Executive Summary

In 2020, out-of-home (OOH) advertising was acutely affected by the pandemic. Advertising dollars are coming back to OOH this year, but they’re unevenly distributed among outdoor ad formats. The outdoor industry is also undergoing a technological change that will alter the way advertisers plan and buy OOH.

How much money will be spent on OOH advertising?

We expect US OOH ad spending to increase 14.5% this year for a total of $6.96 billion.

Is most OOH advertising digital?

Although outdoor advertising is becoming more digitized, digital out-of-home (DOOH) ad spending will account for just 31.2% of the total in 2021.

Which outdoor ad formats are rebounding the fastest?

Billboards have experienced much smaller ad spending declines compared with other OOH ad formats, which is why billboards’ share of total OOH ad revenues increased from 67.7% in Q1 2020 to 85.7% in Q1 2021, per the Out of Home Advertising Association of America (OAAA). Place-based advertising took the hardest hit, with its share of OOH ad revenues declining from 9.3% in Q1 2020 to 2.1% in Q1 2021.

What share of OOH advertising is transacted programmatically?

Just 3.9% of total OOH ad spending will be transacted or fulfilled programmatically this year. But programmatic is a subset of digital outdoor advertising, and when viewed in that light, programmatic will account for 12.5% of DOOH ad spending in 2021 and 16.4% in 2022.

WHAT’S IN THIS REPORT? This report examines trends, data, and strategies related to how marketers are approaching US OOH advertising. It includes our latest forecasts for total OOH ad spending, digital OOH, traditional OOH, and programmatic OOH ad spending.

KEY STAT: This year, US advertisers will spend $6.96 billion on OOH ads, up from $6.08 billion in 2020.