OOH advertising research produced by academics holds great potential for understanding the medium’s efficacy as well as the issues facing the industry. Yet, the proliferation of scholarly research covers many diverse topics, perspectives, and academic disciplines making it difficult for those working in the OOH industry to discover relevant content.

In fact, academic research is valuable for many working in OOH including research firms designing industry research, law firms seeking specialists for expert witness testimony, or anyone interested in learning more about a particular OOH topic or type of OOH medium.

To help academicians and OOH industry professionals, a recent 2024 publication in the International Journal of Advertising reviewed 343 academic articles spanning more than 100 years and identified 1) the conceptual structure and chronological progression of OOH research; 2) the intellectual foundations and seminal publications produced by scholars; and 3) the most influential scholars and journals moving OOH advertising research forward.

The publication also offers several detailed lists, including the top 25 most cited academic OOH articles, its leading authors organized by the number of publications and most cited, and the best academic journals for OOH research arranged by topic and discipline. The review covers both ad management and public policy topics, and the figure below offers a chronological progression of research across the major topics principally investigated by scholars.

The publication’s author, Dr. Rick T. Wilson, professor of Marketing at Texas State University in San Marcos, Texas identified several important trends within the academic literature likely to be of interest to many OOH practitioners, including:

• Mirroring what OAAA President Anna Bager said in a February 14, 2024 Billboard Insider™ podcast, academia also recognizes the need to make OOH less fragmented and complicated. Scholars have made considerable progress here, too, by taking a more holistic view of the industry.
• The academic literature is appreciably multidisciplinary, and some of the most advanced applications of big data comes from areas outside of marketing and communications and instead from academic disciplines such as engineering, computer science, and geography and from researchers outside the traditional western countries producing research in the leading advertising journals.
• Like industry, little academic research addresses digital OOH, programmatic OOH, and social/mobile integration, which are often the driving creative forces behind most successful uses of OOH. Research collaborations between academia and industry can help resolve the research deficiency for both parties.

The current publication, titled “Out-of-Home Advertising: A Bibliometric Review” coupled with the author’s previous 2023 publication in the Journal of Advertising, and featured in an earlier Billboard Insider™ podcast, create the complete set to help practitioners navigate the academic literature on OOH.

By Rick Wilson, Ph.D., Professor of Marketing, Texas State University, McCoy College of Business Administration.  You can contact Rick at rick.t.wilson@txstate.edu, 512-245-3190

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