Insights into a Dynamic Media Landscape
We gather the latest in OOH, DOOH, and prDOOH, from new formats and campaign ideas to trends, measurements, and industry events. Using cities as a platform, we share perspectives and knowledge that help you create communication that stands out, gets noticed, and truly makes a difference.
Welcome to our hub for news, insights, and events. Here, we share current observations, analyses, and inspiration from our network in Sweden and around the world. Whether you work in strategy, creativity, or media buying, you’ll find content that offers new perspectives and ideas.
DOOH builds upon classic outdoor advertising but integrates digital distribution, data-driven management, and new ways of purchasing media. In programmatic DOOH (prDOOH), concepts such as RTB, open auctions, and private deals are essential, as is DCO (Dynamic Creative Optimization) when it comes to the content itself. To fully leverage DOOH, one must understand how these components interact.
RTB: The engine of programmatic buying
RTB (Real-Time Bidding) is the process where advertising space is sold via automated auctions rather than fixed price lists.
In traditional digital advertising, this means every single impression served to a unique user can be auctioned off. In DOOH, it functions slightly differently:
You bid on time slots and screens (e.g., a specific screen between 7:00 AM and 9:00 AM).
The price can be adjusted dynamically based on demand, time of day, and environment (commuter paths, city centers, retail areas, etc.).
It is RTB, but in a physical environment where “impressions” are tied to location and time, rather than individual cookies or IDs.
Open Auction: The open trading floor
An open auction is the most transparent form of RTB:
Multiple buyers can place bids on the same DOOH inventory simultaneously (e.g., bus shelters, street furniture, or city information panels).
Advantages:
High flexibility: You can scale up or down rapidly.
Opportunity to “capture” premium inventory when it becomes available.
Disadvantages:
Less control over the exact inventory received when competition is high.
More difficult to guarantee specific premium placements during peak time slots.
Open auctions are ideal when the objective is reach and flexibility, rather than total control over every individual screen.
Private Deals: More control, still programmatic
Private deals are a middle ground between open auctions and traditional direct bookings:
Media owners and advertisers (or agencies) agree on terms in advance—floor prices, conditions, and often which networks or screen types are included.
The purchase remains programmatic but occurs within the framework of this “private” agreement.
Benefits:
Better transparency regarding pricing and guaranteed access to specific screens.
Ability to secure attractive inventory while maintaining optimization logic based on target audiences, traffic flows, location, and time.
Private deals are suitable when you want to combine quality and control with programmatic efficiencies.
DCO: Creative content linked to data
DCO (Dynamic Creative Optimization) is about automatically adapting the message based on data—not just in banners, but in DOOH as well:
The system selects the version of the message to be displayed on a specific screen based on factors such as time of day, day of the week, location, weather, traffic, or other real-time data.
Example: A brand displays a more “inspirational” message in the city center during the day, but a “purchase-oriented” message near retail areas during afternoons and weekends. Without DCO, someone must manually switch the creative. With DCO, the campaign continuously directs the right message to the right place at the right time.
The Big Picture: prDOOH as a dynamic part of the mix
The combination of prDOOH (programmatic logic), RTB, open auctions, private deals, and DCO allows DOOH to be planned more like digital channels, but with the core strengths of OOH (reach, physical presence, VAC).
In practice, this means:
Static, “locked” bookings are partially replaced by continuous optimization.
The system can drive performance toward the screens and time slots that best contribute to campaign goals within defined parameters.
Messaging can be adapted for different contexts without the need for manual production and site-by-site material replacement.
For specific initiatives like takeover campaigns, iconic sites, or custom (D)OOH activations, traditional bookings will always remain the right path. However, for many brands, programmatic logic is a way to get more impact per invested currency in digital out-of-home advertising.
Large networks and media owners describe the same development:
JCDecaux: Programmatic at JCDecaux. An overview of how programmatic buying, RTB, and deal types are used to build reach and precision.
Dentsu: Private Marketplace as an alternative to open RTB. Dentsu details how Private Marketplaces (PMPs) and programmatic deals provide more control than purely open auctions—a concept directly applicable to DOOH logic: dentsu-ho.com.
These sources confirm that major networks are moving in the same direction: programmatic, RTB, and deal-based setups are no longer a niche—they are the standard. DOOH is aligning with the modern approach to data, control, and effectiveness.
Priming is a psychological effect where prior exposure to a message influences how we later interpret information and make decisions – often without being consciously aware of it. In practice, this means that when people have seen a brand in their everyday environment via OOH or DOOH, they become more likely to recognise, choose and act on the same brand later in other channels.
What priming means in an OOH/DOOH context
In OOH/DOOH, priming is about building “mental availability”: the brand is already present in the background when the next contact occurs. If someone, over the course of a week, sees the same campaign on several JCDecaux sites – at the bus stop, down in the metro, along roads and near stores – a base layer of recognition is created. The person may not act directly on the out‑of‑home ad, but when they later:
the brand already feels familiar and safe. That is priming in practice.
In the data, this often shows up as:
even though the OOH contact itself contains no direct “click”.
JCDecaux studies that show the priming effect
JCDecaux has, in several international studies, demonstrated how OOH and DOOH amplify the impact of other channels precisely through priming:
What priming means for how you use OOH/DOOH
For media planning and strategy, the priming effect implies that OOH/DOOH:
When you plan campaigns using JCDecaux’s sites, you can therefore think in two steps:
In this way, OOH/DOOH becomes not just “one more channel”, but a priming foundation that makes the entire marketing mix more effective.
Read more about JCDecaux Group’s research, measurement and effectiveness studies here.
When planning out-of-home advertising, actual reach is the central question: how many unique individuals truly see the campaign, rather than how many could potentially do so? To understand this, one must distinguish between pass-bys, traffic flows, and reach, and link these to VAC (Visibility Adjusted Contacts).
Pass-bys and traffic flows: Volume, not effect
Pass-bys describe how many times people or vehicles move past a point during a given period. It is a volume metric, not a pure advertising metric. A single person can account for multiple pass-bys, such as on a daily commute.
Traffic flows are a more structured way to describe these movements, mapping pedestrian, cyclist, car, and public transport flows to specific advertising sites and formats.
Together, these provide a picture of potential exposure—how often a site can be seen—but they do not indicate how many unique people are reached, nor how many actually perceive the message.
From potential to actual reach: Why VAC matters
Actual reach only occurs when traffic flows are adjusted for how well the site can actually be seen. International guidelines, such as ESOMAR’s global standards and JCDecaux’s “OOH Audience Measurement 101,” distinguish between:
OTC (Opportunity To Contact): How many people pass by and could potentially see the ad.
VAC (Visibility Adjusted Contacts): How many people have a high probability of having actually seen the ad.
To calculate VAC, factors such as the following are taken into account:
Placement and height.
Angle relative to the flow.
Distance and speed (walking, driving, train, etc.).
Obstructions and competing impressions.
Dwell time in the environment.
Outdoor Impact 2.0 is an independent, industry-standard system for OOH measurement, developed by JCDecaux in collaboration with industry peers. The system uses VAC as its foundational metric. It calculates reach, frequency, and contacts by adjusting the contact volume based on how well each individual site can be seen according to defined visibility criteria. This means that two sites with an identical number of pass-bys may contribute very differently to actual reach; a screen or display in a slow-moving pedestrian walkway may yield more “real contacts” than a site along a fast-moving highway.
Networks, frequency, and unique individuals
In a network consisting of many sites, models are used to simulate how people move between different locations:
How often the same individual passes multiple sites.
How contacts are calculated without double-counting the same person.
Outdoor Impact 2.0 uses these models to derive reach (unique individuals), frequency (average number of contacts per individual), and the total number of VAC contacts for a campaign. This transforms raw volume figures into a realistic measure of how many people actually saw the campaign and how often.
DOOH: Combining movement with controllable digital exposure
In DOOH, additional dimensions are introduced:
Share of loop and duration: Reach and contacts in a digital network are a function of both how many pass the screen (traffic flows) and how often your specific campaign appears in the loop (share of time, number of spot impressions).
Time and location control: By steering playback toward specific times, days of the week, or segments (e.g., rush hour), you can increase the proportion of relevant contacts within a target audience rather than just maximizing total pass-bys.
The same logic applies to creative Innovate solutions. While they may have fewer total pass-bys, they contribute strongly to actual reach within a defined target audience thanks to high visibility, longer dwell time, and high memorability.
Why optimize toward VAC instead of just pass-bys?
International industry actors like ESOMAR and the Media Rating Council highlight the VAC mindset as essential for comparing (D)OOH with other media. It is about actual, visible contacts, not just potential ones. At JCDecaux, we summarize this by noting that the best (D)OOH measurement models “deliver figures on how many people actually saw your ad (VAC), not just how many could have seen it (OTC).”
Outdoor Impact 2.0 is developed on this same principle. By using VAC as our foundation, we can:
Provide more accurate reach and frequency data.
Optimize campaigns based on visible contacts rather than traffic volume.
Make (D)OOH planning comparable to other media and channels that rely on viewability and real impressions.
Conclusion: Pass-bys are the starting point, but VAC is the destination. While traffic flows are important inputs that show where people move, Outdoor Impact and VAC translate those movements into actual, visible contacts and reach. In both OOH and DOOH, it is wise to treat pass-bys as baseline data, but to steer planning, optimization, and evaluation toward VAC-based reach and frequency in line with international measurement standards.
Read more about VAC in our article: [VAC and visibility – how do they connect?]
What is the “peacock effect” in marketing?
The “peacock effect” is about “strutting your stuff”: being seen on a grand scale, daring to stand out, and signaling strength, quality, and confidence through how and where you appear.
In marketing and out-of-home (OOH/DOOH) advertising, this generally means:
Large formats.
High presence in the cityscape.
Visually bold creative expressions.
Controlled frequency and reach.
It is not just about being “flashy”—it is a signal to both consumers and competitors that your brand is relevant, successful, and here for the long haul.
Why does the peacock effect work so well in (D)OOH?
OOH is the stage where brands can “strut” in the middle of people’s daily lives—the physical environment where purchasing decisions are often formed.
Three reasons why the peacock effect fits (D)OOH perfectly:
Large, physical formats: Size signals strength. A massive billboard, a dominant MetroVision screen in the subway, or a takeover of multiple digital screens is intuitively perceived as “big brand” behavior.
Controlled context: You choose exactly where your brand appears: premium locations, affluent neighborhoods, commute paths, and city centers. The location becomes part of the message, reinforcing the brand image you want to create.
High visibility, low irritation: Unlike interrupted video ads or pop-up banners, OOH/DOOH is a natural part of the urban space. This makes the “peacock” feel inspiring rather than intrusive, especially when the creative is clear and well-executed. This allows you to build a cohesive journey where the same campaign meets people at the bus stop, on their way through the city, and deep inside the subway station.
What does the peacock effect look like in real JCDecaux campaigns?
Large-scale surfaces: Formats like Supersize Digital (approx. 60 m²) act as clear “peacock surfaces.” Their size, location, and high screen quality ensure the brand is immediately perceived as strong and invested.
MetroVision: Europe’s largest digital screen in a subway environment feels more like a monumental installation than a traditional ad. When a brand takes full control of MetroVision during a launch week, it creates a powerful peacock effect: high presence, high recognition, and a natural conversation starter in social media and everyday talk.
Premium networks: Visibility in Sweden’s 25 largest cities creates a psychological effect of being market-leading and stable. When a brand is seen consistently in coveted city-center locations, hubs, and walkways, the campaign isn’t just seen—it is felt.
Station Dominations: Taking over an entire environment
When a brand takes over an entire section of a subway station—using billboards, floor vinyls, digital screens, and pillars with consistent color-coding and minimal, strong messaging—the effect is immediate brand recall. Travelers often feel like “the whole station belongs to the brand.” People frequently photograph these environments and share them on social media, further extending reach and building status.
How to achieve the peacock effect with a product launch
For a launch where the goal is the peacock effect, we recommend a setup combining high intensity, iconic formats, and a coordinated network of analog and digital surfaces:
High-frequency visibility: Concentrate the launch into a clear window (1–2 weeks) with high pressure across multiple environments simultaneously to create the feeling that the brand is “everywhere.”
Iconic “hero” formats: Use MetroVision or Supersize Digital to set the stage. These large screens grab attention from a distance.
Coordinated digital networks: Ensure the same creative follows the audience through their journey (street → station → platform).
Analog premium surfaces: Static surfaces with matte lamination provide a physical, timeless presence that reinforces the premium impression.
What does the peacock effect signal about your brand?
When you “play peacock” in OOH/DOOH, you send several psychological signals:
“We can afford to be here”: Size and location imply economic stability, which recipients often interpret as a stable, popular, and low-risk brand choice.
“We are part of your daily life”: Repeated exposure builds familiarity. Familiarity builds trust, simplifies decision-making, and increases the likelihood of being chosen at the point of purchase.
“We are relevant right now”: Short, intense bursts of presence around launches or seasons signal that the brand is active, up-to-date, and part of the “now.”
How to maximize the peacock effect creatively
Few words, big surface: One headline, one visual idea, one sender.
One “hero” per surface: Focus on one product, one person, or one scene to ensure the message is understood in seconds.
Contrast and color: Use bold colors that stand out against the surroundings.
Adapt for DOOH: Use short, calm animations (2–6 seconds) that remain legible even when still.
When does it pay off to “play peacock”?
The peacock effect is especially valuable when you:
Want to build or reinforce a strong market position.
Are launching something important and want to ensure it is noticed.
Want to be perceived as large, safe, and relevant in your category.
Want to increase the ROI of your digital investments by first winning attention in the physical world.
Summary: The peacock effect is about being seen in the smartest, largest, and most consistent way possible where it actually counts—in the everyday lives of people, where brands are built over time.
We are now taking the next step in the development of out-of-home advertising in Stockholm. JCDecaux has officially taken over all bus shelters in Stockholm’s A-region, comprising a total of 2,500 analogue panels and 300 digital screens. The analogue panels are already displaying current campaigns.
In parallel, we are carrying out a major upgrade of the screens. On Monday, we began replacing all existing 75″ screens with new, larger 86″ screens offering razor-sharp image quality. This is a key investment to enhance both the visual experience and the impact of campaigns.
What does this mean for you as an advertiser?
With this rollout and upgrade, you benefit from:
The large number of sites and their central locations in Stockholm’s A-region ensure your messages are exposed to a high volume of travellers, commuters and passers-by, around the clock.
The larger 86″ screens, combined with enhanced image quality, make it easier to absorb your message even from a distance and on the move. This delivers stronger impact, especially in environments where people are moving quickly.
The combination of larger formats, higher resolution and modern design creates a more exclusive look and feel. Your campaigns gain a distinctly upgraded and contemporary expression.
With 2,500 analogue panels and 300 digital screens in Stockholm’s A-region, we now offer one of the city’s most powerful platforms for reaching people in their everyday lives. The combination of reach, frequency and high-quality sites provides excellent conditions for both brand-building and sales-driven campaigns.
Would you like to know more about the opportunities in Stockholm’s A-region, or how to best integrate the new digital screens into your media mix? Contact our sales team to learn more.
How does Outdoor Impact calculate an “actual” contact?
When we talk about VAC (Visibility Adjusted Contacts), it essentially boils down to one question: how likely is it that a person passing by actually sees the advertisement? Outdoor Impact answers this by combining traffic and movement data, detailed information about every individual site, and models that simulate how people see and perceive messages while in motion. The result is a visibility factor per site, which is used to convert gross pass-bys into VAC—providing more realistic, visible contacts rather than just “how many people passed by.”
Source: JCDecaux, “OOH Audience Measurement 101,” with references to ESOMAR, WFA, etc.
In practice, this means that factors such as distance, angle, height, speed, size, and visual noise around the site are of great importance. A display at a bus shelter or in a pedestrian walkway can yield high VAC despite lower traffic volumes, while a site along a fast-moving road might yield lower VAC despite a high number of pass-bys. Furthermore, exposure time and probable eye contact are factored in—how long the display is actually within the field of vision and whether it is located where people naturally cast their gaze. This type of “eyes-on” or VAC metric is recommended in global guidelines for OOH measurement and is highlighted as the standard currency by several industry players.
Source: MediaPost, “Why Out-of-Home Is Becoming The Model For Audience Measurement.”
Once VAC is calculated, Outdoor Impact can calculate reach and frequency at the campaign level. The point is that two sites with the same number of gross pass-bys can provide completely different numbers of VAC, depending on visibility and exposure time. This allows OOH and DOOH to be compared more fairly with other media: whereas many channels still report relatively generous impressions, modern outdoor measurement delivers a refined figure representing how many people actually had a reasonable chance to see the advertisement.
Source: JCDecaux, “OOH Audience Measurement 101,” with references to ESOMAR, WFA, etc.
Outdoor advertising is increasingly used in conjunction with digital channels, which means that pricing models such as CPC, CPM, CPA, and CPV are appearing more frequently in discussions regarding OOH and DOOH. To value these investments fairly, it is essential to understand what each model measures and how they relate to the underlying logic of outdoor advertising—namely, reach and VAC (Visibility Adjusted Contacts).
CPM (Cost Per Mille) is the metric most closely aligned with outdoor advertising. In OOH and DOOH, it effectively represents the cost per thousand contacts or exposures within defined environments. When purchasing an outdoor advertising network—such as bus shelters, street furniture, city information panels, or standalone billboards—prices are often converted into CPM to enable comparison with other channels. In this context, the calculation is based on contacts modeled from traffic flows and site placement.
CPC (Cost Per Click) is not applied directly to classic outdoor advertising, as the medium is not interactive. However, an “effective CPC” can be calculated indirectly by tracking how OOH influences search volumes, direct web traffic, or QR code scans. This allows outdoor advertising to be valued in relation to digital response, even though the price paid to the media owner is based on contacts.
CPA (Cost Per Action) is an even more results-oriented metric. In relation to OOH and DOOH, it is often used in models that link exposure to actual sales, store visits, or other conversions. The outdoor investment is distributed across the number of measured actions within the target group. For DOOH—and specifically prDOOH—this can be integrated more continuously by optimizing campaigns toward areas and time slots with the lowest observed CPA.
CPV (Cost Per View) is primarily used in video media but can be applied to DOOH where you purchase a certain number of play-outs or verified impressions on digital screens. Here, the question becomes how long the creative is displayed and what the actual reach of each view is within the physical environment. CPV provides the most value when combined with knowledge of which outdoor environments and formats offer the best balance between visibility and cost.
Key Takeaways for Media Planners
For media planners, the conclusion is that the same financial metrics can mean something slightly different in outdoor advertising than in purely digital channels. CPM for OOH is based on modeled contacts, not logged ad-server impressions. CPC and CPA should be viewed as analytical tools rather than pricing models. By keeping these distinctions clear, it becomes easier to compare investments in OOH, DOOH, prDOOH, and other media in a structured way, ultimately choosing the best format for reach and impact within a given budget.
Why We Use Reach and VAC in Outdoor Advertising
In outdoor advertising, we prioritize Reach (how many people we reach) and VAC (Visibility Adjusted Contacts, i.e., how many actual, visible contacts we achieve). These are calculated by Outdoor Impact, which utilizes one of Europe’s most advanced and reliable frameworks, combining detailed data on ad sites, traffic flows, and travel patterns. This enables precise contact calculations for both analog and digital sites, based on the actual physical conditions of both the object and the recipient.
VAC accounts for real-world visibility, such as placement, angle, distance, and duration of exposure, thus providing a more realistic measure than theoretical contacts alone.
CPM in (D)OOH therefore represents the cost per thousand VAC—the price for genuine, likely noticed contacts.
Once reach and VAC are established, we can link these to digital KPIs:
Uplift in traffic/search → can be interpreted as an indirect CPC.
Uplift in sales/store visits → can be converted into CPA.
Number of views on DOOH screens → can be expressed as CPV, always supported by VAC data to understand the true impact.
We kicked off 2026 with Summit Inspiration, an engaging morning hosted alongside Sveriges Annonsörer. Five nominated entries from the 100-wattaren 2025 shared their cases, complemented by a delightful breakfast, networking, and French crêpes.
The campaign revolved around summery station offers, featuring catchy songs about everyday products like hot dogs, ice cream, and drinks.
– “Fun to present the campaign to such a savvy audience – and prove that almost anything sells with a song (or three),” says Christian Heinig at 13.
– “In an era where wallets trump planetary care in milk choices, Arla must prove our sustainability commitment is more than words – it’s real action, worth a little more,” says Jakob Swedenborg, Executive Creative Director & Head of Creative, and Henrik Boavida Åkerman, Project Manager at THE BARN.
– “This campaign honors all those wonderful people seizing life’s joyful moments. Amid global unrest, it’s vital to celebrate precious times and savor what’s good around us,” says Sebastian Delefors, Head of Marketing at Parks and Resorts Scandinavia AB.
– “This campaign highlights how SKF Group, through collaboration and innovation, helps use Earth’s resources smarter and more sustainably – told in a fresh, creative, forward-looking way,” says Anna Wirsen, Brand Project Lead at SKF Group.
– “Thrilled to champion Sweden’s favorite fika. Hope the workplace cinnamon bun hit the spot,” say Joakim Estemar and Petter Nylind, Senior Copywriters at NoA | Åkestam Holst.
Thank you to everyone who attended—we wish all nominees the best of luck in the 100-wattaren in February!
CPT and CPM are two closely related, but not identical, ways of valuing reach across different media channels. To make sound decisions in the media mix, it’s important to understand how these metrics are calculated and why the same figure can mean different things in TV, online and out-of-home. Otherwise, you risk comparing price instead of impact.
In out-of-home, we traditionally start from VAC (visibility-adjusted contacts), reach, frequency and number of exposures, alongside the campaign cost. These are the building blocks that CPM and CPT “translate” into cost per contact and cost per percentage point of reach:
CPM (Cost Per Mille), cost per thousand contacts, is the most widely used metric. CPM is defined as the campaign cost divided by the number of impressions, times 1,000 – a well-established industry standard metric as described, for example, by Wikipedia (“Cost per mille”) and media planning guides from Rochester Institute of Technology (“CPM = cost ÷ impressions × 1000”). In online environments, CPM typically rests on logged impressions; in TV it is based on modelled audiences for a specific programme or time slot; and in OOH it is built on modelled exposure in defined environments. For OOH and DOOH, planners start from traffic flows and location, adjust for visibility and opportunity to see (VAC), and calculate how many contacts a given out-of-home network is expected to generate during the campaign period. The net cost is then divided by these contacts to obtain a CPM aligned with the same format used in other media.
CPT/CPP (Cost Per Point), cost per rating point or per percentage point in the target audience, is used mainly in TV and other broadcast media. One rating point corresponds to one percent of the defined target audience. In industry literature, CPP/CPT is described as a sister metric to CPM, but using rating points (share of the target audience) instead of impressions as the denominator; that is, the cost of buying one rating point, 1% of the audience (“Cost per rating point”, Universal Marketing Dictionary). CPT therefore expresses how much it costs to reach one percent of the target audience once. For cross-media planners, CPT can be a way to compare how quickly different channels build reach in a defined target audience, even though the currency in digital is almost always CPM, while broadcast has traditionally used CPP/CPT (see, for example, “CPP vs CPM” overviews from media consultants such as Inline Media).
In out-of-home, CPM has become the dominant currency, but the same logic can be applied for CPT-type analysis. For instance, you can compare how different formats and packages contribute to percentage reach in a target audience within a specific geographic area: in practice, “what does each additional percentage point of reach cost in this zone?”. A broad package with bus shelters, street furniture and city information panels typically delivers a low CPM and stable reach, whereas select units or stand-alone locations in premium environments generate a higher contact cost but higher relevance and the ability to build frequency against particularly valuable audiences.
For DOOH and programmatic DOOH, CPM is often calculated on verified impressions, meaning exposures where traffic and movement data indicate that people were within an observation zone while the spot was playing. In this context, CPT/CPP is more of an analytical metric than a currency: you can retroactively calculate the cost per percentage point of reach achieved by adding screens in specific environments, and thereby identify where each incremental point of reach is most cost-efficient.
When comparing CPT and CPM across TV, online and (D)OOH, you should always look beyond the headline figure:
Only when you connect the price (CPM/CPT) with the underlying building blocks – VAC, reach and frequency – can you determine which combinations of channels and networks deliver the best reach and business outcomes, instead of simply chasing the lowest cost per thousand contacts.
Brand impact in OOH is fundamentally about understanding how out-of-home advertising actually shifts awareness, attitude, and preference over time. In research and industry literature surrounding OOH measurement, the term Brand Lift is often used as an aggregate measure of how exposure to (D)OOH correlates with what people think and feel about a brand. To measure this, looking at reach and frequency is not enough; one must link exposure data to structured surveys within the target audience.
A common approach is pre- and post-campaign measurement. This involves measuring brand awareness, ad recall, and specific attitudes before the campaign, launching the OOH campaign, and measuring again afterward. The difference between the baseline and the post-campaign measurement serves as a metric for Brand Lift. To get closer to the actual OOH effect, several sources—including AdRoll’s overview of measurement methods for DOOH—recommend using control groups or control areas where the campaign was not exposed, or utilizing statistical models that adjust for other concurrent media activity (AdRoll, “DOOH Measurement: Understanding DOOH Metrics”).
The placement of screens and displays in out-of-home advertising plays a major role in the outcome. A network of bus shelters and other street furniture creates numerous everyday contacts, while larger premium formats provide more of a “statement” effect. In their report on OOH measurement, Nielsen demonstrates that by combining traffic flows and exposure data per site with follow-up interviews, one can estimate the campaign’s impact by comparing individuals who frequently move through exposed environments with those who rarely do. Differences in awareness, recognition, or purchase intent can then be linked to the campaign. Data often shows that both broad reach and strategically placed “select” sites around key locations contribute to higher brand impact per invested krona (Nielsen, “Measuring Out-of-Home Impact,” 2024).
In DOOH, the approach becomes even more data-driven. Playback data from screens, reach and frequency models, and geographic audience targeting are used to define which individuals were likely exposed to the campaign. Their responses in a survey are then compared to a control group that was not exposed. Brand Lift is expressed as the percentage difference between the groups in metrics such as awareness, ad recall, or purchase intent—a methodology that AdRoll and several other industry players highlight as best practice for DOOH campaigns.
Creative (D)OOH activations are measured similarly, but here it is often particularly interesting to track ad recall, perceived creativity, and the brand’s perceived uniqueness. In several documented (D)OOH case studies, we see that a few powerful, experience-based installations can amplify the effect of a broader network and create clear Brand Lift within priority target audiences. This is achieved by generating “buzz” and higher emotional impact in parallel with broad reach.
To gain real value from these measurements, both Nielsen and AdRoll emphasize the importance of setting clear goals before the campaign starts:
If the focus is spontaneous awareness: Both survey questions and the media plan should be optimized for reach.
If the goal is to shift a specific attitude (e.g., “more innovative brand”): Formats, environments, pressure, and creative ideas should be designed to support that specific positioning.
By doing this, the brand impact measured by out-of-home advertising stops being something you just “measure after the fact.” Instead, it becomes an active management parameter during the planning, optimization, and evaluation phases—serving as a clear bridge between out-of-home advertising and other channels in the media mix.
What is the “mere exposure effect,” and what does it have to do with VAC?
The mere exposure effect posits that we begin to like and trust things we see often, provided the experience is neutral or positive. We prefer what we recognize. However, in out-of-home (OOH) advertising, “counting contacts” is not enough. The key is: how many contacts are actually visible and perceived? This is why the connection between the mere exposure effect and VAC (Visibility Adjusted Contacts) is essential:
The mere exposure effect explains why repeated exposure builds brand equity.
VAC ensures we only count the exposures that actually had a realistic chance to influence the consumer.
Why aren’t “standard contacts” enough when discussing mere exposure?
Question: Why aren’t “gross contacts” sufficient when we want to build recognition? Answer: Because not all contacts are created equal. A contact where:
The site is at eye level,
The motif is legible from a distance,
The person is moving slowly (e.g., at a bus stop or in a subway station),
…is entirely different from a contact where the site is far away, the angle is poor, or the motif is difficult to read in passing. The mere exposure effect is triggered by actual, perceived impressions, not by theoretical possibilities of seeing a site. This is why VAC is so crucial: it adjusts contacts based on visibility, ensuring you know how many visibility adjusted contacts your campaign is actually delivering.
How does VAC work in practice?
Question: What does Visibility Adjusted Contacts actually mean for a (D)OOH campaign? Answer: VAC accounts for the probability that a person will:
See the site (visibility).
Have enough time to perceive the message (opportunity to see).
Factors influencing this include:
Placement: Height, distance, and angle.
Format: Size of the site.
Traffic flow: Speed, direction, and dwell time.
Environment: Visual noise and competing impressions.
The result is a more honest metric: contacts adjusted for visibility. These are the only contacts relevant to the mere exposure effect, as these are the specific moments of exposure that can actually build recognition, security, and preference.
How is the mere exposure effect strengthened when JCDecaux maximizes VAC?
Question: What happens when we combine a network built for reach and frequency with sites optimized for high visibility (VAC)? Answer: You get the best of both worlds:
You reach many people (often): Via national, metro, premium, city, and local networks in Sweden’s 25 largest cities.
You reach them with contacts that are actually visible: The placement, formats, and flows are selected to maximize VAC, not just gross contacts.
The mere exposure effect is strongest when the same person is exposed multiple times through clear, legible, and visually dominant impressions—exactly what VAC helps you secure.
The connection between VAC and mere exposure in the subway
Question: Why is the subway, using JCDecaux’s network, so effective for both VAC and mere exposure? Answer:
Slower movement: Travelers stand still on platforms, ride escalators, and wait at entrances, giving them more time to perceive the message.
Repeated journeys: The mere exposure effect thrives when the same person sees the same message repeatedly during their daily commute.
Strategic placement: Formats like Metro Eurosize, MetroVision, Metro Digisize, and Metro Impact are specifically designed to provide high actual visibility.
On our 14 largest concept stations in Stockholm, you reach 92% of all subway travelers weekly. By using the right combination of formats, ensuring the message follows the traveler through the station, and utilizing “share of time” so you appear on multiple screens simultaneously, you increase both VAC and the number of repeated, qualitative exposures per person.
How does VAC and mere exposure work in national networks?
Question: How do national networks help you build more visibility adjusted contacts? Answer: When purchasing networks like Eurosize National or Digisize National, you don’t just get broad geographical spread. You get:
Sites selected for high visibility where people move the most.
A structure tailored to create both reach and frequency.
A setup that maximizes the number of times the target audience actually sees your message (VAC).
This ensures the mere exposure effect is based on real, perceived contacts rather than theoretical numbers.
How do premium and city networks increase the value per VAC?
Question: Is a VAC in a premium network equivalent to a VAC anywhere else? Answer: All visibility adjusted contacts are important, but some environments carry more weight. In our premium networks (Stockholm, Gothenburg, Malmö) and city networks, exposure happens in environments where:
Flows are intense.
Purchasing power is often higher.
Focus and engagement are greater.
Every VAC here doesn’t just build recognition; it often occurs closer to the decision-making situation (on the way to work, shopping, dining, or events). Mere exposure becomes a question of how many times you were seen in relevant, high-spending contexts.
How do local networks help you create high VAC per individual?
Question: Why are local networks so effective for the mere exposure effect when viewed through the VAC lens? Answer: Local networks (e.g., Eskilstuna, Gävle, Uppsala, etc.) allow you to:
Focus reach on a specific geographical area.
Create high frequency—many VACs per individual.
Build deep everyday presence where the target audience lives, shops, and lives their lives.
This ensures you don’t just reach many people; you reach the same people multiple times with high visibility—the exact combination needed for the mere exposure effect to boost liking and purchase intent.
How to approach this as an advertiser: Mere Exposure + VAC + JCDecaux
Start with the goal: Recognition. Mere exposure is the core of brand building. Determine how often you want the target audience to see you, for how long, and in which everyday situations.
Plan for reach and frequency, but measure in VAC: Choose networks based on whether you want to reach everyone, most people, or a select few, and how many VACs per person you aim to achieve.
Use JCDecaux’s structured networks: Combine above-ground surfaces (billboards, bus shelters) with underground surfaces (subway networks, MetroVision) to create a cohesive daily journey with many qualitative exposures.
View the peacock effect and mere exposure as two sides of the same coin: Large, spectacular formats (peacock) attract the gaze; repeated, visible contacts (VAC + mere exposure) build security and preference.
In short: The mere exposure effect explains why you should be seen often. VAC helps you ensure that you are actually being seen.
Footfall attribution in OOH and DOOH is about measuring how many store visits can be linked to exposure in out‑of‑home advertising. Instead of looking only at reach, views and impressions, footfall attribution shows how digital and classic out‑of‑home (DOOH/OOH) actually influence physical traffic to a store, restaurant, car dealership or other location. This makes out‑of‑home advertising more comparable with digital channels, where clicks, conversions and store visits are tracked in detail – something several players in programmatic and DOOH highlight as a key use case for footfall attribution (see StackAdapt).
Footfall attribution is a method used to:
In short: instead of settling for knowing how many people may have seen a message, footfall attribution aims to show how many actually take the step into a store after being exposed to out‑of‑home advertising. This definition is aligned with how footfall attribution is described as the link between digital campaigns and physical store visits (see Illumin).
In practice, footfall attribution is built on anonymised location data and geographic zones.
Exposure zones around ad units
A zone is defined around selected out‑of‑home units, such as DOOH screens and bus shelter placements, billboards or other street furniture. Electronic devices moving through the zone are counted as potentially exposed. In DOOH measurement, mobile identifiers (MAIDs) and polygon‑based zones are often used to precisely define these exposure areas (see StackAdapt’s overview of DOOH measurement).
Store zones around points of sale
The next step is to define a zone around each store, restaurant or physical location. When the same device later appears in the store zone, a store visit (footfall) is registered. Footfall measurement is usually conducted together with specialised data providers, such as Adsquare. Through the DSPs and platforms JCDecaux works with – for example VIOOH, Vistar Media, The Trade Desk, Google Display & Video 360, Adform and others – these solutions can be activated either as studies or always‑on measurement, to track store traffic and optimise DOOH campaigns over time.
Modelling probability
The model does not count every single step, but the probability that the store visit is linked to the campaign. In this way, a share of the increase in footfall can be attributed to OOH/DOOH exposure without identifying individuals. This is consistent with how footfall attribution is usually defined in industry introductions – as a statistical way of linking campaigns to physical visits (Illumin).
This type of location‑based footfall measurement works for both classic OOH and digital DOOH, and is highlighted as a way to compare effects between channels, including DOOH (StackAdapt).
For footfall attribution to provide useful insights, control groups are essential. Without them, it is difficult to distinguish campaign impact from baseline store traffic. Common ways to set up control:
At the same time, we see footfall attribution increasingly packaged directly into DOOH and retail media offerings, where store visits can be activated as a standard KPI in the buying environment (AIDigital describes this shift clearly).
Footfall attribution works for both traditionally booked OOH networks and programmatic DOOH campaigns (prDOOH). In programmatic buying, the method becomes particularly valuable because results can be used for ongoing optimisation.
Examples of how footfall attribution drives optimisation in prDOOH:
This is not a theoretical model – platforms such as Factori already show how advertisers optimise DOOH campaigns based on store traffic, visit patterns and time to conversion (see Factori). Programmatic DOOH case studies also demonstrate how brands track store traffic where campaigns are live and use the insights to steer their investments (see Confirm Media).
In this way, footfall attribution becomes not just something measured after the campaign, but a real‑time optimisation lever to maximise store traffic and campaign return.
The placement of out‑of‑home inventory is crucial to how effective footfall becomes.
Close to retail locations and points of sale
FMCG networks such as Eurosize National FMCG are strategically designed to reach consumers at the point of purchase and form part of our national network. With placements in Sweden’s largest cities, units are carefully selected and located close to grocery and convenience stores, where customer flows are highest. A shorter path from screen to store typically increases the probability of a visit.
Select units and reach networks
Select units around priority stores can be combined with broader reach networks to:
Various Innovate solutions can act as strong visual landmarks that reinforce brand recognition and increase impact in areas where footfall is measured. In practice, advertisers use footfall data to identify exactly which OOH locations best match the target audience’s movement patterns around stores (Factori provides several examples).
By connecting OOH placements with footfall data, brands can gradually build a map of the locations, formats and messages that drive the most store traffic.
For advertisers, footfall attribution means that investments in OOH and DOOH can be tied more closely to business outcomes.
Key advantages include:
Industry organisation OAAA shows in a series of reports how attribution data, including footfall measurement, can be used to demonstrate OOH’s impact on footfall, purchase intent and ad recall (see OAAA’s summary).
When footfall attribution becomes a natural part of media planning, out‑of‑home can compete on the same terms as digital channels – with clear KPIs, measurable store traffic and a stronger link to sales and business results. This is also why more and more DOOH players are integrating footfall attribution as a standard element of their offering.
