Food for Thought for Philippine OOH Players

Big OOH Players Reject DOmedia
By Katy Bachman, www.adweek.com

   
The nation's (U.S.A) biggest out-of-home media companies are refusing to list and sell their inventory in Starcom's new out-of-home database planning and buying system created by DOmedia.

It's not only the big traditional outdoor companies that are pushing back, but also some of the largest place-based OOH players. The rub is DOmedia's 2-5 percent transaction fees tacked on to sales made through the system, a fee the media companies find unpalatable.

DOmedia, which has built a database of OOH companies, is one of several "aggregators" seeking to bring some order to the hundreds of small, placed-based digital out-of-home companies. Though there's been some consolidation, the place-based business is still a nightmare for advertisers and agencies to buy.

The biggest OOH shops, Kinetic and Posterscope, developed their own proprietary systems to handle the planning and buying of the media. In the past couple of weeks, Starcom and MediaVest's planning and strategy teams have begun using DOmedia's platform.

"It's the bazillion alternative out-of-home and digital media companies we want to get a handle on," said Jack Sullivan, svp, OOH media for Starcom. "Trying to do it with just spreadsheets has become too difficult."

While the digital companies agree that such systems can help advance their medium, they don't agree with DOmedia's model.

"We agree with the concept. The question is who bears the cost," said Mike DiFranza, president and general manager of Captivate. "It's tough for people to rationalize paying for a database sorting tool. We have to work together to figure out the right mode."

Even tougher will be convincing the traditional media companies, which have national reach, to put premium inventory in the system.

"To take our inventory and combine it with rogue operators discredits what we do," said one out-of-home media exec, who declined attribution.

"Our policy is we don't pay commissions," said Tommy Teepell, chief marketing officer for Lamar Advertising. "I'm not sure it adds value to what we're doing."

Rich Langdale, CEO of DOmedia, said it's all about convincing out-of-home companies that DOmedia will bring more dollars to the medium. "We won't charge more than the value we bring. We want to help the sellers sell more media," he said.

Sullivan is hopeful the rest of the business will come around. "It's always tough at the beginning," said Sullivan. "After only a couple of weeks, a lot of companies have registered, a good 80 percent of them. Negotiations and discussions are ongoing with others."

DOmedia is about to get some competition. In January, Ayuda Media Systems, a software provider, will launch Symphony, a free buying platform for both traditional and digital out-of-home. As part of the service, Ayuda has offered to customize its system for agencies. Ayuda's current client roster includes some of the biggest out of home media companies such as CBS Outdoor, Van Wagner Communications and Eye Corp.

"Ayuda's model is a win-win for everybody," DiFranza said.

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Katy Bachman is a staff writer for Adweek.