OOH stands for Out of Home — any form of advertising that reaches consumers when they're outside their homes. Billboards, LED panels, bus ads, street clocks, building wraps, elevator screens, mall kiosks: all OOH. DOOH (Digital Out of Home) is the digital segment — screens displaying dynamic, programmable content that can increasingly be bought programmatically, just like online media.

In Brazil, OOH is the 3rd largest advertising channel, behind only TV and internet. In 2025, the sector generated R$3.5 billion in agency-intermediated investments (12.1% of total ad spend, per CENP-Meios) and R$5.5 billion across the full value chain. In Q1 2026, OOH grew 48.6% year-over-year — nearly 3x faster than the ad market overall. It reaches 89% of the Brazilian population (Kantar), outperforming Latin America (83%), Spain (76%), Germany (69%), the UK (65%), and France (62%).

In this guide

Definition: what OOH and DOOH mean
OOH vs. DOOH: the essential difference
Outdoor advertising formats
Metrics: how OOH is measured
How outdoor advertising is bought
Who operates: media owners, agencies, advertisers
The OOH market in numbers
What's changing: 2026 trends

Definition: what OOH and DOOH mean

Definition

OOH (Out of Home) is any form of advertising that reaches the public when they're outside their home — on streets, in transit, at stations, airports, malls, elevators, and other circulation spaces. It includes static formats (printed posters, vinyl, painted walls) and digital formats (LED screens, programmatic panels). Known as "mídia exterior" in Brazil and "publicidad exterior" in Latin America.

Definition

DOOH (Digital Out of Home) is the OOH segment that uses digital screens. The fundamental difference: in traditional OOH, the creative is physical and changed manually. In DOOH, content is electronic, can change in seconds, be scheduled by time, segmented by location, and in many cases bought programmatically — the same way digital media is purchased.

OOH vs. DOOH: the essential difference

Feature	Static OOH	DOOH (Digital)
Creative	Vinyl, poster, painted	Content displayed on LED/LCD screen
Content change	Manual (physical installation)	Remote, instant, programmable
Campaign duration	Bi-weekly (14 days) or monthly	By second, hour, day, or campaign
Advertisers per unit	1 at a time	Multiple in rotation (playlist)
Buying	Direct with media owner or via agency	Direct, agency, or programmatic (DSP/SSP)
Measurement	Traffic estimates, OTS	Impressions, dwell time, camera data, proof-of-play
Cost	Generally lower per point	Higher, but split among advertisers
Examples	Billboard, backlit panel, building wrap	LED panel, digital kiosk, elevator screen

Outdoor advertising formats

Large formats

FORMAT

Billboard

Rectangular panel, typically large-scale in high-traffic urban areas. Can be static (vinyl) or digital (LED). The most traditional OOH format worldwide.

FORMAT

Frontlit and backlit panels

Illuminated panels — frontlit has external lighting; backlit is translucent and lit from behind. Superior nighttime visibility.

FORMAT

Building wraps

Advertising installed on building facades, covering multiple floors. Massive visual impact in dense urban centers.

FORMAT

LED panels

Large-format digital screens. The core of DOOH in major cities. Enables video, dynamic content, multiple advertisers in rotation, and programmatic buying.

Street furniture

FORMAT

Street furniture (MUB)

Bus shelters, street clocks, benches, bike racks with advertising faces. Integrated into the urban landscape. Leads OOH investment in Brazil, accounting for nearly half of total spend.

FORMAT

Kiosks / totems

Vertical structures with advertising faces, digital or static. Common on sidewalks and city entrances. Growing in interactive digital versions.

Transit

FORMAT

Bus advertising

Ads on the rear, sides, or interior of buses. Itinerant format — the vehicle carries the message across the city. High coverage at low cost.

FORMAT

Station and airport media

Panels in metro stations, bus terminals, and airports. Captive audience with high dwell time — people are waiting, not passing.

Indoor and retail

FORMAT

Elevator and mall screens

Digital screens in enclosed high-traffic spaces. Captive audience for seconds to minutes.

FORMAT

Retail media OOH

Screens at point of sale — supermarkets, pharmacies, stores. Impacts consumers at the purchase decision moment.

Metrics: how OOH is measured

Fundamental OOH metrics

Impressions (impacts). Number of times the ad was potentially seen. In static, estimated by traffic flow. In DOOH with cameras (like Datavisooh), measured in real time.
OTS (Opportunity to See). Number of times a person in the target audience had opportunity to see the campaign. Base for frequency calculation.
GRP (Gross Rating Points). Reach × frequency. Metric inherited from TV. Used to compare OOH with other media in planning.
CPM (Cost per Thousand Impressions). How much it costs for the ad to be seen 1,000 times. Enables direct comparison with digital and TV.
Reach. Percentage of the population or target audience exposed at least once.
Frequency. Average number of times each exposed person saw the campaign.
Dwell time. Average time a person is exposed to the message. Measured by cameras and sensors. Premium panels achieve up to 5x the global average of 27 seconds.
Proof-of-play / proof-of-posting. Verification that the campaign ran (DOOH) or was installed (static). In DOOH it's automatic; in static, done through photographic proof.

OOH measurement is evolving from "traffic estimate" to "real-time camera data."

How outdoor advertising is bought

Direct with the media owner

Advertiser or agency contacts the media owner (company operating the panels), negotiates points, period, and price. Most common model, especially for static OOH and regional operators.

Via advertising agency or media central

Agency plans the campaign, selects formats and markets, negotiates with multiple media owners. Common in national campaigns involving dozens of cities.

Programmatic buying (DOOH)

Works like digital media: advertiser uses a DSP to buy impressions on digital screens connected to SSPs. Automated, segmented, adjustable in real time. Still under 10% of total in Brazil, but growing fast.

Via marketplace

Platforms connecting media owners and buyers. Agency searches available inventory, selects, and buys digitally. Some marketplaces (like Hivestr's) integrate the sale to the media owner's ERP automatically.

The OOH market in numbers

United States

US OOH revenue in 2025 (OAAA)

$9.46billion

A record year. 3.6% growth YoY, 19 consecutive quarters of growth. DOOH accounted for 36.3% of total revenue and grew 10.5%. eMarketer projects $11.28 billion in 2026 (+6.2%) and 3.7% annual growth through 2029.

DATA

Billboards dominate

74.5% of US OOH revenue came from large-format ads in Q1 2025. Billboards remain the backbone of the industry. Transit was the fastest-growing segment at +9.2% YoY.

DATA

Tech brands fuel growth

Technology and digital-native brands accounted for 28% of the top 100 OOH advertisers in 2025 — including Apple (#1), Amazon, Netflix, Google, Uber, DoorDash, Meta, and OpenAI (OAAA).

DATA

Programmatic DOOH rising

Programmatic DOOH ad spending is projected to reach $1.35 billion by 2026 (eMarketer). 80% of consumers are likely to take action after seeing a creative or engaging OOH ad.

DATA

70% increased spend

70% of the top 100 OOH advertisers increased spending compared to 2024. Legal services, financial services, communications, and insurance all posted double-digit growth (OAAA).

Brazil

In Brazil, OOH is the 3rd largest advertising channel. Revenue reached R$3.5 billion in 2025 (12.1% of total ad spend, CENP-Meios). The sector grew 48.6% in Q1 2026 vs. Q1 2025 — nearly 3x faster than the overall ad market. OOH reaches 89% of the Brazilian population (Kantar), outperforming the LATAM average of 83%. The full OOH value chain generated R$5.5 billion in 2024 (ABOOH/Central de Outdoor/Fenapex).

Global outlook

By 2029, Statista projects 44% of global OOH ad spend will go to digital screens. DOOH is expected to grow at a 7.6% CAGR over the next four years, while traditional OOH grows at 0.7%. The shift to digital is structural, not cyclical — and it's happening across every major market.

What's changing: 2026 trends

6 trends redefining OOH

Accelerated digitization. In 2023, 66% of Brazilian consumers noticed digital OOH ads — up 14% in six years (Kantar). The DOOH share grows yearly.
Camera and IoT measurement. Platforms like Datavisooh install cameras on panels and capture real impressions, dwell time, and audience profile with AI. Combined with ERPs like Hivestr, this data flows directly into proposals.
Programmatic DOOH. Automated screen buying via DSP/SSP. Still under 10% in Brazil, but growing. Enables OOH buying with digital logic — segmentation, dynamic budget, real-time optimization.
Interactive proposals and data-driven sales. The era of PDFs with point photos and traffic estimates is ending. Shareable links with live audience data and online approval are changing how OOH is sold.
Retail media OOH. Point-of-sale screens converging with outdoor. Impacts consumers at the purchase moment.
Sustainability. Solar-powered panels, eco-friendly inks, recyclable materials. OOH faces the same ESG pressure as other media.

The complete ERP for OOH operators

From interactive proposal to cash — all in one platform.

Hivestr manages inventory (OOH + DOOH + TV + radio), CRM, interactive proposals with Datavisooh audience data, proof, finance with invoicing, media kit, embeddable map, and agency marketplace. From R$97/month. Free trial for 7 days.

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What is OOH and DOOH: the definitive guide to outdoor advertising

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