Digital out of home advertising is any ad that runs on a screen outside the home: roadside, transit, shopping centres, gyms and office towers. You can book it direct for a set run of dates, or programmatically by place and time of day, which costs more and is worth it when timing matters.
Our out-of-home advertising page covers how we plan a whole campaign. This is how the screens are bought.
What counts as digital out of home
A screen instead of a printed poster. Your ad plays in a loop with other brands, so you buy a share of that screen's time.
Most of the market is now screens. Digital made up 77.1 per cent of out-of-home revenue in Australia in the first half of 2026, according to the Outdoor Media Association.
Two ways to buy it
Direct. You book sites with the media owner for a set flight, usually weeks at a time. It suits a planned campaign where you want to own a corridor.
Programmatic. You buy screens through a platform. We work with Vistar Media, Broadsign and AdQuick. You choose the screens, the days and the hours, and you can switch the campaign on when you are ready.
Programmatic is sold on impressions. Each play is counted as the number of people likely to see that screen at that hour, and that number changes by hour and day (Broadsign). A busy Saturday lunchtime is worth more than a quiet Tuesday night, and is priced that way.
Buying by the hour
This is dayparting. You only run when your customer is in front of the screen.
A gym brand might run near gyms before and after work, and nowhere else. It also lets the message match the moment: what your customer needs on the way to work differs from what she needs on a Saturday at the beach.
Why agility costs more
You are paying for control. Picking hours and screens, and switching on at short notice, costs more per screen than a direct package booked weeks ahead. So we only use programmatic when you need to move quickly, at specific times of day, in targeted locations. For steady awareness over a month, direct is usually better value. Our Sydney price guide has the ranges.
When it is worth paying for
Speed. You need to be live soon and cannot wait for a direct booking.
Timing you cannot fix yet. A launch or an event whose dates may move.
Activations. You need people at a place, on a day, at a time.
The Bondi weekends for Cebu Pacific
Cebu Pacific had an activation at Bondi Beach and needed people to know about it. We ran digital out of home across weekends to build that awareness.
We booked it programmatically through Vistar, so we could be ready when the client was ready and switch it on when they were. We planned two weekends and had to cancel one.
We chose the sites on foot traffic, as we had no movement data at the time, and planned around specific times of day.
We would not do anything differently. We got a lot of added value, we were in the right place at the right time, and foot traffic went up.
Pair the screens with mobile
We never run out of home on its own. With screens, the natural partner is mobile geofencing: targeted mobile ads around the sites, so the people who passed your screen see you again on their phone.
Creative built for a screen
We see bad out-of-home advertising all the time. There is a lot you can do with screens now, so these are the rules we hold to:
One idea, read at a glance. People are walking, driving or waiting for a train.
Speak to people in transit with care. They are on their way somewhere.
Match the creative to the hour. If you are buying by time of day, use it.
QR codes only where it is safe to scan. Never on something moving.
Have files built to each owner's specs, so you can switch on the day you are ready.
FAQ
What is digital out of home advertising?
Ads on screens outside the home: roadside, transit, retail, gyms and office towers. Your ad plays in a loop with other brands.
Is programmatic digital out of home more expensive?
Usually, yes. You pay for the control to choose screens and hours and switch on at short notice.
Can I book digital out of home for one weekend?
Yes, programmatically. That is how we ran the Bondi weekends for Cebu Pacific, switching on when the client was ready.
Does digital out of home work on its own?
We would not run it that way. Pair it with mobile around the sites and with your other channels.
Next step
Thinking about screens for a launch or an activation? See how we plan it on our out-of-home advertising page, or get in touch.
Book a free Growth Plan. Thirty minutes with the person who would do the work. No deck, no pitch.