By Mark Bracey, Co-Founder & CCO, DoohClick
As an industry, Out-of-Home (OOH) is missing out on major opportunities – not because of a lack of innovation, but because of a lack of standardisation.
In online advertising, buying and selling inventory follow the same principles and standards wherever you are in the world. This consistency has made digital advertising easy to access, scalable, and efficient for both buyers and sellers.
In contrast, OOH, despite its long-standing legacy, remains fragmented. Media owners, buyers, and advertisers all operate on different systems, using different data sets, file formats, and processes. The result is complexity, inefficiency, and a barrier to growth.
The industry has long recognised this challenge, and many technology partners have made progress in streamlining operations. But without a globally agreed framework for how inventory is bought, sold, and verified, progress remains uneven.
At DoohClick, we believe that OOH can and should operate with the same simplicity and transparency as online. When every player in the ecosystem, from media owner to advertiser, speaks the same technical and transactional language, everyone wins.
The question is not if OOH will standardise, but who will lead that change. Should it come from global trade bodies like the World Out of Home Organization, or from the technology partners already embedded in the day-to-day operations of media owners?
It’s time for the industry to stop waiting for the market to demand standardisation and start building it together. Because when buying OOH is as seamless as buying online, participation, and investment, will follow.