Outdoor advertising formats
Twelve families of outdoor media, each with its own audience, price point and buying process.
Billboards
Bulletins, 30-sheet & 8-sheet posters, spectaculars and rotaries.
Digital & Programmatic (DOOH)
Digital billboards, screens and programmatic buying.
Transit
Bus wraps, kings & queens, subways, rail, taxis and rideshare.
Street Furniture
Bus shelters, benches, kiosks, newsstands and bike-share docks.
Airports
Dioramas, baggage claim, jet bridges, lounges and takeovers.
Place-Based
Malls, gas pumps, gyms, elevators, bars, cinemas and stores.
Mobile Billboards
Static and LED billboard trucks, boats and walking screens.
Aerial & Drones
Banner planes, blimps, skywriting and drone light shows.
Wallscapes & Murals
Building wraps, painted murals, scaffolding and projection.
Vehicle Wraps
Fleet graphics and paid driver wrap programs.
Sports & Venues
Field signs, LED ribbons, sponsorships and naming rights.
Guerrilla & Ambient
Wild postings, sidewalk graphics, pop-ups and stunts.
Plan a campaign in five steps
The same process works for a single bench ad or a national DOOH buy.
- Set the goal. Awareness, traffic to a location, a launch, or response (calls, scans, visits)?
- Define the geography & audience. DMA, neighborhoods, routes, venues — and who you need to reach.
- Pick formats. Use the format chooser to match goal and budget.
- Get proposals & negotiate. Compare CPMs, locations and terms — see How to buy.
- Design, launch, measure. Seven words or fewer, then track lift — see Creative and Measurement.
Quick budget check
Why outdoor still works
OOH is the one ad medium you can't skip, block or scroll past.
Unskippable & ad-block proof
It lives in the physical world, at full size, 24/7.
Owns a geography
Dominate a neighborhood, highway, city or stadium — ideal for local businesses and launches.
Efficient reach
CPMs frequently land in single digits, lower than many online channels.
Amplifies everything else
OOH drives search, social and mobile engagement — and it shows up in people's photos.
Now programmable
DOOH can be bought by the hour, triggered by weather and measured with mobile data.
Brand safe
No adjacency to questionable content, no bots, no fake views.
Popular guides
How much does outdoor advertising cost?
Price ranges for every format, CPM benchmarks and a budget calculator.
How to buy OOH
Direct, agency, self-serve marketplace or programmatic — pros, cons and steps.
Billboard design rules
The 7-word rule, contrast, type size and specs that actually work.
Measuring outdoor advertising
Impressions, Geopath, attribution, lift studies and simple tracking tricks.
Rules, permits & restricted categories
Highway Beautification Act, local codes and category restrictions.
OOH glossary
From 30-sheet to TRP — every term decoded.