DOmedia CEO: Why OOH is marketing's biggest blindspot, and most untapped opportunity
Jun 4, 2025
Paramark News Desk
Credit: Outlever
Key Points
Despite consumers spending 70% of their time outside, OOH advertising accounts for less than 5% of U.S. ad spend.
Mike Cooper, CEO of DOmedia, is developing a centralized marketplace to streamline OOH planning and buying.
Major global brands are increasingly investing in OOH and DOOH, signaling a renaissance for the medium with yet-untapped potential.
The facts are we spend about 70% of our working lives outside of our home, yet we still have brands spending 70% of their budget in our living room.
Mike Cooper
CEO
,
DOmedia
Consumers are outside, but ad budgets aren’t. Despite people spending 70% of their waking hours outside the house, OOH advertising still accounts for less than 5% of U.S. ad spend. In a $41.8 billion global market, that mismatch is nothing short of marketing malpractice.
Helping brands close that gap is Mike Cooper, CEO of DOmedia. He’s building what he calls “the Bloomberg screen of out of home”—a centralized marketplace to streamline every step of OOH planning and buying.
House arrest: "The facts are we spend about 70% of our working lives outside of our home, yet we still have brands spending 70% of their budget in our living room," he says—proof, Cooper argues, that OOH "has been an under-utilized medium for far too long." The opportunity is there, and the budgets need to catch up.
DOOH or die: Cooper is quick to dispel the idea that OOH is just "stunt media," noting "it can do so much more than that." With DOOH now making up 34% of U.S. OOH spending and place-based media on the rise, he sees a clear advantage: "We don’t suffer with being below the fold or ad blocker software or bots claiming to be impressions."
Staying at home looking at your phone is not a social experience. Being out and about is social experience. You could say that OOH is really the only social media—the rest are anti-social.
Mike Cooper
CEO
,
DOmedia
Rely on AI: "It’s easy to be blinded by data," says Cooper. "Data should inform and allow us to plan. But the performance of the campaign can only really be measured by looking at the metrics of the target." That focus on outcomes is where AI steps in—not to replace people, but to power them. "An RFP going into our system will be addressed by our AI that will mine everything that the client’s ever done," he explains. "It’s not AI replacing a salesperson, it’s AI freeing a salesperson so he can go and innovate and sell."
Anti-social media: "It's literally the oldest medium in the world," says Cooper. But old doesn’t have to mean outdated. "We have to be more accountable and more measurable," Cooper says. He also offers a reframe on what connection really means today: "Staying at home looking at your phone is not a social experience. Being out and about is social experience. You could say that OOH is really the only social media—the rest are anti-social."
OOH la la: Despite its slow shift, Cooper sees clear momentum building. “The renaissance is happening,” he notes, pointing to major global brands already putting serious budget behind the medium.
Solutions
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DOmedia CEO: Why OOH is marketing's biggest blindspot, and most untapped opportunity
Jun 4, 2025
Paramark News Desk
Credit: Outlever
Key Points
Despite consumers spending 70% of their time outside, OOH advertising accounts for less than 5% of U.S. ad spend.
Mike Cooper, CEO of DOmedia, is developing a centralized marketplace to streamline OOH planning and buying.
Major global brands are increasingly investing in OOH and DOOH, signaling a renaissance for the medium with yet-untapped potential.
The facts are we spend about 70% of our working lives outside of our home, yet we still have brands spending 70% of their budget in our living room.
Mike Cooper
CEO
,
DOmedia
Consumers are outside, but ad budgets aren’t. Despite people spending 70% of their waking hours outside the house, OOH advertising still accounts for less than 5% of U.S. ad spend. In a $41.8 billion global market, that mismatch is nothing short of marketing malpractice.
Helping brands close that gap is Mike Cooper, CEO of DOmedia. He’s building what he calls “the Bloomberg screen of out of home”—a centralized marketplace to streamline every step of OOH planning and buying.
House arrest: "The facts are we spend about 70% of our working lives outside of our home, yet we still have brands spending 70% of their budget in our living room," he says—proof, Cooper argues, that OOH "has been an under-utilized medium for far too long." The opportunity is there, and the budgets need to catch up.
DOOH or die: Cooper is quick to dispel the idea that OOH is just "stunt media," noting "it can do so much more than that." With DOOH now making up 34% of U.S. OOH spending and place-based media on the rise, he sees a clear advantage: "We don’t suffer with being below the fold or ad blocker software or bots claiming to be impressions."
Staying at home looking at your phone is not a social experience. Being out and about is social experience. You could say that OOH is really the only social media—the rest are anti-social.
Mike Cooper
CEO
,
DOmedia
Rely on AI: "It’s easy to be blinded by data," says Cooper. "Data should inform and allow us to plan. But the performance of the campaign can only really be measured by looking at the metrics of the target." That focus on outcomes is where AI steps in—not to replace people, but to power them. "An RFP going into our system will be addressed by our AI that will mine everything that the client’s ever done," he explains. "It’s not AI replacing a salesperson, it’s AI freeing a salesperson so he can go and innovate and sell."
Anti-social media: "It's literally the oldest medium in the world," says Cooper. But old doesn’t have to mean outdated. "We have to be more accountable and more measurable," Cooper says. He also offers a reframe on what connection really means today: "Staying at home looking at your phone is not a social experience. Being out and about is social experience. You could say that OOH is really the only social media—the rest are anti-social."
OOH la la: Despite its slow shift, Cooper sees clear momentum building. “The renaissance is happening,” he notes, pointing to major global brands already putting serious budget behind the medium.
Solutions