What is DOOH and how SMEs and local media can benefit from it?

T-ONE | Blog
Monday,22 December 2025

What is DOOH and how SMEs and local media can benefit from it?

What is DOOH and how to use it for your local business?

Discover what DOOH is and how SMEs and local media can use digital screens to increase revenue or attract customers. Clear, practical guide.

Introduction

If you run an SME or manage a local OOH asset, you probably see digital screens all over your city:

  • street totems,

  • screens in shopping centres,

  • digital bus shelters,

  • monitors in pharmacies or gyms.

And you might be thinking that DOOH is:

  • “only for big brands”,

  • too complex or too expensive,

  • or something that has nothing to do with your day-to-day reality.

The truth in Spain and Latin America is quite different:
DOOH has become more accessible, flexible and local than ever.

The key is not just having screens, but connecting that inventory with the right demand in a smart way.

What is DOOH (and why it’s growing)?

DOOH stands for Digital Out of Home: advertising on digital screens located in public or semi-public spaces.

Typical examples:

  • LED screens on streets and avenues,

  • screens in shopping centres,

  • digital mupis and bus shelters,

  • screens in gyms, pharmacies or office buildings,

  • digital formats in stations, airports or car parks.

Unlike traditional OOH (static billboards, posters, vinyls), DOOH allows you to:

  • change creatives almost instantly,

  • adapt messages by time of day, weather or events,

  • connect with digital campaigns to boost awareness or response.

In other words, it combines the best of being physically present in the real world with the flexibility of digital.

The opportunity for local media owners and OOH operators

Historically, many local OOH owners have lived in a kind of commercial invisibility:

  • if a brand didn’t know your screen existed, they simply didn’t buy it;

  • sales depended on calls, contacts and manual outreach;

  • you were limited to whoever was in your personal network.

DOOH changes the game because:

  • screens can be integrated into global platforms,

  • advertisers are no longer looking only for “big national networks”, but for specific contexts,

  • SMEs now need immediate local visibility close to their points of sale.

For a local media owner, this means moving from selling “when someone happens to find you” to being always discoverable for relevant campaigns.

Monetising your digital screens better

Connecting your DOOH inventory to an intelligent commercial management platform like T-One allows you to:

  • Be visible to advertisers of all sizes (SMEs, regional brands, national campaigns).

  • Receive campaigns automatically based on location, context and relevance.

  • Reduce dependence on a large local sales team to keep your inventory sold.

  • Manage pricing, availability and reporting from a single environment, with clear data.

  • Build your reputation as a partner, not just as “a screen in a long list”.

Your screens stop being a “local product that’s hard to scale” and become connected assets in the global advertising market, competing on quality and context.

How SMEs can use DOOH to compete better?

For an SME, DOOH opens up a possibility that until recently was almost unthinkable:

advertising on screens located within a few hundred metres of their business,
in the exact routes their customers take every day.

Some examples:

  • A hair salon appearing on the corner screen where its clients walk by.

  • A dental clinic showing up on the DOOH of the main avenue leading to the practice.

  • A restaurant impacting people coming out of the nearby cinema or gym.

Key advantages:

  • High visual impact: the screen has physical presence in the real world.

  • Presence where the customer actually is, not just where they scroll.

  • Flexibility: you can buy a few hours, a few days or specific time windows.

  • It’s the perfect complement to your Google and social campaigns.

Instead of asking “Google or DOOH?”, the real question is:

“How can DOOH reinforce what I’m already doing in digital?”

DOOH as an alternative and complement to Google/Meta

Most SMEs end up spending 80–90% of their budget on Google/Meta because:

  • it’s easy,

  • it’s fast,

  • and it’s what they already know.

The issue is not using Google/Meta.
The issue is depending only on them.

DOOH offers something the big digital platforms simply cannot replicate:

  • Physical visibility, impossible to adblock.

  • Stronger brand recall thanks to scale and presence.

  • Local relevance when you choose your locations strategically.

  • Often more affordable pricing than people think, especially on neighbourhood screens.

Allocating 20–30% of your budget to local OOH/DOOH can improve digital performance through the halo effect: people see you in the street and then recognise you on their phone.

T-One’s role in DOOH activation

T-One is a global intelligent commercial management platform that connects DOOH inventory and advertisers in a transparent environment.

From T-One, an SME can:

  • See available screens in its area, with real prices and locations.

  • Activate DOOH campaigns locally without complex manual negotiations.

  • Combine DOOH with other channels (radio, digital, local media) in a single multichannel plan.

And for media owners:

  • Monetise inventory automatically, with visibility to a much larger demand pool.

  • Be discovered by agencies and advertisers who would never have found them otherwise.

  • Manage all their inventory, conditions and commercial relationships from one place.

  • Build a track record and partner rating based on real performance and behaviour.

T-One’s goal is to make DOOH reachable for SMEs and scalable for local media owners, under a model of transparency and meritocracy.

What to do next?

If you’re a media owner or DOOH operator

  • Map all your DOOH assets: locations, formats, footfall, typical contexts.

  • Review how you’re selling them today: who has access, under what conditions, with how much visibility.

  • Connect your inventory to a platform that gives you global visibility, transparent pricing and control over your commercial rules.

  • Start tracking not just occupancy, but also your behaviour as a partner (delivery, reporting, reliability).

If you’re an SME or local advertiser

  • Locate the DOOH screens that already exist near your business or your audience’s key routes.

  • Test short campaigns (7–14 days) with simple, direct creatives:

    • clear message,

    • strong call to action,

    • easy-to-remember URL or brand.

  • Combine DOOH with your digital campaigns to maximise presence:

    • people see you on the street,

    • then find you again in search or social.

  • Use a platform like T-One to manage this without adding extra complexity to your daily operations.

DOOH is no longer reserved for big brands with big budgets.

With T-One, both local media owners and SMEs can participate in the same market:

  • media owners monetising their digital screens better,

  • SMEs showing up exactly where their customers live, move and decide.

Discover how T-One connects local DOOH screens with advertisers of any size and lets you activate campaigns in minutes, with transparency, control and a truly local impact.