Optimize Your Media Mix: Boost ROI with OOH Advertising

What if you could get a better ROI for your media plan without increasing your budget? Would you question if you are getting the most out of your current budget allocations? 

At PJX Media, we help brands strike the right balance of Out-of-Home (OOH) advertising investment to maximize results.

In fact, a recent study shows that many advertisers are overinvesting in channels like digital and tv, and are underspending on OOH media, which includes billboards, bus shelters, transit, and many other formats built to intercept the public when they are out of their homes. 

Slight reallocations of existing media budgets to Out of Home (OOH) advertising can lead to substantial gains, according to a new study released by the Out of Home Advertising Association of America (OAAA). The study, entitled “Media Plan Optimization: Analysis of Incremental Increase to OOH Share,” found that without increasing existing media plan budgets, marketers can significantly increase their overall ROI on ROAS and key brand metrics throughout all stages of the funnel by shifting a few percentage points to OOH and decreasing allocation to TV and digital. 

Historically, OOH has been an under-invested media channel, making up only about 4% of total ad spend. But it actually performs well throughout the consumer funnel. By shifting just a few percentage points of your media allocation to OOH, you can generate impressive returns on your investment.

What Happens When you Increase your OOH Budget?

The study focused on three key verticals: Automotive, CPG Food, and Retail Grocery. 

Instead of a radical overhaul of your media budget, the study suggests a more gradual, strategic reallocation. By increasing your OOH spend in small steps, you can achieve near-optimal media performance—all without expanding your current budget.

From a study released by the Out of Home Advertising Association of America 

Here is how incrementally increasing OOH spending affected the verticals in the study: 

• Automotive: Incrementally increasing OOH spend from 1% to 5% of the total budget led to an overall ROAS improvement of 5%. 

• CPG Food: Increasing OOH allocation from 1% to 17% led to overall ROAS gains of 27%. 

• Retail Grocery: In the study, when Retail Grocery spending was optimized from 8% of the total ad spend to 27% it led to a 6% ROAS improvement.

Next, let’s learn how we can optimize media plans, and enable greater effectiveness and return on investment.

Increase OOH Spending Incrementally to Optimize Your Media Mix

Although OOH is clearly an underutilized channel, the study suggests taking a gradual approach rather than shifting to an optimal spend all at once. 

Because current OOH investments are relatively low, "optimal" levels appear much higher than most companies’ current strategies. In the aforementioned study, most gains were seen in the first incremental increase. 

Adjusting your OOH spending bit-by-bit can help you achieve gains, maintain budget flexibility, and find your optimal media mix.

An analysis in 2024 evaluated the impact of increasing OOH in three incremental steps from current levels to optimal. Most gains were achieved across sales and brand metrics with the first incremental increases. 

These results provide confidence that increasing OOH investment by adding just a few percentage points to your budget can result in significant gains. Though other media may be faltering, OOH continues to add strength and amplify your campaigns. Next, let’s look at what mix of formats will help you build the best campaign.

What Mix of OOH Formats Should I Use?

Now that you know you need to invest more in OOH to optimize your budget, how can you further optimize your OOH media plan to bring back the best results to your team? 

In Out-of-Home (OOH) advertising, the variety of formats is vast—your choice will depend on your budget, objectives, campaign duration, and other factors. Essentially, you'll select between traditional static formats like vinyl billboards, digital screens, or Digital Out-of-Home (DOOH). Additionally, programmatic DOOH allows you to buy ads in real-time auctions, optimizing for specific triggers, such as weather conditions or time of day. For instance, you might schedule your ice cream ad to appear only on hot, sunny days, enhancing its relevance and impact.

When you look at OOH planning, there’s a tendency to call it a “zero-sum game” or think that formats will perform the same way in every market. You may think that if your plan is billboards or another particular format, you can run the same ad copy, creative, and format mix across the country, and it doesn’t affect the results. Conversely, some OOH media planners strive for a perfect blend of programmatic, traditional, and other formats, believing a single optimization formula applies to every campaign. But this approach overlooks the nuances of different markets and audiences.

The truth is, that there isn’t one particular magical formula that’s going to apply to all markets. But there is tactical power in blending traditional and programmatic digital OOH strategically. This combination allows for flexibility in reach and targeting, ensuring you’re maximizing the potential of your campaign.

An Example of OOH Media Mix Optimization

One campaign where we worked to optimize was a foundation repair company that wanted to bring awareness of its solutions to companies that franchise from them and the public. We started with bulletins or billboards based on zip codes in the trade areas of 30 markets, providing an evergreen presence so that everyone would know who they are, since at some point anyone who owns a home may need foundation repair. The campaign featured simple messaging offering a free inspection. 

Over time, we identified digital bulletins in the market that aligned with the campaign’s objectives and trade areas. We then layered in programmatic advertising, purchased based on real-time events or specific triggers, to enhance the campaign’s reach when additional impressions were needed. Programmatic OOH is particularly useful when working with smaller budgets or expanding into new markets.

Over time, and incrementally, this led to a very effective overall media mix. We measured a few sample markets to see how the campaign performed and added custom creatives for specific markets to enhance performance. For example, in one area, we added a local college sports team to the billboard visuals to amplify their community connection.

The digital component of the campaign enabled tailored messaging, allowing different headlines and content to be adapted based on each market’s needs. Additional programmatic bulletins were added to further boost reach and impressions. As a result, the campaign drove a 150% increase in website visits, leading to inquiries, free inspections, and—most importantly—more business for the client."

Implementing a brand study allowed us to validate our approach, which we continued to build on. The company’s investment in OOH doubled as their market presence has grown, and along the way, they’ve been able to optimize by making relevant OOH content that resonates with their customer base.

Optimize your Media Mix with PJX Media

At PJX Media, we help brands and agencies find the right mix to maximize their OOH advertising results. Whether you're looking to amplify your campaigns with OOH alongside other media or fine-tune the ideal mix of traditional and digital formats, we’re here to guide you every step of the way. With our expertise, we can pinpoint where your audience is, identify the best formats in any market worldwide, and provide insights into how effectively your OOH dollars are working for you. Ready to optimize your OOH strategy? Contact us to learn more.