Digital Out-of-Home Ads

Organizations or campaigns who could benefit from putting their message on display in the real world as part of an earned media play or to use a physical location to enhance a message

• An organization with a mid-sized digital budget might use digital out-of-home to display a CTA for policymakers on digital billboards around the Capitol building.
• A campaign with a large digital budget might use digital out-of-home to reach voters with mobilization messaging on digital billboards, gas station TV, and public transit screens.

• Public nature of these ad buys can make them good earned media plays
• Most DOOH platforms make it easy for you to understand exactly where the units are and what surrounds them
• Can sometimes be bought programmatically through DSPs like The Trade Desk
• More cost-effective and more adaptable than other out-of-home advertising that requires printed materials
• Option to tap into the location of the inventory to drive a message (e.g. an ad on gas station TV about a governor cutting the gas tax)

• While you can still get back some data, that’s somewhat dependent on the seller and it’s generally more difficult to measure outcomes of these types of ads than other digital ads
• Usually bought in 4 week increments and may not be possible to accommodate shorter buys
• Certain ad units have specific creative requirements and may take more lift to create
• Some restrictions on political content that can vary from one owner of ad space to another (and there’s a fragmented space of owners)

• Because this category covers many different vendors and publishers, there’s no single political ad policy we can list here. These publishers will usually have some sort of attestation form that you will need to fill out with information on your candidate or organization. They will also likely require there to be disclaimers within your ad creative, and they usually require disclaimers to be consistent with FEC regulations.
• Publishers may occasionally have additional restrictions for political advertisers; some may refuse to run electoral ads for c4s or PACs but may be more lenient on advocacy ads for c3s. It is best to make sure to ask about political ad policies when evaluating potential advertising partners.

• Awareness
• Mobilization

Typical pricing model: Flat Rate, typically priced for a four week period

Pricing is highly dependent on the publisher and the type of inventory. They might range from a few hundred or low thousands for certain ad units like gas station TV (priced per gas station) to a thousand per ad unit (ie: a billboard).