While technological innovation is widely regarded as an important driver of change in the advertising business, assessing the likely impact of new technologies is difficult and often confusing. At a minimum, evaluation of developments requires a sound understanding of the communications system in question and the role of various technologies within it.
The out-of-home channel encompasses an array of media that exploit the presence of people in public places to deliver commercial messages, often leveraging the physical and social contours of the environments in which these messages are received.
Until late in the 20th century, static signs of various sizes and formats were the most prevalent of these. While storefronts and other forms of on-premise signage have long been used by businesses to promote the services or products they sell, the out-of-home media industry emerged to offer them opportunities to advertise on signs away from their places of business. These media functioned primarily as a one-to-many broadcast channel, leveraging people’s habitual movements and behaviors in order to provide recurrent delivery of messages to large audiences. Such “outdoor media” was treated separately from other channels that reach audiences outside of the home — like radio — for a variety of reasons which included different suppliers, communications formats, and business interests.
Out-of-home is regarded as the oldest advertising medium, but this back-handed compliment can conceal technological ageism. It is true that the basic value proposition of the channel has changed little over time. Certainly its technological backbone has been not been as directly affected as others (e.g. radio, television or print) by the brazen paradigm shift provoked by online media. However, the panoply of technological innovations that has contributed to the evolution of the channel should not be ignored. For instance, the use of illumination (whether neon, front- or back-lighting) is as much a symbol of progress in out-of-home media as it is of the growth of modern urban centers. Over time, hand-painted signs were replaced by materials printed at mass scale, which over time became cheaper and more durable. As new transportation technologies emerged, audiences came to constitute themselves in novel ways – first as rail commuters, then as automobile passengers and air travelers. More recently, digital displays have introduced sound and motion to out-of-home communications.
Today, developments in mobile computing, audience measurement, digital media trading and myriad other domains shape the channel and the human behaviors that underpin it in important ways. The conceptual framework that follows charts five ways in which technological innovations impact the architecture of out-of-home communications. While each is distinct, these categories are interrelated and many innovations have implications that span more than one of them. In order to be comprehensive, the framework is somewhat abstract; references to technologies past, current and forthcoming are thus interspersed throughout.
Message Conveyance
Significance
Technological innovation has its most visible impact on the out-of-home channel in the figurative “last mile” of the communications process — the point at which messages are conveyed to their audiences in the form of visual (and sometimes audio) content. The technologies involved in the conveyance of messages define where, when and how people receive information in out-of-home environments.
Context
Out-of-home media formats have evolved and diversified over time; simple paper-and-paste posters are now used alongside vinyl roadside bulletins and digital display systems. Recent technological advances have driven down the cost of digital screens and facilitated their deployment in new contexts, expanding the communicational capabilities of the channel. Static media formats have advanced as well through improvements in printing, materials and lighting.
Innovation
The digital display industry is well capitalized and supports substantial, ongoing investment in basic research and product development. At present, advances are propelled by robust demand for the high quality, energy-efficient, small form factor displays used in mobile devices. While the size of the digital signage market is insufficient to drive the research agendas of major display manufacturers, the sector is nonetheless the beneficiary of innovations developed for other industries.
Message Distribution
Significance
The delivery of communicational assets (whether images, video or sound) to an out-of-home medium involves a number of processes. Distribution networks — physical, virtual or a combination of both — chart a path for these assets from advertiser to audience that originates with design and production and ends with conveyance to an out-of-home audience.
Context
Innovation in the distribution of messages promises to improve the efficiency of these processes and grant advertisers greater control over the delivery of content to media. Where the required communicational assets take physical form, that content is printed, shipped, posted and eventually removed from the panels on which they appear. Where these assets are digitally transmitted, they are typically distributed over Internet-Protocol (IP) networks using web-based content-management systems which can also play a role in configuring, scheduling and tracking them.
Innovation
The use of digital assets in conjunction with content-management systems (CMS) allows for greater flexibility and efficiency in the trafficking of content. As distribution costs approach zero, media owners are able to sell inventory in smaller increments and more easily coordinate it at scale; they can allow their customers to specify the times when their advertisements appear, vary the locations where they run, and update content repeatedly during the course of a campaign.
Observation
Significance
The value of media to advertisers is contingent on an ability to reach audiences and influence their behavior. Systematic observation is key to substantiating this value. However, the spatially diffuse media and diverse audience contexts of the out-of-home channel have proven a challenge, and available metrics are viewed as inadequate in many markets.
Context
Historically, out-of-home audience metrics have focused on manually tallying the people residing in and passing through environments in which media are situated and extrapolating results. Mobility patterns derived from data sources such as roadway sensors form the foundation of large-scale audience measurement currencies for roadside media. To facilitate targeting, cataloging the composition of audiences has received some emphasis. Monitoring and predicting dynamics in audience size or make-up is relatively unsophisticated, as are benchmarks of audience engagement or action as a result of exposure.
Innovation
While leveraging the potential of “big data” is a priority in many industries, the sophisticated analytics made possible by advances in data mining and cloud computing have yet to significantly impact the out-of-home sector. Effective utilization of newly available audience data, however, could yield fresh insight into out-of-home audiences and shift advertisers’ perceptions of the channel’s accountability. While new approaches to audience observation such as anonymous video analytics involve dedicated instrumentation, others make use of existing sensor infrastructure, like that of personal mobile devices, in new ways.
Audience Agency
Significance
The out-of-home sector has generally regarded its audiences as passive recipients of messages, offering few opportunities for them to exercise agency by influencing the communications process. Such influence may take the form of audience interaction with media or of content shifting in response to the characteristics or behaviors of the audience. Though the impact of responsive and interactive technologies has been limited to date, their potential to yield deepened audience engagement deserves attention.
Context
Printed calls-to-action exhorting passersby to dial telephone numbers represent an early but prominent example of interactivity in out-of-home communications. The impact of the web’s emergence as a mass communications channel has rippled through the media ecosystem, prompting explorations of the possibilities for interactivity in an array of channels. Today, personal mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets provide an important platform for audience interaction outside of the home, allowing people to engage with advertisements by scanning a visual code or touching an NFC tag. Digital screens installed in public spaces that respond to touch or gesture offer another.
Innovation
New computer interfaces are being developed to deliver simpler and more intuitive user experiences. Advances in gesture and voice recognition technologies enable increasingly sophisticated interfaces utilizing these inputs. Technologies like anonymous video analytics create opportunities for subtler forms of interaction; some digital screens can now identify the gender composition of their audiences, for instance, and adjust content accordingly.
Environment
Significance
Place provides the primary contextual frame for advertising messages received in and through out-of-home environments. To exploit the communicational value of the out-of-home channel, media owners and marketers must understand and respond to the characteristics of the places in which these media are deployed.
Context
The impact of technology upon the built environment is plainly evident in the skyscrapers, highways and underground rail networks that characterize modern cities. The close relationship between out-of-home media and the urban environment is reflected in the diversity of formats found there — digital screens in elevators, street furniture in public spaces, large billboards along roadways and smaller posters in transit systems.
Innovation
Technological advances in engineering and architecture have profound effects upon out-of-home environments, but usually only over the long-term. More immediate impacts are often the result of changes in thinking about how public spaces and transport networks should be configured. For example, shifting attitudes on the roles automobiles, bicycles, and pedestrians have in dense urban environments can lead to infrastructural changes that reshape how people move through cities and affect the media to which they are exposed as they do so。
技术革新常被认为是改变广告传媒行业的重要助推力，然而衡量每个新技术对广告行业的影响力总是困难的、甚至是令人懊恼的。至少，评估人员需要很了解传播系统和其它相关的技术才能做好这项技术评估工作。
户外就如同一个囊括各类媒体形式的传播渠道，在户外领域有效地接触到受众，并向他们传递广告信息。所以，在户外领域中的技术评估就需要从物理、虚拟两个方面来进行评估，评估信息在物理、虚拟环境中被传输、接收的情况。

直到20世纪末，各种尺寸、形式的固态标牌是当时主流的户外媒体形式。安装在临街面等其他建筑物上的标牌就早被用于推销商家的产品与服务，户外媒体则帮助商家脱离商店本身来进行广告宣传。一开始，户外只是一个“一对多”的传播渠道，通过衡量人们的生活轨迹和习惯，从而周而复始地向受众群传递信息。这样的户外与其他传播模式（如广播）能明显地区分开来，因为它们存在不同的器材商、传播模式和商业利益。

户外媒体是最古老的媒体形式，但是具有讽刺意味的“恭维”却透露出户外被其它新媒体形式所排挤的现实。的确如此，随着时间的推移，户外基础性的价值主张改变甚少，但是它的技术支撑没有像广播、电视、印刷媒体那样，受到在线媒体引发的范式转移所带来的直接影响。但是，不可否认的是，技术革新对于户外变革的影响是不容忽视的。例如照明技术的进步，不管是霓虹灯、前置灯还是后置灯数量的增加都是户外进步的例子。多亏于印刷大牌的经济性和耐用性，渐渐地，印刷大牌开始大规模地取代了手绘大牌。随着新型交通技术的进步，受众选择新的方式外出，从轨道交通、自驾车到航空，不一而足。近来，越来越多的数字显示屏为户外带来了声像、动态的新传播模式。

如今，移动计算、受众测量、数字媒体交易平台以及其它技术的进步都重塑了户外行业。其中，受众行为的改变是最大的影响因素。以下，我们将介绍5个方面的技术革新，它们都深刻地影响了户外传播模式。虽然每个方面内容都大相径庭，但是从某种方面来讲，它们又都是相互联系的，某一方面的革新技术能在其他方面得到应用。为了使内容完整呈现，整个架构的内容可能会有点抽象。并且，我们会对过去、现在、将来的相关技术在此文章中进行介绍。

信息传输
意义
技术革新带给户外最明显影响的地方，就在传播环节中所谓的“最后一公里”，即信息以视频、声频内容方式传递给受众的终端。其中的技术则在某种程度上定义了户外受众在哪、在什么时候、怎样来接受这些信息。

内容
户外媒体形式变得越来越多样化，传统的纸质海报被乙烯基海报、甚至被数字显示屏所取代。如今的技术进步能把数字屏的价格降到很低，大大方便了部署、更新显示屏的工作并能扩大户外媒体的传播能力。当然，随着印刷、材料、照明技术的进步，一些固态媒体形式也有了不少进步。

革新
数字显示屏行业拥有良好的资金运作，并投入了大量资金于基础研究和产品开发上。如今，移动设备对高质量、高能效小型显示屏的需求强劲，这也推动了数字户外的发展。虽然数字标牌市场规模还不能满足显示屏生产商的研究计划预算，但是其它行业的这类技术进步无疑为本行业也带来了益处。

信息分发
意义
把信息(图片、视频、声频)传输到户外媒体终端包括多个流程。分发网络（包括物理、虚拟或者两者相结合的意义层面）需要描绘出一条从广告主到受众的传输路线图，从设计与制作开始，以信息传递给户外受众为结束。

内容
在信息分配方面的技术革新能大大提高信息传输过程的效率，赋予广告主控制信息内容传输的能力。从物理层面来看，信息分配是指信息内容被印刷、运输、粘贴、更换的整个过程；从虚拟的层面来看，信息分配就是指基于网络内容管理系统，信息通过IP网络虚拟地进行传输的过程，并且这些信息数据能被重塑、组织、追踪。

革新
有了内容管理系统（CMS）的帮助，对于信息内容的处理变得更加灵活、高效。随着信息分发成本降低到零，媒体主们能够更灵活地出售媒体资源并且更加容易地进行规模化运作。同时，他们能让客户设定广告出现的确切时间，变换广告出现的地点，不断地更新广告内容等。

监测
意义
对于广告主而言，户外媒体的价值在于能到达受众并能影响他们的行为。系统化的监测是媒体价值实体化的关键。但是，空间分散的媒体资源和多样的受众群给户外带来了不少挑战，同时受众测量标准也严重缺乏。

内容
在以前，户外受众测量主要是通过人工计算的方法，来记录停留和经过广告牌的人数，最后推断出相应结果。如今，基于路边的感应器，就能搜集到数据资源，得到人群流动模式，形成针对路边媒体的大规模受众测量货币。对于受众群体的定位、分析工作已得到业内的些许重视，对受众群的监控、预测受众规模与构成的动态数据都不再算是难事，就像从曝光率来推导受众参与、反应的基准数据一样。

革新
在许多行业里，应用大数据的潜力已变成了首要任务。由于数据采集、云技术的进步使得复杂的分析过程变得可操作，然而这些技术还未对户外行业带来很深刻的影响。有效地利用受众数据能给户外带来新的受众洞察，能改变广告主对户外有效性的认识。不记名视频分析技术就是一种新型受众测量技术的运用，它需要精细仪器设备的辅助。若与已有的感应设备、移动设备进行结合，它会呈现出新的模式形态。

信息分发
意义
在户外领域，受众一直被认为是被动的信息接收方。他们很少有机会来充当信息中介的角色，影响传播的流程——这种影响可能是以受众与媒体互动或者内容根据受众特点与行为来进行相应调整这样一种形式出现。虽然响应及交互式技术的影响目前还较为有限，但是它能深化受众参与的发展潜能值得我们的关注。

内容
以前的印刷广告上，若人们对于广告上的内容有兴趣就马上拨打电话，这就是一个很好的户外互动的例子。随着互联网逐渐变成一个大众传播渠道，整个媒体生态系统都泛起了涟漪，同时又促进了各媒体形式对于互动的关注与探索。如今，个人通讯设备如智能手机、平板电脑，为户外互动提供了很好的平台。人们可以通过扫描二维码、接触NFC标签来参与到广告互动中去。在公共空间中，人们与数字屏幕进行的互动也是类似的。

革新
研究人员开发出新型电脑界面来迎合受众更简化、更感官的用户体验，动作、声音识别技术的进步使得复杂的界面能更好地进行数据输入。不记名视频分析技术就是一个互动技术的好例子，其它一些数字屏幕还能识别受众的性别，从而相应地变换广告内容。

监测
意义
每个特定的环境都能给户外广告内容限定了一个基本的内容框架。为了利用好户外媒体的传播价值，媒体主以及相关营销者们必须理解特定环境的特征并做出相应的反应。

内容
技术革新对于固定环境的影响能明显地从高楼大厦、高速公路、地下轨道等处体现出来。同时，这些环境也体现出了某一现代城市的特征。户外媒体与城市环境的紧密关系还能从其它方面得以体现，例如：电梯里的数字屏幕、公共场所里的街道家具、路边的大型广告牌以及交通工具内的小型海报等等。

革新
建筑设计工艺技术的进步使得户外环境有了很大的变化，但是通常需要很长久的时间才会有效果。希望短暂就看到效果的就需要考虑公共场所、交通运输网络应该如何来配置。例如，在拥挤的城市环境中，人们关于汽车、自行车和步行的态度转变将直接导致公共设施的变化。相应地，人们的出行方式也会被重塑从而影响到媒体传播形式的改变。