Digital out-of-home (DOOH) is set to benefit from a "virtuous cycle" as new technologies and capabilities connect screens and locations with smartphones, beacons and even virtual reality, according to a recent report from the IAB.

The "Digital Out-of-Home Buyer's Guide: How to reach the on-the-go consumer" was developed by the IAB's Digital Out-of-Home Task Force – a group comprising 22 members including Intel, AT&T AdWorks and NBCUniversal.

And it identified three areas which are likely to play a central role in DOOH's future:

  • Connectedness: More screens, burgeoning amounts of data and the use of APIs will, together, allow marketers to "trigger and evolve" exactly the right content – ads, editorial, municipal information, and so on – for individual DOOH locations.
  • Planning/analysis: Improved methods for collecting and crunching the data yielded by "smart" technologies (e.g. cellphones and other sensors) will enable location-specific activations, offering greater value to consumers.
  • Multi-screen messaging: Deeper consumer understanding should facilitate "multi-screen storytelling" that is personalized to the recipient. And tools like mobile GPS mean new ways of determining effectiveness are also rapidly taking shape.

Given such trends, the study concluded, advancing capabilities and standards will ensure that DOOH reaches consumers more efficiently and effectively via a combination of streamlined ad serving, tighter targeting and increasingly granular metrics. And beacons, drones, facial recognition, geofencing, virtual reality and similar tech only promise to enhance this process.

The "Digital Out-of-Home Buyer's Guide" – which provides an industry overview, as well as tips on planning, buying and measurement – was published on Warc thanks to our new content partnership with the IAB. As a result, our subscribers can now access many of the organization's research papers, thought leadership pieces, guidelines and checklists.

Currently, there are 30 papers from the IAB – covering topics from viewability and programmatic to ad blocking and cross-platform engagement – on Warc. Each piece presents an invaluable mix of analysis, insight and inspiration that help make sense of the most exciting (and complex) developments facing today's marketers. A full run down of this material is available here.

Going forwards, we will regularly be adding the IAB's latest content to Warc, helping our subscribers stay up to date with emerging trends, fresh thinking and best practices. We hope you will enjoy it.