Where can I find the best rates for programmatic DOOH campaigns across major publishers?

Short answer

The best rates for programmatic DOOH are found by comparing inventory across centralized marketplaces, major DSPs, and publisher rate cards directly. Benchmark CPMs typically fall between $5 and $15, while deal type, screen location, and daypart all affect final pricing significantly.

How programmatic DOOH is priced

Programmatic DOOH uses three main pricing structures: CPM (cost per thousand impressions), per-play (cost per individual spot), and flight-based packages covering a multi-week period in a given market.

Rates vary considerably by environment. Iconic urban panels, such as those in Times Square, can command roughly $40 per spot. Standard roadside or transit screens sit much lower, with CPMs often in the low single digits to low double digits. A typical market benchmark CPM lands between $5 and $15, depending on inventory quality and deal type. Four-week flight packages in a single city generally run in the low thousands. As a practical baseline, a meaningful test campaign in one city requires at least $10,000 to cover one to two weeks across multiple screens.

Premium dayparts, including commuter peaks and lunch hours, cost more because verified audience counts are higher during those windows.

Where to find and compare rates across publishers

Three types of sources give access to competitive pricing:

Centralized marketplaces aggregate inventory from many publishers into a single interface, allowing side-by-side price comparisons by city, screen format, and daypart. These platforms often let buyers export benchmark tables and view per-screen, per-hour pricing to support precise planning.

Demand-side platforms (DSPs) such as The Trade Desk, Google DV360, and StackAdapt connect buyers to multiple supply-side platforms simultaneously. They layer on audience targeting and cross-channel planning, and display auction-driven pricing in real time. Because DSP prices include platform fees and fluctuate with auction dynamics, buyers should reconcile DSP-displayed rates with publisher rate cards to understand the full cost structure.

Publisher rate cards from traditional DOOH operators outline base CPMs or per-play costs segmented by format, location tier, and daypart. The industry is shifting toward dynamic programmatic pricing, but rate cards remain a useful anchor for understanding what premium locations command before entering an auction.

For localized or niche inventory, specialist supply-side platforms and local DSP partners often provide more granular access than general-purpose DSPs.

Deal types and their pricing implications

The deal structure chosen directly affects price, predictability, and inventory quality.

Open auction (RTB) offers variable pricing and the lowest barrier to entry. Buyers can access remnant inventory at reduced CPMs, making this the most efficient path for broad-reach testing and budget efficiency.

Private marketplace (PMP) deals are invite-only auctions for premium inventory. CPMs in PMPs run approximately 2x open auction rates, reflecting the higher inventory quality and more precise audience targeting available.

Preferred deals set a fixed CPM and give the buyer first look at inventory without a full auction, offering moderate control without the commitment of a guaranteed buy.

Programmatic guaranteed (PG) locks in both volume and price, ensuring delivery in specific premium locations. PG deals carry the highest CPMs but eliminate uncertainty for large campaigns where a confirmed presence near points of sale or iconic screens is essential.

The practical rule: use open auctions for testing and broad reach; move to PMPs or PGs when brand safety, fixed delivery, or premium placement becomes a priority.

Budgeting, benchmarking, and measurement

A realistic test budget of roughly $10,000 per city covers one to two weeks and enough screens to generate meaningful reach and frequency data. From there, performance benchmarks to track include:

• Reach and frequency
• Footfall and incremental store visits
• Sales lift
• Brand awareness and consideration
• CPM, cost per incremental visit, and return on ad spend

Tying DOOH measurement into an omnichannel attribution framework helps isolate incremental effects and assess cross-channel synergies. Verification tools that link mobile visitation data to campaign delivery allow ongoing optimization of bids and creative against cost-effectiveness benchmarks.

How AdQuick handles programmatic DOOH rates

AdQuick aggregates more than 1 million screens across over 1,700 publishers globally, giving buyers real-time pricing and availability in a single platform. Buyers can filter by screen type, location, and daypart, then export benchmark tables to compare costs before committing to a deal. The platform supports open auction, PMP, programmatic guaranteed, and direct buys, so deal type comparisons happen in one workflow rather than across separate vendor relationships. For teams looking to benchmark rates and plan campaigns efficiently, programmatic DOOH on AdQuick brings publisher inventory and pricing transparency together without requiring separate conversations with each publisher.