By Brad Getter, Owner, Megagraphics

I’m seeing more prototype cars with giant screens in the dash… what’s this going to mean for OOH when these become production models? Can the industry grab this close-up in-person space? That’s some darn nice ad real estate right there folks. Could existing outdoor regulations be tweaked to create a way to shutter competitive in-vehicle ads?

Think about this – in the next 10 years, these large in-vehicle screens will be standard in new cars. Maybe they’ll be restricted from advertising, but more likely, they will become the in-vehicle advertising platform of choice.  I’d say within 20 years in-vehicle targeted advertising on these kinds of displays will be omnipresent in the vehicles on our nation’s roadways. So that’s well within the renewal periods of a lot of outdoor displays. As well as the finance lifetimes of those investments. How can a fixed location display compete with that? It can’t.

So should OOH, as an industry, find a way to carve out a protected space based on our permit rights? I say yes. I’m thinking of a reverse geo-fence – a legally mandated zone of exclusivity added to OOH regulations that mimic the protected spacing, ad sizes, message cycle times, etc. of the regulations on an OOH display. Basically carving out a protected section of roadway where the permit rights of the static display take preference, and the message in the vehicle is delivered by the display owner thru programmatic sales.

I think it’s the proper time for the industry to address this in just that way. Better now than in 20 years when 80% of those traveling eyeballs are seeing personalized ads from Google and investments in OOH are at risk.

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