6 December 2023, London / Shanghai – Today, VIOOH, the leading premium global digital out of home (DOOH) supply-side platform, announced its first programmatic media owner partnership in mainland China. Collaborating with STDecaux, VIOOH has launched in market offering real-time trading across local programmatic DOOH (prDOOH) in the world’s number one metro network, Shanghai Metro. It is the first ever metro system in mainland China to adopt prDOOH.

Programmatic advertising inventory is now available from STDecaux, a joint venture between JCDecaux and Shanghai Shentong Assets Management Co Ltd., which manages the advertising operations of the 19 train lines in the Shanghai Metro. Inventory and services include advertising panels on platforms, corridors, as well as digital screens, creative solutions and advertising inside the trains.

Offering over 1.42 billion monthly impressions across 200 digital screens and coverage over 40 core stations in Shanghai Metro, prDOOH utilises better understanding about who is on the move between work and home or enroute to social events or tourist locations to allow advertisers to pin-point target consumers in real-time. This is the first phase of a continuous rollout, with more frames due to be available in 2024.

The partnership aims to deliver proven international standards of programmatic advertising and world-class media management to Shanghai Metro. Powered by the industry-leading programmatic platform VIOOH Trading Manager, media owners such as STDecaux can now trade inventory programmatically in real-time. VIOOH’s proprietary ad-serving capabilities align digital OOH to more omni-channel buys to bring an array of innovative benefits for VIOOH’s media owner partners. This new suite of advanced features enables media owner partners to tap into improved operational efficiency, programmatic deal management and yield optimisation, to give them more options and possibilities across every campaign.

Calvin Chan, CEO at VIOOH China said, “We align closely with our partners and agency clients to unlock commercial opportunities that generate business outcomes, and we’re proud to be the first to bring digital out of home to metro system in mainland China. 

According to our recent State of the Nation research, 24% of advertisers and agencies invested in programmatic DOOH and set to increase to 31% in 2023. Nearly 40% of campaigns in the mainland China market are expected to include programmatic DOOH this year. Compared to the international market, although the current adoption rate of programmatic DOOH in mainland China is relatively low, it has a faster growth rate. 

We’re looking forward to bringing prDOOH out of its infancy in China – and this new partnership is a great first step. We hope advertisers and media owners, both within China as well as overseas advertisers looking to better target audiences in Shanghai, will maximise this new opportunity to thrive in China.”

Maggie Zhang, General Manager at STDecaux said, “As the developer and operator of metro media, STDecaux is proud to now offer advertisers unmatched flexibility, data-driven media planning and optimisation across our digital out of home inventory via VIOOH. Our expertise in media development, operation, innovation and creativity continues to reinforce our position as the leader in metro advertising. We’re passionate about social responsibility and proud to work to achieve a safe, intelligent, sustainable and people-centred ecosystem across our metro media inventory.”

Automating the purchase of digital media based on impressions via programmatic buying and managing it in real-time offers brands high levels of flexibility and efficiency control for advertisers. prDOOH also allows advertisers access to new metrics, the use of audience and targeting data and easy integration with other media channels at the point of purchase. It is anticipated that programmatic buying will revolutionise the DOOH landscape in China, enabling advertisers to communicate more flexibly and effectively, and deliver more targeted and therefore more relevant messages to consumers.

VIOOH’s recent State of the Nation report also showed that media professionals in China who plan to increase their budget for programmatic DOOH, plan to do so because over half (53%) said it has high precision and can match target audiences, as well as  ensure brand safety (50%), while also being an integral part of the media mix (47%). In addition, 42% of professionals surveyed stated that programmatic DOOH has excellent measurement and attribution possibilities and can match target scenarios offline.

Among the media professionals in China who have placed DOOH in 2022, 60% believed it was crucial for performance conversion, and 48% believed it was crucial for brand communication. When planning a campaign, half of the media professionals stated that they would include programmatic DOOH during the early stages of the campaign planning process, including while deciding the overall campaign strategy and objectives (34%), and while planning the media and allocating the budget (24%). In 2022, advertising budgets skewed towards performance spend (48%), and this is expected to continue into 2023 (56%).

More digital OOH inventory from VIOOH is due to be announced in 2024. 

-Ends-

About VIOOH

VIOOH is a leading premium global digital out of home supply-side platform.

Launched in 2018 and with headquarters in London, VIOOH’s platform connects buyers and sellers in a premium marketplace, making OOH easily accessible.

Led by a team of digital OOH and programmatic tech experts, VIOOH is pioneering the transformation of the OOH sector, championing its role in enhancing omni-channel digital campaigns through the use of programmatic capabilities and data. VIOOH currently trades programmatically in 22 markets, with more to follow. 

For more information about VIOOH, please visit www.viooh.com or follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn. 

About STDecaux

STDecaux（Shanghai JCDecaux Shentong Metro Advertising Co., Ltd) is a Joint Venture between Shanghai Shentong Metro Group and JCDecaux Group. STDecaux currently operates 19 lines of Shanghai Metro media, including line 1-18 and Pujiang line, with 503 stations and more than 15,000 advertising panels.

After the opening of lines 14 and 18 at the end of 2021, with an average of 11 million passengers commuting every day and the operating mileage of more than 800 kilometers, Shanghai Metro became the number one metro system worldwide.

To match the operating mileage of world-class scale, the partnership aims to continue delivering the highest international standards of metro advertising and world-class media management to Shanghai Metro, bring international advertising services and vision to the brand, promote the digitalization and development of outdoor advertising, and create high-quality metro advertising spaces.