With telecom firms rolling out 5G in more cities, digital advertising may be gearing up for a makeover. Andy Sriubas, chief commercial officer at Outfront Media, spoke to eMarketer’s Ross Benes about how 5G technology will impact digital out-of-home (OOH) advertising.
eMarketer:
How will 5G change OOH advertising?
Andy Sriubas:
Today, a lot of the digital infrastructure is passive rather than dynamic. If you pass a digital sign on the highway you’ll see roughly eight flips. So every 8 seconds, a different static ad comes up. These ads are not dynamically connected so live content can be pushed through.
With the speed of 5G, data associated with the time of day, sports scores, weather, and other live content can be enabled so that they’re all connected in real time to a cloud-based infrastructure for dynamic delivery.
eMarketer:
What advantage does 5G provide for advertisers?
Andy Sriubas:
5G allows us to make more snap decisions as opposed to planning them well in advance.
eMarketer:
What is an example of how this would look to everyday people?
Andy Sriubas:
Let’s say a Yankees game ends early. We can push more ads at that time because we know the audience will be commuting on that particular subway line or highway.
eMarketer:
How does 5G change your outlook on OOH?
Andy Sriubas:
I think as OOH evolves from a side-of-the-highway kind of industry to a technology-enabled communications network that happens to have advertising as one of its revenue components, it changes the game and brings us into a completely different realm of being. You can't think of us as advertisers on the side of a highway anymore. 5G enables a faster transition to that future and gives us capabilities that we didn't have prior.
