***

In our campaigns, shopping centres, transport hubs and streets have reached different people in different situations,** so we choose the environment by what the campaign has to do: build awareness, remind people near the point of purchase or support an offer.

05

Programmatic DOOH (pDOOH)

With programmatic buying, digital screens are bought per impression through a buying platform, much like display and video advertising. The campaign gets its screens, areas and hours, and budget can move mid-flight to wherever it works best for the goal.

The ad can run only around a given store, location or event venue. It can be scheduled by time of day, for example a lunch restaurant from late morning to early evening, or a car brand at commuting times. One campaign can cover screens from several media owners across cities, and delivered impressions are reported by screen and by area.

OhjelmAppi is our own tool for planning programmatic out-of-home. It brings together the digital screens of eight media owners: Bauer Media Outdoor, JCDecaux, Mediateko, Aktiivimedia, Outshine, MEKS, Ocean Outdoor and Medialiiga. There are 3 201 screens in 120 Finnish towns.***

Screens are picked on the map or filtered by city, environment, media owner and screen size. A list of store or location addresses can be imported, and screens are picked around each one. The selection becomes a plan with the budget split by city and media owner, and the campaign is built in the buying platform from the same plan. The screen list is updated from the media owners' own lists.

06

Regional out-of-home

Out-of-home is a regional channel: you buy visibility in exactly the cities and blocks where your customers are. Most screens are in the Helsinki region, but programmatic buying also covers the largest regional centres.

Of the programmatically buyable screens, 1 139 are in Helsinki, 345 in Espoo, 323 in Vantaa, 183 in Tampere, 166 in Turku, 106 in Oulu and 66 in Kuopio. The other 113 towns have 873 screens between them.***

For a chain with locations in several cities, each location can get its own local version of the same campaign. The versions are generated with dynamic advertising from a data feed, so the location's name, address or offer changes in the ad automatically. Read more about the NØRR3 Marketing Engine.

07

Direct buys, digital screens and programmatic

Out-of-home is bought in three ways. In a direct buy we negotiate sites and periods with the media owner, and the site is reserved for the campaign for the agreed time. On a digital screen the ad rotates with other ads and can be scheduled to set hours. In programmatic buying, digital screens are bought per impression.

The buying method depends on whether you need a specific site for the whole period or flexible visibility across several areas. The methods can also be combined in one campaign.

08

How much does out-of-home advertising cost?

The price is built differently for each buying method. For a printed site there is a price for the site and period, plus printing and installation. For a digital screen bought direct, the price is for airtime on the chosen screen network. In programmatic buying you pay for delivered impressions, and the budget can be set freely and split across areas.

That is why two campaigns can only be compared when you know whether the price is based on impressions or on the media owner's estimated contacts. Our estimates always say which one is used. Brief us and we will price it for your audience.

09

Creative for a single glance

A passer-by sees the ad for a few seconds, often on the move. There is room for one message and the brand, the text has to read at a glance and the image has to stand out from a distance. In our campaigns, the portrait format has carried the number of screens,** and 85 % of programmatically buyable screens are portrait (1080 × 1920).***

Being visible does not guarantee attention. Location, size and message decide whether the passer-by notices the ad. The campaign idea usually comes from the creative agency, and we help fit it to screen sizes and make the versions needed, such as an offer version shown near the store. Digital screens need their own sizes and file formats, and printed material is delivered well before the flight starts. Read more about ad materials and production.

10

How we buy and report

We choose sites and screens by where the audience moves, and buy them directly from the media owner or programmatically. In reporting we keep delivered impressions and the media owner's estimated contacts apart. In our campaigns the same buy has produced a cost per contact several times higher or lower depending on which figure it was calculated from,** so we always state which one we use.

The effect of out-of-home cannot be read from clicks. If you want to know recall or awareness, it is measured with a campaign study.

11

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between OOH, DOOH and pDOOH? OOH covers all out-of-home advertising. DOOH is digital out-of-home on screens where the ad rotates with others. pDOOH is DOOH bought programmatically per impression, so screens, areas and hours can change mid-campaign.

How many digital screens can be bought programmatically in Finland? Through us, about 3 200, in 120 towns and from eight media owners.***

Can out-of-home target the area around one store? Yes. In programmatic buying, screens are picked around a store or location, and each location in a chain can get its own version of the same campaign.

How are out-of-home results measured? Delivered impressions are reported by screen. Recall and awareness are measured with a campaign study, because people do not click out-of-home ads.

* NØRR3 Media Insights, wave 9, Norstat panel, August 2026, n = 2 022, aged 18–74, margin of error at most ±2.2 pp. Age groups: 18–29 n = 400 (±4.6 pp), 60–74 n = 559 (±4.1 pp). Holiday movement is self-reported. ** NØRR3 campaign bank, campaign reports 2024–2026: each learning recurs in campaigns from at least two industries and two advertisers. *** NØRR3 pDOOH inventory (OhjelmAppi), media owners' screen lists, updated 1 November 2026.