Question 1

What's the minimum budget for a DOOH campaign?

Accepted Answer

There's no velvet rope. Because programmatic DOOH is bought flexibly, you can start with a focused local test — a few venues in one market — and scale up as results come in. The right starting point depends on your market size and goals; a good rule is to fund enough screens and weeks to learn something real.

Question 2

Should I run a short burst or spread budget over 3–5 months?

Accepted Answer

Match the flight to the goal. Short bursts win for launches, events, and seasonal pushes — concentrated frequency creates a moment. Spreading over 3–5 months wins for always-on awareness and foot traffic, because repetition across routines is what builds memory. Many brands do both: a launch spike, then a steady drumbeat.

Question 3

Are plan dates fixed, or can flights shift if my launch window moves?

Accepted Answer

Flights can flex. Programmatic DOOH isn't a 12-month paper contract — if your launch window slides, your start and end dates can move with it. The Guru always recommends building the plan around your real window, not the other way around.

Question 4

Are there platform fees?

Accepted Answer

With flat-rate planning, what you see is what you get — your budget goes to media, not to a stack of surprise line items. Planning, targeting, and reporting are part of the service, not add-ons.

Question 5

Can I get access to the planning platform myself to explore before committing?

Accepted Answer

Yes — you can explore inventory, build audiences, and see real screen counts and maps before spending a dollar. Kick the tires, draw some radiuses, and see your market. Commitment can wait until the plan makes you smile.

Question 6

Can I target a drive-time radius around my store?

Accepted Answer

Absolutely — and it's smarter than a circle. A drive-time polygon follows real roads and real traffic, so a '10-minute drive' boundary on Friday at 5pm looks very different from Tuesday at 2am. Your ads show on screens inside the area people actually drive from to reach you.

Question 7

Can I target commute corridors and specific highways?

Accepted Answer

Yes. You can select boards and screens along specific highways, interstates, and commuter routes — perfect for reaching a metro's workforce on the way in, or for 'next exit' style directional creative. Corridor targeting pairs beautifully with dayparting: morning inbound, evening outbound.

Question 8

Can I combine a ZIP-code list with venue types and audience data in one campaign?

Accepted Answer

Yes — that's the power move. Layer your ZIP list with venue types (say, gyms and grocery) and census-block audience data, and the plan finds screens that satisfy all three. Geo tells you where, venues tell you context, audiences tell you who. One campaign, all three levers.

Question 9

Can I target around competitor locations (POI targeting)?

Accepted Answer

Yes — it's called POI conquesting, and it's one of DOOH's signature moves. Draw a radius around competitor stores, dealerships, or venues, and your message greets their customers on the way in and out. Polite, legal, and devastatingly effective.

Question 10

How does audience targeting work without cookies?

Accepted Answer

DOOH audiences are built from anonymized, aggregated mobile movement data — never individuals. Segments are mapped at the census-block level: where certain audiences over-index for living, working, or shopping. The platform then picks screens that over-serve those blocks. No cookies, no creepiness, all context.

Question 11

What creative specs and sizes do I need?

Accepted Answer

It depends on the venues in your plan — a highway bulletin, a pump-top, and an elevator screen all have different dimensions. The good news: a plan's ad-spec report lists exactly which sizes to produce (commonly landscape 16:9 video or statics plus a few portrait sizes), and simple static or short-motion creative covers most inventory.

Question 12

Do screens play audio?

Accepted Answer

Most DOOH is silent — think elevators, highways, and gym walls. Some in-car and taxi screens can carry sound, but the Guru's rule stands: design for the mute button. If the ad works with no audio, it works everywhere.

Question 13

Can creative change dynamically (weather, sports scores, countdowns)?

Accepted Answer

Yes — dynamic creative is DOOH's party trick. Creative can swap based on live triggers: weather, pollen, traffic, game scores, inventory counts, or countdown clocks to your event. 'Rainy day? Hot soup, two blocks ahead' is a real campaign pattern.

Question 14

Does DOOH include static (non-digital) billboards?

Accepted Answer

DOOH is the digital side of out-of-home — screens that can rotate, daypart, and update. Classic static billboards are their own (still mighty) medium, usually bought directly from operators. Many brands run both: static for permanence, digital for flexibility.

Question 15

What's a 'loop' and how often does my ad play?

Accepted Answer

A loop is the playlist a screen repeats — typically a minute or two of content shared among several advertisers. If your spot is 15 seconds in a 90-second loop with five other advertisers, you get a set share of every rotation. Buy a bigger share of the loop and your ad plays more often — that's 'share of voice.'

Question 16

Can I see photos of my ad live in venues?

Accepted Answer

Yes — in-situ photos show your creative photographed live on actual screens in actual venues. They're the scrapbook of a campaign: proof it ran, and excellent material for your own social channels and stakeholder decks.

Question 17

Can I watch my campaign delivery in real time on a map?

Accepted Answer

Yes — live campaign maps show every screen in your plan, where it is, and how delivery is pacing. Watching your brand light up across a city map is, the Guru admits, one of the great small joys of this medium.

Question 18

Do I get proof of play?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Proof of play is the screen-side log confirming which spots played, on which screens, at which times. It's the receipt of DOOH — auditable, timestamped, and shareable with anyone who asks 'did it actually run?'

Question 19

Can you measure foot-traffic lift to my locations?

Accepted Answer

Yes — foot-traffic studies compare the store visits of devices exposed to your screens against a matched control group, then report the lift. It's the closest thing DOOH has to a scoreboard, and it works for QSR, retail, auto dealerships — anywhere with a door.

Question 20

Can DOOH retarget people on their phones afterward?

Accepted Answer

Yes — this is the one-two punch of modern OOH. Devices observed near your screens (anonymously and in aggregate) can be re-reached with mobile display or video afterward. The billboard makes the introduction; the phone closes the loop.

Question 21

How is DOOH measured (impressions, impression multipliers)?

Accepted Answer

One screen play reaches many people, so DOOH multiplies plays by an impression multiplier — an audited estimate of how many people were present, based on footfall data, time of day, and venue type. Plays × multiplier = impressions. It's social math, and it's how the industry compares DOOH to digital.

Question 22

How fast can a campaign launch?

Accepted Answer

Fast. Once creative is approved and inventory is selected, programmatic campaigns can go live in days, not weeks. Venue approvals and creative production are usually the long poles — the buying itself is nearly instant.

Question 23

What are the rules for political ads in DOOH?

Accepted Answer

Political creative is welcome on much of the medium, with rules: sponsor disclaimers ('Paid for by…') are required, some venue owners decline political content, and inventory tightens near elections — book early. The Guru's advice: lock key markets well before October.

Question 24

What venues work best for my vertical?

Accepted Answer

Follow the moment of relevance. QSR: gas pumps, grocery, and conquesting competitor trade areas. Healthcare: doctor's offices and pharmacies. B2B: office towers and airports. Beauty: salons and gyms. Auto: the DMV and gas stations. CPG: grocery aisles and checkout. The Idea Lab further down this very page will build you a starter mix.

Question 25

Why don't QR codes work well in DOOH?

Accepted Answer

Distance and time. Most screens are viewed from too far away, too briefly, or from a moving car to scan a code — and a QR code on a highway board is a safety problem, not a strategy. DOOH drives search, store visits, and mobile retargeting instead: 'search X' beats 'scan this' every time. That's why you'll never find a QR code in the Guru's mockups.

Question 26

How much does DOOH cost? What CPM should I expect?

Accepted Answer

The Guru never quotes rates from the mountaintop — pricing varies by market, venue type, timing, and how flexible your plan is. A premium spectacular and a gym screen live in different universes. The antidote to rate anxiety is flat-rate planning: one predictable structure across the whole plan, so you compare strategies instead of haggling over pennies.

Question 27

Can I run programmatic and direct buys in the same campaign?

Accepted Answer

Yes — hybrid plans are common. A direct buy might lock a marquee spectacular or a must-have venue, while programmatic fills the surrounding market with flexible, targetable screens. The Guru's rule: anchor with direct where permanence matters, then let programmatic do the reaching.

Question 28

Is DOOH worth it for small and mid-market brands?

Accepted Answer

Emphatically yes — arguably more so. A national brand dilutes its budget across hundreds of markets; a focused local brand can dominate one metro's gyms, gas stations, and grocery screens outright. Presence in the right market beats a whisper everywhere.

Question 29

Do I need a media agency to run DOOH?

Accepted Answer

No. Plenty of brands plan directly — the platform is built for marketers, not just traders. Agencies are welcome and common, but a smart brand marketer with a goal and a geography can build a real plan in an afternoon.

Question 30

Can I target a list of specific company addresses (account-based marketing)?

Accepted Answer

Yes — B2B teams do this constantly. The company's physical addresses — HQ, satellite offices, distribution centers — become the planning spine, and screens are chosen by proximity and commute approach. Single-account pursuits work too: wrapping one Fortune 500 HQ in screens for a quarter is a real play.

Question 31

Can I target only the stores that carry my product?

Accepted Answer

Yes — the most common CPG request the Guru receives. Draw a boundary around the retail locations carrying your SKU — by address list, chain, radius, or custom polygon — and buy only the screens inside it. The budget follows distribution instead of spilling into markets where you're not on the shelf.

Question 32

Can we geofence our own branches and conquest a competitor's?

Accepted Answer

Yes — a classic. Run a tight radius around each of your locations to drive visits and local presence, plus a second ring around competitor locations with switch-worthy creative. Banks do this with fee-free-checking messages; QSRs do it with lunch. It works anywhere there's a rival with a door.

Question 33

How is DOOH targeting different from mobile geofencing?

Accepted Answer

Mobile geofencing chases individual phones inside a fence; DOOH targeting selects real screens in the right places and contexts, using aggregated census-block data — no personal tracking involved. One follows a person; the other owns a place. They pair beautifully, but they're built on opposite philosophies.

Question 34

Which states can cannabis brands run DOOH in?

Accepted Answer

Across the adult-use states plus D.C., with each state's creative rules and distance buffers applied automatically per screen. Medical-only markets are evaluated case by case depending on operator licensing. Compliance is built into the plan, not bolted on after.

Question 35

Can creative show live data — like ER wait times or today's rates?

Accepted Answer

Yes, and it's some of the most effective DOOH ever run. Programmatic screens accept live data feeds, so a hospital's real ER wait time or a bank's current APY can update across every screen in the campaign within minutes — no revision cycle, and no stale offer lingering after it expires.

Question 36

How far in advance do creative assets need to be delivered?

Accepted Answer

Days, not weeks. Once creative is approved, swaps can land within about 24 hours — crucial for promotions and seasonal windows where the message changes the same week the offer does. The long pole is venue-owner approval, which is why polished, spec-correct creative clears fastest.

Question 37

How long should a DOOH spot be?

Accepted Answer

Shorter than you think. Roadside boards typically run 8-second spots inside a shared loop; place-based video screens commonly run 15 seconds. Whatever the length, the message must land in the first heartbeat — DOOH rewards compression, not endurance.

Question 38

How small can text be on a DOOH ad?

Accepted Answer

Big enough to read at speed from the intended distance — that's the only rule that matters. Highway creative lives and dies at a glance, so think seven words or fewer, heavy contrast, generous letterforms. If you have to ask whether it's big enough, it isn't.

Question 39

Can I use the same creative for OOH, DOOH, and CTV?

Accepted Answer

Largely yes — with adaptation. A 16:9 CTV spot often re-cuts cleanly for landscape DOOH screens, but portrait formats and silent-first storytelling need their own pass. Design once, version thoughtfully, and always assume the sound is off.

Question 40

What's the difference between a play and an impression?

Accepted Answer

A play is one airing of your creative on one screen. An impression is the modeled number of people with a reasonable opportunity to see that play. One play on a highway bulletin may count as hundreds of impressions; one play on an elevator screen may count as two or three. Plays × multiplier = impressions.

Question 41

How long should a campaign run before we measure results?

Accepted Answer

Give it room. Four weeks is the practical minimum for a brand-lift or visit-lift read; six to eight weeks produces a far more stable number. Shorter flights generate too little exposure to separate your effect from ordinary week-to-week noise.

Question 42

Is incrementality measurement possible in DOOH?

Accepted Answer

Yes — the cleanest design holds out matched markets or matched store clusters, runs everywhere else, and compares outcomes between the two groups. Market-level holdouts are the standard for retail and QSR, and they sidestep the limits of device-matching panels entirely.

Question 43

What should a proper DOOH report include?

Accepted Answer

Impressions and plays by venue type and market, delivery against plan, daypart distribution, screen-level location detail, proof-of-play reporting by tactic, with photo examples from the field, and the outcome study tied to your objective. Anything less makes the next flight a guess instead of an improvement.

Question 44

Can DOOH help recruit nurses, drivers, or other hard-to-reach workers?

Accepted Answer

It's one of the strongest use cases going. Geofence competitor campuses, training schools, gyms, and office parks with employer-brand creative, and you reach passive candidates where job boards never do. Recruitment by radius beats recruitment by keyword.

Question 45

Is DOOH compliant for healthcare and hospital advertising?

Accepted Answer

Structurally, it's one of the safest scaled channels a health system can run. DOOH uses no protected health information and no individual tracking — targeting is by geography and venue, not patient data, pixels, or cookies. As always, run creative past your own compliance counsel, but the medium itself avoids the traps that sank digital health ads.

Question 46

Can we run event-only flights around a conference or summit?

Accepted Answer

Standard play. Airport, hotel-corridor, and venue-area screens activate the week of the event, then go dark. It pairs naturally with field marketing, and it's the fastest way to make a booth feel like it owns the host city.

Question 47

Can we run across retail media networks in one buy?

Accepted Answer

Yes — in-store screens across the major US retail banners can be planned in a single campaign. The bonus: you're not limited to what one retailer's network owns. A plan can also buy the mile around each store — the pumps, c-stores, and billboards shoppers pass on the way in. One plan, both sides of the front door.

Question 48

Can I approve the exact screens before my campaign runs?

Accepted Answer

Yes — and the Guru encourages it. Before anything is signed you get a location list with every screen's actual address and venue, plus a live map to browse. Clients routinely highlight the boards they love, flag the ones they don't, and only then does the paperwork appear.

Question 49

Will every screen on my list actually play my ad?

Accepted Answer

Honestly — mostly, not guaranteedly. Programmatic avails are modeled from a trailing four-week delivery window, not reserved space like a direct buy. As a rule of thumb, a line item targeting fewer than about 30 screens can't be guaranteed to deliver in full. The remedy is watching delivery and shifting budget toward any board that lags.

Question 50

Can I stop a few busy screens from eating my whole budget?

Accepted Answer

Yes — distribution caps are standard practice. You can limit any single town, venue, or screen to a small share of total spend, so a couple of high-traffic boards don't hoover up the impressions. Balanced distribution across the whole map is a plan setting, not a hope.

Question 51

Does audience targeting reduce my impressions?

Accepted Answer

No — a wonderfully common worry. Layering an audience like F18-49 or high-income households doesn't shrink the impressions you buy; it steers where they land. The Guru uses your audience to weight budget toward the markets and screens where those people actually concentrate. Same impressions, better aim.

Question 52

How should budget be split across multiple markets?

Accepted Answer

The Guru's favorite method is audience-share weighting: size your target audience in each market, convert to a percent share of the whole, and apply that share to the budget. Big audience, big slice. You can also set per-market impression thresholds so no single city over-delivers and starves the rest.

Question 53

Can a campaign build toward a launch or release date?

Accepted Answer

Yes — phased pushes are the classic entertainment play. A typical shape: an opening burst to seed awareness, a heavier final push right before the date, and a short taper after. Each phase gets its own share of impressions, so the crescendo lands exactly when the doors open.

Question 54

Can I change targeting after the campaign is live?

Accepted Answer

Yes — this is programmatic's quiet superpower. Venue types can be removed (a client recently pulled urban panels out of a live convenience-store campaign), new store tiers added, screen lists refreshed, and dayparts shifted — all mid-flight, usually within a day or two.

Question 55

Can I buy this inventory through my own DSP?

Accepted Answer

Yes — deals can be pushed directly to your seat in the major DSPs (The Trade Desk, StackAdapt, and friends), where you accept them in the deal desk and traffic them like any other PMP. Agencies with their own trading desks do this every week.

Question 56

Can I target specific screens by ID?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Every screen carries a unique venue or screen ID, and lists of them can be pasted or uploaded straight into the DSP as a targeting set. It's the scalpel option: exactly these 47 boards, nothing else.

Question 57

Can I see which media owners are in my plan?

Accepted Answer

Yes — vendor transparency on request. Plans can include the full list of media owners and operators behind the screens, and if you have favorites (or firms you'd rather skip), the plan can be built with that in mind.

Question 58

Can I run DOOH outside the US?

Accepted Answer

Yes — roughly 30 countries are covered, including Canada, the UK, France, Germany, and Spain. The workflow is identical to a US buy: pick markets, approve the board list, sign, launch. Cross-border campaigns no longer require cross-border phone tag.

Question 59

Can I exclude areas I don't want — tourist zones, student housing, certain towns?

Accepted Answer

Yes — exclusions are first-class citizens in a plan. Clients routinely strike tourist corridors, small municipalities, or specific venue types from the map, or cap them to a token share of spend. Name your no's and the plan respects them.

Today's Brief

Ask the Guru

The Format Field Guide

Highway Billboards

Roadside Billboards

Spectaculars

Urban Panels

Bus Shelters

Airports

Subway & Train Platforms

Commuter Rail In-Car

Buses

Taxi & Rideshare In-Car

Taxi Tops

Gas Stations & Pump-Tops

Convenience Stores

Grocery Aisle

Grocery Checkout

Liquor Stores

Malls

Pharmacies

Dispensaries

Parking Garages

Bars

Casual Dining

QSR

Movie Theaters

Hotels

Sports & Entertainment

Golf Carts

Gyms

Salons & Spas

Doctor's & Vet Offices

Colleges

Office Buildings & Elevators

Apartment Buildings

Banks

DMV Offices

…and here they are in the wild

Roadside Billboard

The Map Room

New York

The Idea Lab

The QSR Awareness Play

Facts & Figures

The Guru's Glossary