2016 will be an important year for Out of Home; the opportunity for it to become the stand out medium of the year. The building blocks have been laid over the last few years with investment in digital products, a refreshed trade marketing body, commitment to industry research, engagement with automated trading, and despite a little uncertainty pre- election, strong revenue growth throughout 2015. It was also testament to some great creative work that there was a healthy blend of both classic and digital campaigns in the Campaign top 10 OOH ads of 2015.

All of this means that OOH is increasingly well placed to move from, what at times can seem semi isolation to other media channels , where the strongest outdoor campaigns on OOH are only on OOH and sometimes only on a few panels, to becoming more relevant, integral and imbedded into other media activity.

An example was a Primesight and global news campaign for Lucozade; the first to run cross media channel synchronization as adverts were broadcast on both DOOH and Radio simultaneously. Results from people who saw and heard the linked creative were significantly stronger than those who only either heard or saw a single channel.

We will see more of this powerful use of simultaneous and sequential activity as digital OOH networks expand their reach across the UK. Look out for digital Out of Home amplifying press campaigns across Primesight’s Network, increasing to 100 Digital 48 sheets by the end of the year across the UK’s 15 highest populated cities. The launch of Network has added a new dimension to roadside digital enabling it to either amplify a broadcast campaign or provide a cost effective tactical opportunity for campaigns not fixed around a traditional OOH two weeks posting cycle.

This growth in the OOH digital inventory will create segmentation opportunities for activating campaigns. Roadside digital is already becoming two markets of broadcast and super premium. Transport will increasingly see different activity to environments such as cinemas and malls, where the long dwell, pack mentality and playful mindset of cinemas means that brands can engage in a way that is impossible to deliver almost anywhere else.

It’s always the year of mobile, I hear 2016 will be no different. Whilst TV and iPads have become ideal bedfellows, so will smart phones and Out of Home. As ad avoidance and blocking becoming bigger issues, it makes sense for the most welcomed and least intrusive media to deliver presence for brands interacting through the media product that we hold most dear and deem most personal. The blurring of smart shopping and social media will increasingly open the way for brands and retailers to capitalise on a networked communication. Expect to see more campaigns where we interact using phones and connecting through Beacons, delivering added engagement through social media, and for Primesight on screen with our cinema partners.

Probably the biggest change for the whole industry will be automation. We are about to enter the third era of transaction. First there was carbon copy and Royal Mail; then the early ‘90s brought Excel and email. The third is all about demand and supply- side platforms (D&SSP) and API connections. 

Automation is essential for the medium to grow by improving efficiency in the transaction process, enabling the harnessing of multiple data sources and linking access to facilitate working more closely alongside other media. 

There is a lot going on in OOH, Primesight are at the heart of this change and I for one am looking forward to the ride.