Product News | October 11, 2021

Four lessons from digital that will inform DOOH’s programmatic transition

Digital advertising has come a long way since Wired Magazine offshoot HotWired and AT&T launched the first banner ad in 1994, in part thanks to its shift to programmatic. By 2019, more than 83 percent of US digital display ad transactions are expected to occur programmatically, but digital-out-of-home (DOOH) is just beginning to embrace programmatic. As it begins to take hold, DOOH stands to gain a lot by looking at the evolution of programmatic online and mobile advertising over the last decade. Here are four key takeaways:

1. Relevance matters

Programmatic is often conflated with the goals and practices of online direct marketers (conversion optimized bidding, tight audience targeting and retargeting) because they used these. However, the elements of a programmatic stack (DSPs, DMPs and SSPs) can be used to chase many contexts and it turns out that there are many contexts that matter to audiences (and thus to advertisers) just as much or more than what websites we visited yesterday. Local weather conditions, traffic on the freeway, the score of the football game, train schedules, movie times, our proximity to a store and other signals all influence our days enormously and can be targeted with programmatic tools. Many of these signals are place-based and DOOH inventory is a great way to deliver relevant messages based on these signals at scale.

2. Experience is everything

Time and again the audience experience has been shown to influence buying decisions and brand loyalty. The original programmatic model offered up new data that enabled online and mobile advertisers to create more memorable experiences. Pedigree’s Found campaign from a few years ago, which included a community-driven app for posting and finding lost animals, is a great example. DOOH publishers can take advantage of this programmatic model to similarly use real-time access to traffic, weather and other pertinent data to trigger on-the spot creative decisions. Media buyers can also transact on that information to bring consumers more meaningful experiences in the moment. Because programmatic DOOH is accessible via digital ad platforms it also opens the door for DOOH to become more tightly integrated into the campaign planning process early on, making omni-channel experiences with creative mobile and online tie-ins more feasible.

3. Physical context drives purchase decisions

Google and Instagram, among other major advertising platforms have shown that reaching people on the move leads to increased purchases. For instance, Google found that 76% of people who search for a product or service on their smartphones nearby visit a business within a day and 28% of those searches drive purchases. Online and mobile advertising took advantage of geo-location technology early-on in its programmatic transition to support ad buys based on location. By nature DOOH already allows advertisers to communicate with people in malls, on the way to the game or near a restaurant, but can take advantage of programmatic technology to not only make transactions based on physical context that much easier, but also deliver campaigns based on omnichannel strategies, which have been shown to drive increased store visits.

4. Reach is key

As Cheers patrons and disciples of Byron Sharp know very well, it’s good when everyone knows your name. Brands like Tide, Chevy, Coca Cola and Nike have succeeded in this respect; however, achieving this level of familiarity has historically been challenging for brands that needed to reach a large number of people in their target market to benefit in the long run. The onset of programmatic made it much easier for brands to reach target audiences across online and mobile channels and at scale. DOOH can follow suit as the programmatic transition will likely drive more digitization of traditional street furniture and OOH billboards, and in turn, create opportunity to reach new audiences. Couple that with the advertising effectiveness of DOOH, which outpaces other mediums, and the ability to easily buy and sell ads with greater relevancy and physical context, and programmatic DOOH will be a powerful tool for expanding audience reach.

Programmatic revolutionized online and mobile advertising and is expected to do the same for DOOH. As DOOH marches toward programmatic, it’s clear that some of the key fundamentals uncovered through online and mobile’s transition could inform DOOH’s approach – from the importance of relevancy to expanding audience reach.

Are you ready to get started with programmatic digital out-of-home? See what Broadsign Reach can do for you!

Product News | October 11, 2021

How Québecor’s DOOH campaigns deliver 99.9% on target with the Broadsign Platform

Advertising is woven into nearly every aspect of our daily lives. Whether you’re scrolling on your phone at home or walking down the street, ads are everywhere. With audiences exposed to such a high volume of messaging, breaking through the noise has never been more critical.

At the core of every successful campaign are two key elements: personalized content that speaks directly to the audience, and a channel that effectively reaches them where they are. Tailored messaging plays a crucial role in building meaningful connections between brands and consumers. According to McKinsey’s Next in Personalization 2021 report, 71% of consumers now expect personalization, and 76% are more likely to consider purchasing from brands that deliver it.

When it comes to reaching consumers where they are, few channels do it better than out-of-home (OOH) advertising. By engaging with audiences in the real world, like during a commute, while shopping, or at a live event, the medium delivers messages where consumers can take action. When looking at the effectiveness of personalized content with OOH, Leger and COMMB’s joint research study shows that 51% of its respondents state they enjoy seeing OOH advertisements that are personalized to them.

One media owner that makes it easy for advertisers to deliver personalized content directly to their desired audiences is Québecor. With a combined inventory of over 17,000 static and digital out-of-home (DOOH) assets across all major Canadian markets, Québecor has firmly established itself as a leading force in Canada’s OOH advertising landscape. With its unmatched national reach yet strong local presence, advanced targeting capabilities, and premium inventory, Québecor makes it easy for advertisers to reach a wide variety of audiences across a broad set of points of interest.

Why advertisers love Québecor’s network

Flexible outdoor formats that provide broad reach and hyper-local impact

Québecor OOH offers advertisers a wide range of high-impact DOOH screens across both indoor and outdoor environments. Its outdoor inventory includes large-format static billboards, static and digital bus shelters, digital gas pump screens, mobile static faces on buses, mobile digital screens on taxis, and window displays in pharmacies and convenience stores.

In fact, the Canadian media owner operates the most extensive street furniture network in Quebec, where its headquarters are located. This includes 150 digital bus shelter screens across key cities like Montreal, Sherbrooke, Laval, the South Shore and Lévis, providing targeted and strategic community presence at scale.

One unique offering by Québecor is its Express Video Station network, which is available across Quebec and Ontario. This network features digital screens with audio at gas pumps, allowing advertisers to run 15- to 30-second video ads in a high dwell-time environment, an average of 4 minutes with minimal distractions. The Express Video Station creates a rare opportunity for mass visibility while fostering high-engagement, one-to-one interactions with audiences in a brand-safe, clutter-free environment.

Another distinct offering is Québecor’s fleet of 50 Mobile digital screen – taxi top. Travelling 77 000 km per week and generating over 1M impressions weekly, the double-sided LCD screens provide advertisers with an extended reach into areas with limited billboard availability. Available programmatically, this mobile inventory gives advertisers the flexibility to quickly launch contextual campaigns, bringing dynamic messaging to high-traffic zones.

Influencing decisions indoors with high-impact screens in high-traffic areas

Québecor also maintains a strong footprint in strategic indoor environments through its Shopping Destination, Fitness Destination, and Express Destination networks. These networks are designed to reach consumers at pivotal moments in their day when they’re most receptive to advertising and most likely to make purchasing decisions. Its indoor screens can be found in shopping malls, gyms, convenience stores, and drugstores.

Large-format indoor inventory includes the Toronto Pearson Airport, featuring eight 65” screens that play in synchronization thanks to Broadsign technology, available exclusively through a programmatic private marketplace deal. Québecor also has a premium network of large-format digital screens at Montreal’s Palais des Congrès, ideal for reaching attendees during major events and conferences.

Furthermore, Québecor’s indoor screens have the same ratio as its outdoor screens, making it easy to create a seamless experience across both indoor and outdoor environments that delivers a cohesive and consistent message. Québecor is also the only pan-Canadian indoor advertising network that offers consumer content, national news, weather, and content tailored to its different environments.

Some iconic campaigns that ran on Québecor’s network

Beyond delivering results for advertisers, Québecor has also leveraged its network to showcase how OOH can drive meaningful social impact. For Earth Day on April 22, 2025, they launched an eco-conscious campaign promoting sustainable transportation. With messages like “Every public transit trip is a step towards a common future” and “The electric taxi, driving towards a common future,” the campaign appeared across digital bus shelters and mobile digital screens, raising environmental awareness while highlighting the agility of Québecor’s formats to support timely, contextually relevant messaging.

Another notable campaign was Molson’s “Sponsor the Parents”, which was a heartfelt tribute in support of Team Canada at the Olympic Games and the parents cheering on the athletes behind the scenes. Running across Québecor’s indoor networks located near the athletes’ hometowns, the campaign masterfully combined sentiment, relevance, and geographic targeting. It demonstrated not only the power of Québecor’s network reach but also how OOH can create authentic, personal connections on a national stage.

Why Québecor chose the Broadsign Platform

Increased network reliability and stability

Québecor chose to run its network with the Broadsign Platform due to the company’s longstanding experience and recognition as one of the leading out-of-home software providers in the industry. Since adopting the Broadsign Platform in June 2020, they’ve noticed greater network stability thanks to the platform’s network monitoring capabilities, which have allowed them to quickly identify and resolve system issues, reducing potential downtimes.

Some of Québecor’s favourite features include Broadsign’s campaign delivery, inventory management and reporting capabilities, which, when used together, offer real-time insights on how to maximize network performance. Additionally, Broadsign’s multi-frame feature has been especially useful for its digital bus shelters, enabling dynamic content delivery, like live transit schedules to play alongside ads.

Flexible selling tools that deliver campaigns 99.9% on target

However, the standout advantage to being on the Broadsign Platform has been its flexible selling capabilities, which they leverage for most of its large markets, like Montreal and its neighbouring areas, and for networks with 10 screens or more. Since adopting Broadsign’s flexible selling tools, Québecor has been able to open up its network to more advertisers thanks to goal-based campaigns.

For clients with smaller budgets or occasional DOOH buys, Québecor offers Play Goal campaigns as a more accessible buying option. With this campaign type, advertisers can book a DOOH campaign with a set number of ad plays based on their budget, and the Broadsign Platform will optimally distribute the plays across the selected screens throughout the campaign’s duration.

For Québecor, flexible selling gives them access to Broadsign’s optimization engine. Composed of two features, the optimization engine reallocates campaigns to maximize inventory usage and rebalances ad delivery to guarantee results to advertisers. While the flexible buying approach required an initial adjustment for both Québecor and its clients, the results quickly proved the value of flexible campaigns with ad delivery rates of 99.9%.

“Broadsign’s optimization engine has allowed us to deliver flexible campaigns 99.9% on target, and to say yes to revenue opportunities that we previously wouldn’t have been able to.”
Évannick Godbout Villeneuve, Manager, Business Solutions and Technological Development, Out-of-Home at Québecor.

What’s next for Québecor

Québecor’s dynamic team of seasoned professionals are looking to drive growth by expanding the company’s footprint across the Canadian market. They’ll be focused on developing and optimizing their existing networks while forging new partnerships that will help them deliver an even more impactful experience for advertisers.