Digital marketing has dominated marketing spend for years, but the tide is turning. The medium is facing the challenge of oversaturation. Consumers are now resisting the allure of paid online advertising without even engaging with the message of that content. Brands are beginning to realize that their online audiences are not eager to see sponsored ads pop up in their social media feeds because they find it intrusive.
The option to skip ads is often used, resulting in ineffective messages. A data analytics and brand consulting firm conducted a study that found 55% of UK consumers are apathetic to advertising content. By using ad-blocks, brands and advertisers are realizing that they need to resort to other advertising mediums to reach their customers without them being perceived as annoying. Advertisers are turning to out-of-home advertising (OOH) to make the desired impression on consumers.
The increasing demand for OOH is creating a similar problem in the industry. Instead of facing an oversaturation of advertising, the industry is increasingly facing a problem of oversaturation of inventory
This is especially evident in high-traffic areas like city centers. The industry is running out of space for new inventory in areas that are typically in high demand by advertisers, such as iconic landmarks and other highly regarded locations. In addition, too many OOH sites in a given area can lead to lower occupancy, which can negatively impact a media owner’s portfolio
Prestigious media owners who have sites in these locations are drastically lowering the price of their assets to sell their inventory, resulting in a “price war” between industry leaders. It is also difficult for advertisers to make well-informed decisions when booking locations with different media owners.
This could jeopardize their OOH businesses and affect advertisers’ perception of the industry and its offerings.
As large OOH media companies, running on empty is not a viable option. Maintaining assets and business requires financial resources. Leading outdoor media owners typically have pre-arranged contracts with agencies and regular clients with whom they work directly. They have their own sales team to service their clients. Their resources may be limited, preventing them from expanding their reach.
As long as their customers are happy, these deals can help them make a living, but they may not be enough to offset the disadvantage that comes from the oversaturating of inventory. While the industry is implementing regulations and compliance to address the above problem, media owners can now take advantage of a new trend in OOH – self serve advertising.
Self-serve advertising is a process where advertisers and brands can create, plan, book, and execute an OOH advertising campaign on their own without the help of a human. This service has been available primarily in the digital advertising medium. Thanks to advertising technology companies, the OOH industry is now also able to support self-serve advertising
Media owners can now cast a wider net to attract new customers, which can add another sales channel to their business and increase their revenue. With a self-serve advertising portal, they can reach direct brands interested in OOH, as well as clients from multiple markets who want to run cross-border campaigns.
At LMX, we believe media owners should be able to reach media buyers without the help of a third party. LMX Online offers a self-serve advertising technology that creates a fully customized self-serve portal that connects directly to media owners’ websites. This portal will serve not only to reach potential customers but also as a fully functional 24/7 sales channel.
Here are some upsides to self-serve advertising to OOH media owners: