OAAA Launches Center to Standardize Programmatic DOOH Buying
2026-11-12 · via Digital Signage Today
The Out of Home Advertising Association of America has launched a programmatic and automation center of excellence aimed at making digital out-of-home advertising easier to buy, integrate and measure. For operators running DOOH networks, the effort matters because it targets the standardization and workflow friction that has long made OOH harder to plug into omnichannel ad buys than channels like digital display or connected TV.
According to the announcement, the center grew out of member feedback as OOH becomes more automated and more entangled with broader media strategies. OAAA chief operating officer Patrick Dolan said in an email interview that the goal is to get buyers, sellers and technology vendors aligned on common standards, workflows and measurement. Founding members listed are AdQuick, Broadsign, Perion, VIOOH and Vistar Media, a group that covers both programmatic exchanges and CMS/ad-serving platforms operators already use.
The center will work alongside a newly formed OAAA Technical Advisory Council focused on infrastructure and interoperability. Dolan said the center is not starting with a fixed agenda; an industry benchmark study on programmatic adoption and workflow automation is planned to help set priorities and 2027 deliverables. One early activity was a listening session with IAB Tech Lab involving agencies, brands, media owners and technology providers.
Four pillars
The initiative is organized around four areas, per the release: standardization and optimization of data constructs so OOH inventory can feed into agency planning tools; workflow automation and agentic AI to move toward machine-driven buying; reporting and attribution frameworks meant to give advertisers digital-style transparency; and positioning OOH alongside retail media networks and connected TV in omnichannel plans.
Dolan also pointed to a separate but related effort: OAAA and Geopath have aligned with Ipsos on a pilot aimed at next-generation audience measurement for OOH.
What is not yet defined
The announcement does not specify timelines beyond referencing 2027 deliverables, nor does it detail what the benchmark study will measure or when results will be published. It also does not say how the center's data taxonomies or attribution models would be enforced across vendors who are not founding members, which is a relevant question for CMS and network operators outside that initial group of five. For now, the center of excellence is about two months old and, by OAAA's own account, still shaping its agenda based on industry input rather than publishing finished standards.
For digital signage operators who sell ad inventory or participate in programmatic DOOH, the practical upshot is that a trade body is trying to reduce the custom integration work currently required to transact OOH like other digital channels. Whether that translates into actual adopted standards, as opposed to another framework document, will depend on what comes out of the working groups OAAA says it plans to prioritize next year.
The announcement in full
Reproduced from Digital Signage Today for reference. Digital Signage Magazine did not write the text below.
The Out of Home Advertising Association of America has launched a programmatic and automation center to make digital out-of-home media easier to buy and integrate.
November 12, 2026 by Judy Mottl — Editor: RetailCustomerExperience.com & DigitalSignageToday.com, Connect Media
As any retailer, brand or organization that has tapped digital out of home advertising knows, the process, from start to deployment, is not quick or easy and typically features more than a few challenges.
Initial steps include setting goals and audience for the campaign's focus. Then it's budget and advertising decisions. Then it's time to decide how to buy, direct or programmatic, and determine screens and venues. Then it's onto building the creative and fashioning content.
Clearly, that's very simplistic strategy timeline minus the inherent bumps and hurdles at each project step.
But an industry initiative from the Out of Home Advertising Association of America, a national trade association representing the OOH ad industry, aims to make all that much easier and much quicker.
The OAAA has launched a programmatic and automation center of excellence that in addition to making DOOH easier to buy aims to align buyers, sellers and technology players when it comes to standards, automation, measurement and integration.
"This is a new initiative for OAAA, but it grew directly out of where the industry is headed and what our members are telling us they need," Patrick Dolan, chief operating officer of OAAA, said in an email interview. " As OOH becomes more automated and increasingly integrated into omnichannel media strategies, there is a real need for the industry to come together around common standards, workflows and measurement."
The center of excellence is all about modernizing the OOH advertising ecosystem and strengthening OOH within the omnichannel media landscape.
"It's an industry-led initiative, with OAAA serving as the convener and bringing together the companies and expertise needed to move this work forward," said Dolan. Founding members are AdQuick, Broadsign, Perion, VIOOH and Vistar Media.
The center will also work in tandem with OAAA's newly formed Technical Advisory Council, which brings together technical leaders from OOH media companies to help address the infrastructure, standards and interoperability needed to make OOH easier to integrate and transact.
"Importantly, we're not starting with a predetermined agenda. Industry input and research will shape the Center's priorities," said Dolan.
One of the center's first initiatives was a listening session in New York with IAB Tech Lab that brought together agencies, brands, media owners and technology providers.
"We're also launching an industry benchmark study to better understand programmatic adoption, workflow automation and where gaps remain across standardization and measurement. Together, those insights will help prioritize our working groups and 2027 deliverables," said Dolan.
The center is organized around four pillars:
Standardization and optimization : Bridging the operational gap between buyers and sellers by establishing unified data constructs and machine-readable frameworks that can be ingested directly into agency omnichannel planning tools.
Workflow automation and agentic AI : Replicating the frictionless ease of digital media procurement by building a translation layer that prepares OOH for a future of machine-driven, automated buying and planning.
Understanding reporting and attribution requirements : Establishing frameworks for data, reporting and attribution, including standardized attribution models that give advertisers the same transparency and analytics they expect from digital channels.
O mnichannel and retail media : Expanding OOH's downstream market touchpoints by strategically positioning the channel alongside accelerating formats like retail media networks and connected TV to amplify full-funnel brand storytelling.
Benefits of making DOOH purchasing easier
Making DOOH easier to buy, and integrate, is a boon to buyers and sellers but those aren't the only benefits to be gained.
"The demand [for OOH] is there," said Dolan, as OOH offers brands something increasingly valuable: real world reach, high-impact creative and the ability to connect with consumers in the physical environments.
The easier OOH is to integrate into a broader media ecosystem, the easier it becomes for advertisers to make it a bigger part of their media plans
"And as digital OOH has grown, the medium has become more flexible, targeted and responsive. Now the goal is to make accessing that value as seamless as possible," he said.
The center of excellence initiative, which is just about two months old, is already making progress on several fronts.
"The OAAA and Geopath have aligned around a shared vision for next-generation audience measurement, with Ipsos selected to support a pilot designed to bring greater precision, transparency and interoperability to OOH measurement," said Dolan.
The center is building on that broader momentum by tackling the workflows, standards and technology integration needed to make OOH easier to transact at scale, he added.
The value of data definition, taxonomies
The initiative is focused on establishing data definitions, taxonomies and more consistent reporting and attribution guidance.
Each is tied to making it easier for advertisers to buy OOH, measure it and invest more in the medium.
"When buyers, sellers and technology partners are using the same definitions and speaking the same language, it creates greater consistency, clarity and confidence across the buying process," Dolan said.
Advertisers want to understand what the campaigns delivered, how performance was measured and the role OOH played alongside their other media.
"The more consistent we can make that, the easier it is for buyers to evaluate what worked and make decisions about where to invest next," he said.
"Ultimately, these efforts are about making OOH simpler to buy, easier to evaluate and more competitive for advertising investment."
Judy Mottl is the editor of RetailCustomerExperience.com and DigitalSignageToday.com at Connect Media. She is an award-winning editor, reporter and blogger who has worked for top media for nearly four decades, including AOL, InformationWeek and Internet News, as well as for leading technology providers including HP. She’s written everything from breaking news to in-depth industry trends and reported on technology long before the internet arrived, including the debut of the first smartphone. When she's not sharing insights on digital signage deployments and trends in retail customer experience she's on the beach or watching the latest live murder trial.
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