What are the best buying structures for programmatic DOOH campaigns?

Short answer

CPM is the standard buying currency for programmatic DOOH because it aligns with the medium's strength in reach and brand awareness. CPC and CPCV are rarely used as transactional models since DOOH screens are not directly interactive, but advertisers apply them as internal metrics to evaluate efficiency and compare with other digital channels.

What programmatic DOOH is and how it differs from traditional OOH

Digital out of home (DOOH) refers to ads on internet-connected digital screens in public and commercial environments: billboards, transit stations, retail stores, gyms, and airports. Programmatic DOOH means buying those placements through automated, impression-based auctions on demand-side platforms (DSPs), with targeting by location, venue type, time of day, and audience characteristics.

Traditional OOH relies on fixed locations, long-term insertion orders, and flat fees. Programmatic DOOH enables real-time or near-real-time impression-based buying, flexible scheduling, and mid-flight optimization. Advertisers can still prioritize specific screens by location or venue type, but delivery is optimized to audience segments dynamically rather than locked to a fixed panel.

The three programmatic DOOH deal types

Programmatic DOOH inventory is generally purchased through three deal structures, each offering different levels of control, quality, and pricing.

Open exchange (real-time bidding): A broad pool of inventory accessed via DSPs with real-time bidding. This produces the lowest CPM rates and the widest scale, but with less control over which specific screens are included. It works best for test budgets, audience discovery, and always-on campaigns.

Private marketplace (PMP): Invitation-only marketplaces with curated premium screen packages, such as city-center LEDs and airports. CPMs run roughly 2.1x the open exchange average, but advertisers gain increased control, viewability, and brand safety. PMPs suit brand-safe environments and premium branding campaigns.

Programmatic guaranteed (PG): Contractual deals that guarantee inventory, CPM, and impressions on specific screens while still executing programmatically. Fixed prices and guaranteed delivery make PG the right choice for critical moments like product launches or holiday campaigns, where certainty matters more than flexibility.

A common progression is to start with open exchange for learning and scale, then move to PMP and PG as campaigns mature toward quality control and guaranteed presence.

CPM, CPC, and CPCV: how each applies to programmatic DOOH

CPM (cost per mille): Payment at a fixed rate per 1,000 predicted impressions delivered on DOOH screens. This is the dominant model because DOOH primarily delivers broad reach and brand awareness rather than direct clicks or conversions. Impression measurement relies on modeled foot traffic, location analytics, and audience data rather than individual user IDs. CPM suits brand awareness, large-scale reach, always-on presence, and campaigns focused on share of voice.

CPC (cost per click): Payment only when a user clicks an ad. DOOH screens are generally not interactive, so CPC is rarely a native pricing model for DOOH buys. Where it appears, it is usually when DOOH is bundled with mobile or digital retargeting campaigns. Advertisers may also calculate an effective CPC internally by dividing DOOH spend by clicks or website visits attributed after exposure, purely for cross-channel comparison. CPC as an analytical lens suits performance campaigns driving traffic, leads, or conversions with strong attribution in place.

CPCV (cost per completed view): Payment only when a video ad is viewed to completion. DOOH cannot confirm individual video completion the way online video or connected TV can, so CPCV contracts are uncommon. Some providers model attention or dwell time as proxies for completed views, enabling calculation of an effective CPCV for internal benchmarking. This is most relevant to video-heavy campaigns that want to approximate online video metrics or compare attention quality across channels.

In practice, CPM is the transactional currency. CPC and CPCV function as analytical lenses: advertisers buy on CPM and then evaluate effective CPC or CPCV to assess efficiency and benchmark against digital channels.

Matching deal type and pricing model to campaign objective

The right combination of deal type and pricing model depends on what the campaign needs to accomplish.

For broad awareness and testing, open exchange CPM buys offer scale and cost control. For premium branding, a PMP CPM deal provides quality locations and brand safety. For must-win moments where guaranteed delivery is non-negotiable, programmatic guaranteed CPM deals secure the needed inventory. For performance-driven campaigns with measurable online actions, open exchange or PMP CPM buys paired with effective CPC or CPA analysis connect DOOH exposure to conversion outcomes. For video-first campaigns, PMP or PG deals with video screens, bought on CPM and evaluated on effective CPCV, align DOOH with attention and completion metrics used elsewhere in the media plan.

A few practical points: campaigns can launch within 24 to 72 hours, with test minimums often in the low thousands scaling to mid-five figures and above for national efforts. Real-time spend shifts between screens, dayparts, and audiences are possible mid-flight, similar to other programmatic channels. Because DOOH lacks direct clicks, performance measurement relies on impression delivery, foot traffic attribution, and post-exposure online or offline behaviors using location and privacy-safe data.

How AdQuick handles programmatic DOOH

AdQuick's platform lets buyers plan, activate, and measure programmatic DOOH on AdQuick across open exchange, private marketplace, and programmatic guaranteed deal structures. Campaigns can be targeted by location, venue type, and time of day, with mid-flight optimization available to shift spend toward the screens and dayparts performing best. Measurement draws on foot traffic attribution and audience data to connect impressions to real-world outcomes, giving buyers the CPM-based buying they need alongside the effective CPC and CPCV benchmarks useful for cross-channel reporting.