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Outdoor advertising dictionary

Dictionary

The industry's full terminology

From CPM and DOOH to programmatic OOH. We gather the definitions that advertisers, media agencies and media owners need to speak the same language.

71terms
8categories
2languages

Formats & signs

12 terms

Creative OOH that uses unexpected surfaces – stairs, benches, pavements – to surprise audiences.

Large printed banner, often installed on scaffolding or facades.

A large-format outdoor advertising sign, typically placed along roads or on buildings.

Backlit poster frame at a bus stop – one of OOH's most common formats.

Backlit poster in an urban setting, typically on sidewalks or bus stops.

Digital Out-of-Home – all digital outdoor advertising, from LED boards to transit screens.

Guerrilla marketing

Unconventional, attention-driven advertising – often low-budget with big PR impact.

Large-format billboard

Classic large-format outdoor sign, typically 12×4 m or 8×3 m.

Metro/Mall Poster Unit – standard size (often 118×175 cm) for posters in transit and retail.

Out-of-Home – umbrella term for all advertising that reaches audiences outside the home.

Advertising on vehicles or at stations – bus, metro, train, taxi.

Large poster or painting on a building gable – typically a premium city-centre placement.

Metrics

16 terms

Connecting conversions to a specific campaign exposure – in OOH via mobile IDs or footfall data.

Cost Per Click – rarely used in OOH, but relevant when QR codes drive traffic.

Cost Per Mille – cost per thousand impressions, a core metric in media.

Click-Through Rate – share of viewers that click on an ad or QR code.

The time a person stays within the visible range of a sign.

Measurement of how many people visit a location, often used in OOH attribution.

The average number of times an individual sees the campaign.

Gross Rating Points – reach × frequency. Industry standard for campaign weight.

The number of times an ad is shown – in OOH, typically calculated from traffic data.

Opportunity To See – the number of times an individual has the chance to see the campaign.

The number of unique individuals reached by a campaign in a period.

Return On Ad Spend – revenue generated per unit of ad spend.

Return on Investment – the return on a marketing investment.

The share of a channel's total exposure that a brand owns during a period.

Target Rating Points – GRP but measured against a specific target group.

A measure of whether an ad was actually visible to viewers – critical in DOOH measurement.

Buying & auction

12 terms

The concrete reservation of a campaign on a specific sign/period.

Campaign period

The time window a campaign runs – often 14 days in classic OOH.

Buying OOH directly from the media owner – outside auctions and DSPs.

Demand-Side Platform – the tool advertisers use to buy DOOH programmatically.

The minimum price a media owner accepts in an auction.

Compensation from a media owner when delivery missed the promised volume.

Open programmatic auction where any buyer can bid.

Private Marketplace (PMP)

Invite-only auction between selected buyers and sellers.

Programmatic Guaranteed

Pre-negotiated price and volume delivered via a programmatic pipeline.

Programmatic OOH

Automated, audience-based buying of outdoor advertising via DSPs and SSPs.

Real-Time Bidding – real-time auction-based buying.

Supply-Side Platform – the tool media owners use to sell inventory.

Production

5 terms

The creative shown on the sign – printed material or digital file.

Extra margin in print files ensuring no white shows at the edges.

The files accepted for DOOH/print – typically MP4, JPG, PNG, PDF.

The total rotation of ads on a digital sign – for example, 6 or 8 slots.

Quality assurance before production – confirming colour, size and copy.

Regulation

6 terms

Advertising Ombudsman

Swedish self-regulatory body that reviews advertising against ICC standards.

When DOOH measures audiences (via cameras/mobile data), GDPR compliance is essential.

The International Chamber of Commerce's marketing rules – ethical baseline for advertising.

Planning and Building Act

The Swedish Planning and Building Act – regulates when sign permits are required.

Municipal permit required to install a sign on public land or a facade.

Swedish Transport Administration

Swedish agency that approves signs near public roads.

Audience

10 terms

Campaigns that run across multiple channels and are measured jointly.

Running ads at specific times of day – e.g. lunch or rush hour.

Defining a geographic area where ads are shown or measured.

Lookalike audience

A new audience that mirrors your best existing audience, built from data.

Marketing that integrates all channels into a unified customer experience.

An archetypal user representing an audience segment.

Dividing the audience into distinct groups for more relevant communication.

Directing ads at a specific audience – in DOOH via geo, time and audience data.

Trigger advertising

Data-driven campaigns that react to weather, time, events or pollen counts.

Data rules that trigger ad delivery – e.g. weather, temperature, delayed trains.

Creative

7 terms

The visual message – may exist in multiple versions for A/B testing.

Protecting the brand from unsuitable contexts or adjacencies.

The prompt that triggers an action – "Buy now", "Download", "Visit us".

The written text in a creative – in OOH often capped at 6–8 words.

The finished campaign asset – image, video or animation.

The first seconds of a creative that must grab attention.

Visual hierarchy

How the eye is guided through a creative – from logo to message to CTA.

Technology

3 terms

The ratio of width to height – e.g. 16:9, 3:1 or 9:16 for portrait signs.

The distance between pixels on an LED screen – determines sharpness at distance.

A measure of screen/creative sharpness, in pixels.

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