Dive Brief:

• Verizon Media announced the launch of digital out-of-home (DOOH) ad inventory for its omnichannel demand-side platform (DSP) in a company news post. 
• The new DOOH programmatic offering will allow advertisers to place ads on digital screens in transit shelters, airports, bars, roadside billboards, elevators and more. DOOH targeting parameters include location, weather, daypart, demographics and interests, which are all informed by Verizon's data. 
• The inventory is available in the U.S., U.K., Canada and the Netherlands in a partnership with Rubicon Project. Screens will be provided by Clear Channel Outdoor, Lamar, Zoom Media, Captivate and Hivestack and Broadsign. Verizon is also integrating with Vistar Media and others to expand the DOOH inventory later this year.

Dive Insight:

Verizon opening up a programmatic DOOH option on its DSP comes as the format has grown rapidly over the past couple of years. OOH ad spend grew 4.5% year-on-year in 2018, reaching $8 billion, according to the Out of Home Advertising Association of America — a record high for the channel. DOOH represented 29% of that spend, signaling how more advertisers are looking into integrate data, digital and mobile elements into traditionally static placements, like billboards.

Marketers might be attracted to Verizon's new tech since it taps into a wealth of the telecom's data, which could help to sharpen personalization and targeting efforts and eventually enable more dynamic creative. The DOOH industry has recently made bigger investments in enhancing measurement capabilities to help marketers prove their ROI as well. 

Verizon taking a deeper dive into the DOOH trend now also signals that the company is potentially trying to better knit together its work in other areas, like smart cities and fifth-generation wireless technology (5G). Smart cities are seen as investing more heavily in media formats like interactive kiosks, billboards and maps, which could all serve as rich advertising channels for connecting with consumers. Verizon is also betting heavily on 5G, a wireless communications upgrade that promises to greatly enhance the speed and dynamism of data-driven marketing functions, such as DOOH.    

Verizon continues to roll out new ad offerings as it strives to compete in the digital ad space dominated by Facebook, Google and Amazon. Verizon's share of the digital ad market is projected by the research firm eMarketer to drop from 3.4% in 2018 to 2.9% this year. Its ad business has hit a rough patch in the past through months, namely through the killing off of the Oath brand, which came with a round of layoffs. The unit is now known as Verizon Media Group.