Automation is a huge part of the conversation in the out-of-home (OOH) advertising space right now. While automation in OOH is typically associated with programmatic buying, that’s really just one piece of the puzzle. The bigger picture is how automation can streamline the entire process, from the initial planning all the way to campaign delivery.

With the release of Broadsign’s new automated, in-advance digital OOH (DOOH) transaction capability, we sat down with John Dolan, Vice-President, Global Head of Media Sales at Broadsign, to discuss what this means for media buyers and how it can unlock a more seamless and modern buying experience. 

Booking OOH should be as easy as booking a flight. How does Broadsign In-Advance help make that vision a reality?

When you look at how OOH campaigns are bought today, programmatic campaigns can arguably be booked as easily as a flight. You log into a DSP, set your targeting, pick the days, data, venue types, and geographics you wish to execute. But the reality is that programmatic represents only 5% of total OOH ad spend, meaning that 95% of all OOH transactions are still managed manually. 

The real friction remains in direct out-of-home buys, which require a heavier lift due to the back-and-forth with media owners. If you’re managing a diverse campaign that needs to run on the inventory of six different media owners, that’s six different sales conversations, six negotiations, six separate contracts, six creative deliveries, and six reports you have to aggregate to track performance.

How does this save time for media planners and buyers? Can you walk us through a before-and-after scenario?

When you receive a campaign brief, you’re looking for media targeting and setups that best match the client’s objectives. In a direct OOH campaign, that means:

• Reaching out to a media owner, or multiple depending on the geographic and campaign objectives, to start the brief by looking at flight dates and venue types. 
• Assuming the media owner has the inventory available for your desired dates, you begin negotiating on pricing, terms of the deal and the parameters for holding the inventory. 
• Once you’ve reached a consensus, additional paperwork needs to be pushed back and forth before the contract is signed. 
• Once the deal is secured, the agency then needs to provide the creatives directly to the media owner, and if you’re dealing with multiple media owners, that means meeting their respective aspect ratios. 
• Finally, proof-of-play procedures are different for each media owner. So, how fast you get the reporting, in what format, and how fast you’re able to audit the reports and consolidate them on your own becomes a heavily nuanced, time-consuming process. 

With Broadsign In-Advance, you’re able to book direct OOH campaigns in a similar way you would a programmatic one:

• Through Broadsign’s DSP OutMoove, or your DSP of choice, you identify the inventory that best fits your campaign objectives and request its availability. A response comes instantly from our ad server, providing a simple yes or no.
• If it’s available, you’re presented with a price and a simple terms box to select that inventory. If approved, the inventory is officially booked – no holds, no negotiations needed on pricing or terms. 
• When it’s time to launch the campaign, you upload your creative directly into the DSP, just as you have done hundreds of times before. 
• While the campaign is in flight, you’ll have access to real-time proof-of-play reporting that’s standardized across all media owners in one centralized, auditable place. 

Why would a media buyer choose to use Broadsign In-Advance if they’re already using programmatic DOOH? 

Broadsign In-Advance wasn’t designed to replace programmatic DOOH, but rather to complement your existing buying strategy and address a critical gap between traditional direct deals and pure programmatic transactions. As more media buyers and owners adopt the solution, we’ll continue to find brilliant new use cases for it, but here are a few ways we see it being used: 

Secure premium inventory during key seasonal periods

During the holiday season or key travel periods, retail-focused venues and other premium screens become limited, driving up competition and programmatic prices. We often hear from buyers that they avoid OOH altogether because it sells out during key trading periods. Broadsign In-Advance solves that problem by allowing you to reserve key inventory months ahead of time.

Mix and match your OOH buys to maximize reach

Broadsign In-Advance can also be used to strategically support your usual OOH buys. For instance, you might have a traditional static or programmatic digital OOH buy, but need a digital portion that needs to run at a specific time on specific screens. You can book a direct digital placement through In-Advance, guaranteeing your ad will be visible when you need it to, while complementing your other placements. 

Leveraging consistent planning data 

With the ability to plan your direct OOH campaigns and access the inventory of multiple media owners through one platform, Broadsign In-Advance would allow you to leverage a consistent data set when building your campaign. Rather than relying on audience data provided individually by each media owner, you can use a widespread data application for your planning, making your multi-network buys more coherent and easier to audit.

When should a media buyer choose this capability over a traditional or programmatic open exchange buy or a programmatic guaranteed buy?

It’s important to look at this against all the different types of buys because we are not asking buyers to simply swap one method for another. Broadsign In-Advance is the tool you choose when you need the speed of digital buying paired with the certainty of a direct OOH deal. 

Today, Programmatic Guaranteed (PG) is largely set up on a priority basis. That priority is based on a programmatic slot that a media owner has made available. Broadsign In-Advance takes this concept a step further by allowing buyers to reserve inventory that is being booked into a direct slot of the media owner’s inventory. It also gives buyers access to additional buy types for their DOOH campaigns, including Share of Voice (SOV), Budget or Play Goal, and Takeovers.

Can a buyer still leverage data and targeting with an in-advance transaction, similar to how they do with programmatic buys?

The short answer is absolutely. The advantage of Broadsign In-Advance is that it combines the data-rich planning experience of programmatic with the guaranteed delivery of a direct buy. As soon as media owners have selected the inventory they want to make available for in-advance transactions, that inventory is surfaced in the platform the same way that programmatic inventory is.

The data that exists there is still indexed against those screens. This means that all the various data partners available in your DSP can still be selected, utilized, and executed for planning. This gives you a consistent planning framework time and time again, ensuring you’re reaching the same audience with the same methodology across a myriad of place-based and outdoor media types. 

Does this integrate with the DSPs I already use?

Yes. It is currently available through Broadsign’s DSP OutMoove, and we are actively working with a host of demand partners today to make this technology available through their platforms. It’s not our goal to guard this capability from the market. We hope it’s a framework that’s adopted across the ecosystem, and we’re happy to explore and have those conversations with our global partners – many of which we’re already integrated with from a supply perspective today. 

What level of flexibility do in-advance transactions offer? Can a campaign be adjusted or optimized after it has been booked? 

In the vast majority of cases, when we think about flexibility, it typically involves cancellation periods or shifting budgets for optimization purposes. Any cancellation would have to fall under the existing contractual terms of the media owner with whom the transaction was agreed upon. 

In an in-advance transaction, there shouldn’t be a need to adjust the campaign in-flight. If you’ve selected the correct allocation and the creatives have been uploaded properly, you can be assured that it will be delivered. Buyers do, however, have the ability to manage creatives dynamically. As long as the media owner approves the content, different creatives can be used for each play. 

That being said, Broadsign In-Advance DOOH campaigns enjoy the same automated ad delivery optimizations as traditional direct DOOH campaigns. Since the inventory is booked as a direct slot in the media owner’s inventory, In-Advance campaigns benefit from our rebalancing tool, which automatically adjusts pacing to ensure that ad delivery stays on track throughout the campaign’s duration.

What’s next for Broadsign In-Advance? 

The future for In-Advance is about two things: broadening its reach and deepening its utility. We’ve laid the foundation, and now we’re aggressively driving demand and developing new features that our partners need. The earliest enhancement will be to make static OOH available for in-advance transactions in 2026. Looking a bit further ahead, we’ll be focused on: 

Driving global demand and adoption

We’re in constant discussions with agencies, media owners, and demand partners across the world to increase adoption. We see Broadsign In-Advance as a foundational buying framework for the entire ecosystem, and these discussions are critical to understanding how it fits into everyone’s workflows. 

Evolving buying metrics

We’re focused on making sure the way you book In-Advance campaigns aligns with the way OOH is traditionally measured and planned. This means actively having discussions around different buying frameworks:

• Does it need to work on an impression framework?
• Can we look at Share of Voice or Share of Time?
• How do we ensure we’re providing the critical metrics that standard OOH buyers are looking for, whether that’s reliable reach and frequency or other established measurements?

Expanding availability to the full ecosystem

It would be naive to think we can drive this fundamental change all on our own. So, we are currently building technology that allows media owners – regardless of their backend software or whether they are a full-stack Broadsign client – to be able to connect, activate, and execute in this manner. It’s about broadening our scope from a technology perspective and making this standard practice industry-wide.