DOOH

Digital out-of-home (DOOH) advertising is advertising on digital screens in public and commercial places, such as roadside billboards, stations, shopping centres, gyms and lifts, often bought programmatically by the play or by audience impression.

OpenRTB added native support in release 2.6-202211, published on 17 November 2022. A DOOH object describes the screen, its venue type and its owner, and a request that carries it must not also carry a Site or App object. Venue types default to the OpenOOH Venue Taxonomy (IAB Tech Lab, OpenRTB 2.6, section 3.2.32). Because many people may see one play, the Qty object carries a multiplier and names who measured it.

The implementation notes list what makes DOOH different. Screens vary greatly in size. Players often keep no permanent connection and may show the ad long after the auction. Win and billing events should therefore be separate, with burl fired only when the creative is on screen (IAB Tech Lab, OpenRTB 2.x implementation notes, section 7.9). Retail media networks increasingly sell in-store screens the same way.

Example: The OpenRTB notes work through the price of one play. A buyer bids $2.50 CPM for a play that the request values at 30.3 impressions. The cost is $2.50 divided by 1,000, multiplied by 30.3, which is $0.07575 for that play (section 7.9.4).

Related terms: in-store media, CPM, programmatic guaranteed, OpenRTB, CTV, retail media network.

Authoritative source: IAB Tech Lab, OpenRTB 2.6, section 3.2.32 "Object: DOOH" and section 3.2.31 "Object: Qty" (accessed 9 November 2026).

Read the full guide: Programmatic DOOH platforms and companies compared.