Clear Channel International launches out-of-home’s first Programmatic buying solution with a guaranteed offer for the European advertising market

• Programmatic buying capabilities live in Belgium
• First advertisers include: Mercedes-Benz, Beobank, Deliveroo
• European roll-out to continue with March launch in the UK

In another media first, Clear Channel International (CCI), the international division of Clear Channel Outdoor (CCO), has launched the first out-of-home programmatic buying tool with a guaranteed offer in Europe – this automated solution is live in Belgium. CCI is also announcing plans for the continued roll-out of its programmatic capabilities across Europe, including details of a March launch in the UK.

The first iteration of CCI’s programmatic solution focuses on trading its inventory on an automated guaranteed basis – giving media buyers the ability to reserve a fixed volume of inventory at a fixed price. Customers can now access and buy audience-based packages across Clear Channel’s digital out-of-home (DOOH) network in the city of Brussels, via programmatic channels that include the Demand Side Platform (DSP), Adform, and a proprietary Clear Channel platform. The system is fuelled by data from existing out-of-home audience data-sets – both proprietary and third party. By offering solutions based on audience, using buying tools and technologies with which media buyers are already familiar, Clear Channel’s programmatic solution significantly simplifies the process of buying out-of-home.

The next Clear Channel market to offer automated buying capabilities will be the UK. In the first phase, buyers will have access to Clear Channel UK’s premium digital out-of-home estate, Storm, from March. This will be followed by the addition of its digital Retail portfolio across shopping malls and supermarkets and Adshel Live, the UK’s largest digital roadside out-of-home advertising network.
Since the Belgian platform went live on January 9th, media buyers have bought digital-out-of-home campaigns programmatically, for major advertisers including:

• Beobank; Blue 449

• Deliveroo; Kinetic

• Mercedes-Benz; ZenithOptimedia

Other media buyers who are also using the solution include: Space, Posterscope, Outsight and Outdoor Service

Following the successful launch in Belgium, CCI’s programmatic tool will continue to evolve with additional capabilities as it is further scaled internationally. Programmatic will ultimately embrace all of CCI’s solutions involving both traditional panels and digital screens, but will initially focus on digital out-of-home inventory as this will have the added capability of real-time campaign adaptation and delivery. Additional connections to DSPs using Open Direct protocol (the protocol developed by the IAB specifically for automated guaranteed trading) are also developing programmatic guaranteed support, to allow OpenRTB protocol (industry standard for communication between buyers of advertising and sellers of publisher inventory) to be used. This will give buyers complete buying flexibility by allowing them to connect via the programmatic channel of their choice. Similarly, further data sets for enriched planning and campaign optimisation will be added to provide transparent measurability pre-, during and post-campaign for greater targeting and attribution.

Driven by the rapid pace of programmatic adoption in other media, particularly online, where in the UK, 70% of online display media was traded programmatically in 2016, Clear Channel International will be ready to programmatically trade 100% of its supply across some key products and markets in 2017.

William Eccleshare, Chairman and CEO of Clear Channel International, said:

“Programmatic buying has revolutionised the buying process in many key media sectors and we believe it will do the same for out-of-home. Anything that makes our fabulous product easier to buy is to be wholeheartedly welcomed. We are making our media simpler to plan, buy, optimise and measure through familiar buying technologies offering data-fueled audience-based solutions in real time. We thus offer new and existing customers the measurability, creativity and flexibility they demand. Clear Channel International’s programmatic solution enables brands to deliver the right message to the right audience at the right time. It connects them even more effectively with their audience – whilst still allowing them to achieve the mass reach and fame Outdoor delivers more efficiently than any other medium.

“The launch of our programmatic buying solution represents a pivotal moment not just for Clear Channel International, but in the evolution of out-of-home, which has truly completed its transformation into a 21st Century digital media.”

Commenting on CCI’s strategy and ongoing development plans for programmatic, Stefan Lameire, Chief Customer and Revenue Officer, Clear Channel International, added:

“Today’s announcement is just the beginning of Clear Channel International’s programmatic journey. Our vision is for one technical programmatic platform which can be shaped and adjusted by market, to suit the specific local buying needs of our customers. Once we have rolled out automated guaranteed trading across the business, we will be assessing where and when we also release our inventory to bidded marketplaces, as well as enabling media buyers to layer on their own audience data to further enrich the targeting process. Ultimately, it will be our customers rather than technology, driving the speed and detail for further programmatic development.”

Commenting on the UK launch of the CCI programmatic solution, Clear Channel UK’s CEO Justin Cochrane said:

“In the UK, Clear Channel’s vision is to Create the Future of Media, Out of Home. Launching a Programmatic solution is the next logical step in our market, which has been undergoing an unprecedented digital transformation over the past twelve months.

“We have already seen advertisers embrace the creative possibilities of digital to activate deliver flexible, contextually relevant campaigns that connect brands with people. Now we are investing in automation to further increase advertiser benefits. Success for us is to offer a huge array of possibilities for advertisers while making out-of-home simpler and even more effective with increased flexibility, creativity and measurability.”

Source: ZenithOptimedia, Programmatic Marketing Forecasts 2015