Guide · updated November 2026
DOOH, short for digital out-of-home, is advertising on digital screens in public places: roadside billboards, screens in stations, shopping centres and bus shelters. This guide covers how it differs from OOH, where the screens are, how it’s bought, the sizes, and what makes a screen ad work.
The screens play one live sample, Tass, a made-up brand. Its photos were made with AI.
OOH, out-of-home, is any advertising people see outside their homes: billboards, posters in bus shelters and stations, ads on buses and trams.
DOOH is the part of OOH on digital screens. A screen can show moving pictures, play several advertisers in turn, change its ad by time of day, and take a new ad without anything being printed or pasted up.
| Printed OOH | DOOH | |
|---|---|---|
| The ad | A printed poster | A file played on a screen |
| Motion | Still | Still or moving |
| Time on show | The whole booking | A share of a loop, shared with other ads |
| Changing the ad | Print and post again | Send a new file |
| Timing | Weeks at a time | Weeks, days or hours of the day |
| Buying | From the media owner, by site and period | From the media owner, or programmatically |
Wherever people pass or wait. Each kind of place has its own audience, viewing distance and time to look.
Large billboards by main roads, seen from a car for a few seconds at a time.
Screens on buildings and squares, read from across a street or a plaza.
Stations, platforms, airports, and screens in and on buses, trams and trains, where people wait and walk.
Bus shelters and freestanding portrait screens on pavements, seen up close by people on foot.
Portrait screens in malls and in shops, close to where people buy.
Screens in lifts, lobbies, gyms, cinemas and arenas, with people who stay a while.
There are two main ways to buy screens. Many campaigns use both.
The company that owns the screens sells them by site, network or area, for a period. You agree what runs where and when, and send the creative to their spec.
Screens are offered through ad platforms, as on the web. A buyer sets rules such as places, times of day or audience, and buys plays or impressions screen by screen, sometimes through a private deal with the media owner.
A DOOH ad is made at the screen’s own pixel size. Most screens are landscape or portrait, in Full HD or 4K; some are square, and LED walls often have a size of their own.
| Screen | Size in pixels | Often found |
|---|---|---|
| Landscape Full HD | 1920 × 1080 | Station and platform screens, indoor walls |
| Portrait Full HD | 1080 × 1920 | Bus shelters, pavement and mall screens |
| Landscape 4K | 3840 × 2160 | Large indoor screens seen up close |
| Portrait 4K | 2160 × 3840 | Large portrait screens |
| Square | 1080 × 1080 | Screens in shops and lobbies |
| LED walls and strips | The screen’s own size | Roadside billboards, building facades, long strips |
4K has the same shape as Full HD with twice the pixels each way. The media owner’s spec gives each screen’s size, the file types its players take, and how long a spot is.
A screen ad is seen in passing, from a distance, often for a few seconds. It works more like a poster that moves than like a web banner.
One picture, one line, one brand. If it needs explaining, it’s too much for a screen.
A short line set large, with strong contrast, so it reads from across a street or a platform.
Nobody taps a screen in the street. Leave out buttons and anything that asks a passer-by to click, tap or swipe.
People catch the loop at any point. Let each part of the message hold long enough to read, and keep the brand easy to see.
A picture that moves draws the eye. Keep it calm, without fast flashing; many media owners have rules for motion, and roadside screens often have stricter ones.
A portrait screen and a landscape one need their own layouts, not one design cropped to both.
How MAiKE does it
MAiKE, an AI ad maker from Madington, makes moving DOOH creative from the page the advertiser links to: at your screens’ sizes, with type made to read from a distance and no buttons.
Digital out-of-home: advertising on digital screens in public places, from roadside billboards to screens in stations, shopping centres and bus shelters.
OOH is all advertising seen outside the home, printed posters included. DOOH is the part of it on digital screens, where an ad can move, change during the day and be replaced without printing anything.
Directly from the media owner, who sells screens or whole networks for a period, or programmatically, through platforms that buy plays or impressions screen by screen. Many campaigns use both.
The size of the screen it plays on. Many screens are Full HD (1920 × 1080 landscape, 1080 × 1920 portrait) or 4K (3840 × 2160, 2160 × 3840); others are square or a custom LED size. Ask the media owner for each screen’s spec.
No. Nobody taps a screen across a street, so a DOOH ad carries one message that reads at a glance, without buttons.
Yes. MAiKE makes moving DOOH creative from the advertiser’s page at your screens’ sizes. The MAiKE team switches DOOH on for your workspace and sets up your screens with you.
Send us your screens and we’ll show you MAiKE making creative for them.