What Is Out-of-Home Advertising? A Complete Guide for Marketers

If you’ve seen a billboard on your commute, an ad in an airport terminal, or a poster at a bus stop, you’ve seen out-of-home (OOH) advertising. For advertisers and brands exploring new ways to diversify their marketing mix, OOH offers a powerful way to connect with audiences as they move through the real world, every day.

What Is OOH Advertising?

Most people consider OOH advertising as typical roadside billboards, and while it is, it is so much more. OOH refers to advertising formats placed in public spaces and physical environments where people live, work, and travel. It includes billboards, but also transit ads like shelters and bus wraps, airport displays like screens and banners, street-level or pedestrian-area signage, and digital signage. These ads appear in physical environments, helping brands stay visible and top of mind in heavily-traveled areas. Unlike online media, OOH reaches audiences directly in the physical world, without depending on personal devices or browsing behavior. Instead, it integrates brands into the experiences consumers have throughout their daily routines, making messages more contextual and memorable.

Types of OOH Media

Billboards are the most recognized form of OOH. But they come in several formats, from highway bulletins and urban posters to wallscapes that integrate into city architecture. Transit advertising includes placements on buses and at bus shelters, helping brands reach daily commuters.

Airport advertising is another high-impact option. Digital screens, banners, and interactive displays reach business and leisure travelers at key decision moments. Street-level media includes urban panels, kiosks, and digital displays in city centers, where foot traffic is high.

OOH media comes in two main formats: printed and digital. Printed ads provide 24/7 visibility. Digital out-of-home (DOOH) allows for rotating messages, dynamic content updates, and time-of-day targeting. Turnaround time and costs vary for both printed and digital, digital affording more flexibility and speed, while printed depends on production time and other key factors.

How to Buy OOH Ads

OOH campaigns can be purchased directly or programmatically through media providers like Clear Channel Outdoor (CCO). Not only that, campaigns can be highly targeted. Brands can focus on specific geographic areas, behavioral patterns, or audience segments. Whether you want to reach commuters in a specific set of zip codes or business decision makers traveling in an airport terminal, CCO can deliver precision at scale using our proprietary suite of RADAR Data Solutions, which includes our audience planning tool, RADARView.

Why OOH Works

OOH works because it’s unmissable. Large, captivating displays either on the road or in airports can’t be blocked, skipped, or turned off like TV, digital or social media advertising. That makes OOH one of the most reliable ways to reach people, especially in environments where they are receptive to messages.

While OOH can stand on its own, it also supports your digital marketing. A well-planned billboard campaign can drive search activity, social sharing, and online conversions. This synergy makes OOH a valuable piece of a cross-channel media strategy. In addition, OOH ads deliver nearly 4x more impact on brand favorability compared to digital media & CTV ads. Digital out-of-home (DOOH) adds creative flexibility, enabling animations, real-time data integration, and interactive content.

How OOH Is Measured

OOH has evolved with technology, and CCO has been at the forefront of that evolution. By leveraging aggregated and/or anonymous mobile location data in a privacy-conscious manner, our RADAR solutions help advertisers understand where people go and what they do in the real world, and the role that billboard advertising plays in influencing their attitudes and behaviors. Our solutions provide insights into what audience groups saw an ad, how often, and in what context, offering ways for optimization and learnings to use in future campaigns. Check out some of our case studies to learn how brands like yours have used and benefited from OOH in the past.

Why OOH Belongs in Your Marketing Mix

OOH makes other media in your marketing mix work harder. Because of its flexibility and effectiveness for all kinds of KPIs and campaign strategies, OOH is central in building brand awareness, driving retail traffic, launching new products, or promoting events. It offers flexibility for both national brands and local businesses, with scalable options based on budget and goals.

Because it meets people where they are, OOH is both unmissable and credible. And when combined with digital media, it extends your campaign’s reach and impact. Consumers who see your message offline are more likely to engage with it online and in the real world.

Learn more about OOH and Clear Channel Outdoor

If you're considering OOH, we can help you get started. From choosing the right formats to targeting and creative planning, we’ll tailor a campaign that aligns with your business goals.

Explore our Decision Maker’s Guide for deeper insights and strategies to make OOH a more effective part of your marketing mix.

^{Source: Kantar, 2019-2024}