Business
Programmatic DOOH: Audience Targeting and CPM Costs
Rodolfo Thomé Araújo explains why evaluating DOOH CPM requires focusing on audience qualification and context.
Digital out-of-home media buying is shifting from traditional screen-based models to strategies driven by audience and specific dayparts. Rodolfo Thomé Araújo analyzes the intelligence behind programmatic DOOH and demystifies CPM comparisons with conventional buying.
In a conversation with Bruno Gimenes on Marketing - The Podcast, Rodolfo Thomé Araújo, Commercial Director at MOVI, discussed how programmatic media is transforming digital out-of-home (DOOH) buying, shifting the focus from simply booking screens to precision audience targeting and contextual relevance.
The excerpt highlights investment efficiency in DOOH as part of a broader discussion on the out-of-home media landscape, featured in the video above.
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Context and Specific Dayparts in Screen Buying
The shift from traditional OOH purchasing to programmatic media breaks away from linear, continuous loop broadcasting. For Araújo, outdoor media planning should not apply the same schedule and frequency rules to every format and location.
The commercial director illustrates this using the dynamics of various urban settings: commercial office elevators see heavy traffic during the morning rush between 7:00 a.m. and 9:00 a.m., while other times of day experience low foot traffic. Similarly, alcoholic beverage brands find much stronger engagement in the late afternoon and night than in the morning. Araújo emphasizes: "The screen, as we like to say, is just the final step. The audience and their context are what truly matter at the start of planning, right?"
Tailoring Creatives to Dwell Time
Beyond selecting specific timeframes, environment-based targeting directly impacts creative strategy. Dwell time varies dramatically between street-level traffic and enclosed venues such as gyms, elevators, or salons, where visitors stay for an average of 45 to 50 minutes.
With longer exposure times in these indoor spaces, messaging can go far beyond the quick visual impact required on public roadways. "Do I really need the same creative for the street as for an indoor environment, given that my engagement and media exposure time are higher because people stay there?" asks Araújo, advocating for tailored messaging at every touchpoint.
CPM Analysis and Conversion Efficiency
When comparing traditional buying with programmatic, evaluating cost per thousand impressions (CPM) in isolation can lead to misleading conclusions. Under the conventional 24/7 fixed-loop model, advertisers pay for raw volume, reaching a broad, dispersed audience that may not fit their target profile.
In Araújo's view, programmatic DOOH may show a nominally higher CPM, but it yields a stronger return by qualifying impressions. Araújo explains: "Looking at the numbers, you see a higher CPM. But you're talking about audience qualification. Think about a traditional buy where you reach 100 people: if only two buy your product, you probably overpaid on CPM. If programmatic lets you reach 10 people and eight buy your product, your effective CPM wasn't expensive at all."
This flexibility also benefits retail promotional events, such as double-date sales (10/10 or 11/11), enabling brands to concentrate their budgets on strategic days and peak hours rather than unnecessarily diluting their ad spend over full weeks.
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