April 2021 marks a defining moment here at VIOOH as we announce our launch into the Australian market. This latest move forms part of our continued global expansion and brings the number of markets in which VIOOH trades programmatically to 12, including the UK, US and Hong Kong. Our ambition is to reach 18 markets by the end of 2021 with France and New Zealand planned for the coming months. 

In our newest market, we are partnering with JCDecaux Australia to enable its premium digital inventory to be traded programmatically. Our foundation DSP partners in Australia are Hivestack, Vistar Media and Verizon Media. Coupled with our latest integration with The Trade Desk, we are helping to transform the industry and create a trusted environment in which programmatic out of home can thrive. 

We’re incredibly excited to launch in Australia. Results from test campaigns have been highly positive, demonstrating an appetite for the flexibility, transparency and smart capabilities delivered by digital out of home. We have high expectations for this new market, and we are already seeing advertisers such as Tourism Tasmania and Dulux, and media owners alike maximising this new opportunity.

Despite the challenges of the last 12 months, numerous industry reports are predicting a strong bounce back for out of home this year, the Magna 2020 Year End Forecast predicts a 20.1% growth for DOOH in 2021. Indeed, our very first State of the Nation report for Hong Kong, which was released earlier this month, found that over a third (37%) of those surveyed anticipate more than doubling their spend on programmatic OOH in the next 18 months. As we experience the continued digitalisation of our industry, accelerated by the pandemic, I believe the shift towards programmatic in out of home will become even more pronounced.

At VIOOH, our continued global expansion goes hand in hand with the growth of our team and it’s a privilege to welcome over 50 new employees in the last 12 months at all levels and across all disciplines, ranging from marketing through to engineering and product. As our business continues to expand, our ambition remains to change the conversation about out of home, with a platform centred around automation and transparency.