In the fast-moving world of media planning, one thing is crystal clear in 2025: Out-of-home (OOH) is no longer a supporting player—it’s the performance channel leading the charge.
New data from Solomon Partners, released in June 2025, reveals that OOH advertising is outperforming nearly every other media channel across the two KPIs marketers care about most: cost efficiency and consumer recall. With the lowest CPMs in the industry and the highest ad recall across formats, OOH has earned its place not just in the media mix, but at the top of it.
As digital saturation, cookie deprecation, and media fragmentation challenge traditional channels, OOH offers a rare combination of scale, attention, and accountability. With the rapid evolution of programmatic digital out-of-home (pDOOH), advertisers suddenly have a real-world channel that’s as dynamic and data-driven as anything online.
Whether you’re building a national campaign or targeting local consumers at the street level, here's why OOH is dominating the conversation, and the budgets, in 2025.
According to Solomon Partners' Q1 2025 report, OOH delivers the lowest cost per thousand impressions (CPM) across all major channels: TV, print, radio, and most digital formats. With average CPMs between $2 and $9, advertisers get significantly more reach per dollar compared to digital video ($25–$54) or broadcast TV ($16–$45). In a year where efficiency is everything, this kind of media value is hard to ignore.
Low cost is only half the equation—what really seals the deal is OOH’s effectiveness. The same Solomon Partners study shows that both printed and digital OOH ads lead the market in consumer recall, with an impressive 84–86% ad recall rate. That’s nearly double the rates seen in online and social ads (which hover around 46–57%).
OOH isn’t just visible, it’s memorable; And in a cluttered media world, that makes it powerful.
OOH is no longer playing catch-up with digital—it’s evolving alongside it. MAGNA, the global media investment and intelligence division of IPG Mediabrands, projects OOH to be the fastest-growing legacy medium in 2025, with overall growth of ~7% and DOOH leading the charge at ~12%. From interactive transit displays to real-time messaging on city streets, DOOH is proving that “legacy” doesn’t mean “outdated”—it means built for scale.
- Cost-Effective Reach: OOH offers the best CPM value on the market.
- Unmatched Brand Recall: The physical nature of OOH commands attention and drives long-term brand impact.
- Amplifies the Full Funnel: OOH complements online, social, and TV by reinforcing messages throughout the day.
- Real-Time, Data-Led Buying: With programmatic tools, DOOH can now be bought, measured, and optimized like digital online.
- Strategic Budget Shifts: Expect to see TV and digital dollars reallocated to DOOH for higher returns.
- Integrated Omni-channel Campaigns: Top brands are using OOH as a visual anchor in omni-channel strategies—tying together what consumers see online and in person.
- Performance-Led Placements: Location, weather, audience movement, everything is now data-driven, enabling smarter campaigns with real-world outcomes.
The 2025 Solomon Partners and OAAA data sends a powerful message: OOH offers unmatched ROI, combining best-in-class CPMs with elite ad recall, and it’s only getting stronger through digitization and data. With MAGNA projecting OOH as the fastest-growing legacy medium this year, marketers who want to stay competitive are already acting.
In a fragmented digital world, OOH delivers the one thing brands desperately need: real visibility.
- Audit Your Media Mix: Compare your CPMs and brand recall to OOH benchmarks.
- Pilot a pDOOH Campaign: Start small in high-traffic zones with measurable outcomes.
- Blend OOH into Digital Strategies: Reinforce your online messaging in the physical world.
- Use Attribution Tools: Make every impression count with real-time performance tracking.
Whether you're a brand, agency, or real estate partner, 2025 is the year to treat OOH not as an afterthought, but as a strategic driver of growth.
Because in 2025, if your media plan doesn’t include DOOH, you’re leaving reach, recall, and revenue on the table.
Contact our team to learn more about DOOH advertising with Smartify.