Credit: Rahul Pandit via Pixels
Australian agencies are increasingly integrating programmatic digital out of home (pDOOH) into campaign planning, shifting from trial to regular use, according to the IAB Attitudes to Programmatic Digital-Out-of-Home report.
Understanding of pDOOH has improved since 2024, but 36% of agencies say a lack of clarity, particularly around cost versus benefit, is limiting investment.
To support growth, IAB Australia’s DOOH Council has released an updated Programmatic DOOH Buyers Guide with tools for buyers, sellers and tech partners.
“It’s encouraging to see continued growth in programmatic DOOH investment, combining the strengths of digital advertising with the impact of out-of-home,” said IAB Australia CEO Gai Le Roy.
“However, as investment builds, agencies and brands are increasingly seeking more guidance on performance and effectiveness, as well as the role of technology and data.
“The updated IAB Australia Programmatic DOOH Buyers’ Guide has been developed to support this need.”
Use of pDOOH for top and mid-funnel objectives rose slightly, with 83% of agencies planning to use it for brand awareness in 2025.
Its use for sales dropped from 37% in 2024 to 28% and for purchase intent from 55% to 50%.
The report found 81% of agencies now plan OOH, DOOH and pDOOH together and 68% often align pDOOH with digital video.
Key drivers include geo-location targeting, data capabilities and flexible buying.
Market Mix Modelling use increased from 32% to 51% in measuring pDOOH effectiveness.
Audience size and campaign volume remain top metrics.
Some 42% of agencies are exploring AI use cases in DOOH for audience segmentation, although this is lower than broader media AI testing, according to the IAB Data State of Nation.
Nearly 64% believe future Australian privacy reforms will affect DOOH opportunities.
Sustainability is not seen as a barrier, with 45% of agencies having some strategy to reduce carbon emissions, well below Europe’s 83%.
The IAB report, based on a July–August 2025 survey of 116 Australian agencies, will guide the DOOH Council’s industry standards and education efforts.
Similar studies were conducted in 2021, 2022 and 2024.
The IAB DOOH Council includes members from JCDecaux, Blis, Broadsign, Cartology, Enigma, Google and Howatson+Company.
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