The Billboard Insider Podcast
00:07:08 · Dave Westburg, Jonathan Gudai
[00:07:08] S0: Yes. [00:07:08] S1: But it's not the... It's certainly not the only. I mean, we've really... We we have this partnership with Uber that was geared to launch at the end of q one, and and, really, q two is gonna be a big, you know, big coming out. [00:07:19] S0: Mhmm. [00:07:19] S1: And and we're we're excited about that as well. We still think that the street level video screens as a complement to digital billboards are something that that that we're we're absolutely investing in. [00:07:29] S0: Now let's talk a little more about that partnership. So you were gonna put, I think, was it up to a thousand displays or you were gonna help place advertising up on up to a thousand displays on digital screens at top Uber vehicles in Atlanta, Dallas, and Phoenix. What's the latest on that? [00:07:46] S1: Yeah. So those thousand vehicles have been deployed. [00:07:49] S0: Wow. [00:07:50] S1: And so so that those markets... Yeah. If you... If you're living in those, you should be seeing them [00:07:54] S0: Wow. [00:07:54] S1: All day every day on on your daily journey. You know, like like a lot of companies, you know, Uber had a rough q two q three as well. Sure. But they're rebounding in a big way from from from the standpoint of Uber Eats and Postmates and Mhmm. And with with transit, like you mentioned, a lot of people not taking transit for whatever reason, whether it's not operating or just they're not comfortable, then then Ubers are are really the the mode of of choice if you don't have your own vehicle in some those urban areas. [00:08:22] S0: Wow.
00:08:22 · Dave Westburg, Jonathan Gudai
[00:08:22] S0: Wow. [00:08:22] S1: Yeah. So so so we're we're definitely seeing some positive signals, and Uber... And we are committed to this Uberoo network. [00:08:30] S0: Good for you. [00:08:31] S1: Yeah. Yep. And and so those three cities are operational. We we... We'll be announcing more in the next month or two because it's definitely not stopping there. [00:08:39] S0: Jonathan, are the ads on on the vehicle tops, are they triggered geographically by beacons, or are they time based flips? So you'll you'll get a certain flip a certain time. How are they? What's the trigger? [00:08:52] S1: Sure. So there there is a geofence triggering component to it. Wow. But in terms of the way that it's set up, is it a little different than billboards. You know, most billboards, you have either six or eight slots. Yes. And it's a fixed it's a fixed duration, whether it's a one minute loop or a sixty four second loop. Mhmm. With Uber, because you've got hundreds of vehicles that are roaming around the city at different times and turning on and off differently Mhmm. There's not just one loop that kind of operates like a digital billboard because it just... It doesn't work that way. [00:09:23] S0: Yes. [00:09:24] S1: And so it it is it is eight second ads. And what's unique also is that they're they're video supported where that's compliant. Mhmm. And the the neat thing about what we've done is through our partnerships with the billboard operators and owners, we are able to tell that story on the tops of the Ubers and on the digital billboards as, a screen sequencing.
00:09:24 · Jonathan Gudai, Dave Westburg
[00:09:24] S1: And so it it is it is eight second ads. And what's unique also is that they're they're video supported where that's compliant. Mhmm. And the the neat thing about what we've done is through our partnerships with the billboard operators and owners, we are able to tell that story on the tops of the Ubers and on the digital billboards as, a screen sequencing. [00:09:47] S0: Wow. Wow. So so are you saying that the the the ad on top of the Uber car may be... May complement or enhance an ad that's showing on the local digital billboard? [00:09:58] S1: That's exactly right. Wow. And so it comes in in two flavors. [00:10:01] S0: Yeah. [00:10:02] S1: There's some brands who just... They wanna own the market. They want, you know Yes. They want everyone in Atlanta to know about this new product or service. Mhmm. And so they'll be doing a campaign where the billboards have, you know, one of the eight ad plays or two of the ad plays, whatever, showing the ad as, like, a static image. Right? Most billboards are not video. It's static image. [00:10:21] S0: Yes.
00:10:21 · Dave Westburg, Jonathan Gudai
[00:10:21] S0: Yes. [00:10:21] S1: And then a similar ad with video is playing on the Ubers. So when you're in the in the passenger seat or you're a pedestrian walking down the street and you look up and there's that 14 by 48 with an ad, and he looked at his side and there's an Uber at the ad, It's penetrating that that mind share that everyone is is trying to get. Right? The the holy grail that one's attention. Mhmm. But then there's another cool thing that we're doing that because we know where the vehicles are, we have their latitude and longitude at every time because it's talking to our technology platform. We can also have brands say, but you know what? I really only wanna heavy up on those ads being shown on the billboards when there's cars in proximity. Mhmm. And so if they don't have a budget to blank an entire town and and have every billboard or lots of billboards always playing it like a traditional buy, then we can do some triggering of the ads to just start programmatically serving when we know that that car is within the, you know, the proximity to the billboard that doesn't have that ad.
00:11:19 · Dave Westburg, Jonathan Gudai
[00:11:19] S0: Let's take a break here for a word from our sponsor. This podcast is brought to you by Samsung LED displays. Selling digital out of home ad space used to be a nightmare, but now there's an easy way to make the most of your digital display, programmatic advertising. This new technology empowers you to earn income on your investment with ease. You control who can advertise, what, when, and for how long. An online marketplace takes care of the rest. Get the free guide from the experts at Samsung to find out how to earn fast, reliable ROI on your digital displays, visit billboardinsider.com backslash Samsung. Jonathan, last year, you claimed that programmatic could potentially double the digital out of home ad spend. Is that still possible? [00:12:04] S1: I I think that we can more than double what we're seeing now and with some of the the last eighteen months progress that that we and others, you know, in our industry are are making. Mhmm. So, yes, short answer is I absolutely think that's possible. I think that's possible within the next two to four years and even with a COVID, you know, adjusted environment. Mhmm. And so the short answer, absolutely yes. [00:12:30] S0: How does that happen?
00:12:32 · Jonathan Gudai
[00:12:32] S1: Yeah. So there's a few different ways. And I I first think it's important for us to recognize that... Let's just talk US right now. Mhmm. Let's say that we're somewhere between two and a half and three billion dollars across all of digital. Now I know that billboards are the focus of this podcast, but Mhmm. And the biggest component of that. But we do think about it in terms of where are we starting and where do we need to go. Mhmm. And so if we even use such more conservative numbers, say, it's 2,500,000,000. Mhmm. So what do we even do to go from 2.5 to five? Mhmm. And there's a a lot of different ways to to look at that question. But for us, it's thinking about how do we bring new buyers into the marketplace Mhmm. So that it's not just incumbent upon us to have the existing out of home specialists and brands alone carry that load, but really tap into some some other really large channels. And for us, there's a few... What we've seen to... We think that's almost obvious ways to do that. The first is just these... The the the programmatic online digital media buyers. Mhmm. So those are... The... Those are the companies that are buying mobile ads. Now they're buying connected TV ads, display video ads by going into a a platform and then, you know, building their campaign, uploading their creative, and having it flow straight to the screens, and then they get built. Mhmm. If you look at that market, and let's just even peel it back and say, let's only focus on display ads. So display ads are those banners that you have on your website, Dave, and you can find all across the Internet. You go to cnn.com with banner ads.