Open Media today announced a programmatic partnership with VIOOH, connecting 42 premium LED screens across the United Kingdom to automated buyers for the first time. The deal, announced on 24 March 2026 from London, makes Open Media's inventory available through VIOOH's global supply-side platform - a system that, according to the press release, currently trades in 37 markets and connects to more than 50 demand-side platforms worldwide.

The 42 screens collectively generate more than 120 million monthly impressions. According to the announcement, that volume represents an estimated 1 to 2 percent share of the large-format digital out-of-home (DOOH) market in the United Kingdom. That is a modest figure in absolute market share terms, but one that brings Open Media's inventory into a programmatic ecosystem that has been accumulating new partners at a rapid pace.

What the screens cover

The network spans seven cities: London, Liverpool, Manchester, Birmingham, Newcastle, Brighton, and Belfast. According to the press release, sites include city centres, major shopping destinations, roadside placements, and key event spaces - environments that Open Media describes as offering strong dwell time and repeat exposure. Named locations include BOXPARK and Old Trafford, both of which carry cultural weight as venues with concentrated footfall and demographic relevance.

The screens support both static and full-motion campaigns. That distinction matters for programmatic buyers because full-motion DOOH inventory enables video-format creative to run in premium physical environments, combining the audience scale of out-of-home with the creative flexibility more commonly associated with digital video channels. Programmatic access means advertisers can schedule, target, and optimise these placements through the same demand-side platform workflows used for display, video, and connected television campaigns.

Anna Hunter, Data Strategy and Programmatic Manager at Open Media, said: "Our integration with VIOOH marks a significant step forward in making Open Media's premium inventory more accessible to programmatic buyers. From high-impact spectacular sites to culturally relevant environments like BOXPARK and Old Trafford, we are offering advertisers the opportunity to reach highly engaged audiences in moments that matter. Through VIOOH, brands can now tap into this inventory with greater flexibility and control, combining the power of OOH with the speed and precision of programmatic buying."

Gavin Wilson, Global Chief Commercial Officer at VIOOH, described Open Media's portfolio as representative of the UK DOOH market's strengths. "Open Media has assembled a portfolio that genuinely reflects the strength of what premium UK DOOH has to offer, with high-impact locations and the scale and audience diversity to support sophisticated campaign strategies," said Wilson. "Bringing this inventory into the programmatic marketplace strengthens the overall quality of inventory available to buyers on the VIOOH platform, and is a strong addition to our growing UK offering."

VIOOH's expanding UK footprint

This deal follows a run of UK integrations for VIOOH. In October 2025, VIOOH announced a partnership with London Lites, which added 49 premium LED screens across central London generating 74.5 million monthly impressions - representing 23 percent of the London roadside digital out-of-home market. Earlier, in July 2025, VIOOH integrated Outernet London's nine digital screens, generating more than 233 million monthly impressions and representing 2.5 percent of UK digital out-of-home market spend. The ECN and VIOOH partnership, announced in January 2025, further added 276 UK screens across 154 office buildings, delivering over 22 million monthly impressions.

The Open Media deal extends VIOOH's reach in the UK beyond London-centric inventory into regional cities. Liverpool, Manchester, and Newcastle represent significant urban populations that are underrepresented in the London-heavy profiles of many UK DOOH partnerships. Belfast adds a Northern Ireland dimension unusual among UK programmatic DOOH arrangements. For media planners managing national campaigns, the ability to activate regional inventory programmatically - without separate direct sales relationships in each market - addresses an operational friction point that has historically complicated multi-city outdoor planning.

The VIOOH platform

VIOOH launched in 2018 with headquarters in London, backed initially by JCDecaux, which held a 93.5 percent ownership stake alongside data specialist Veltys at 6.5 percent. The platform was designed from the outset to connect traditional outdoor media owners with digital buyers, enabling programmatic transactions through a supply-side infrastructure compatible with major demand-side platforms. According to the press release, VIOOH currently trades programmatically in 37 markets - up from 35 markets referenced in earlier announcements this year - and drives demand through connections with more than 50 DSPs globally.

The technical mechanics follow standard programmatic DOOH protocols. Advertisers bid on available impressions in real time, with campaign delivery optimised against audience and performance signals. Targeting parameters available through connected DSPs typically include environment type, geography, time of day, and audience data integrations. For large-format roadside and city-centre inventory like Open Media's, time-of-day scheduling carries relevance given predictable consumer movement patterns in retail and commuter-heavy zones.

According to VIOOH's 2026 State of the Nation report, covered by PPC Land this week, programmatic DOOH is forecast to feature in 48 percent of all campaigns globally within 18 months. Among recent buyers of programmatic DOOH, 99 percent expect to increase or maintain investment, and the average anticipated uplift stands at 44 percent over the next 18 months. That forecast figure is up from a 30 percent projected increase measured in 2024, indicating that expectations around channel growth have accelerated materially over two years. The UK sits within the report's core markets, where programmatic DOOH already featured in 34 percent of campaigns over the past 18 months.

Open Media's market position

Open Media is a UK out-of-home media owner with offices in London, Liverpool, and Manchester. According to the announcement, it holds the distinction of being the first B Corp-certified outdoor media owner in the United Kingdom and Europe, a credential that positions sustainability as central to its operational identity. The company has also been recognised as a Campaign Best Place to Work for three consecutive years and appeared in the 2025 Sunday Times Best Places to Work list.

The B Corp certification is notable in the context of a broader industry conversation around the environmental credentials of programmatic DOOH. VIOOH reported in November 2025 that its platform generates 0.041 grams of CO2e per ad impression, more than 20 times more carbon-efficient than programmatic display advertising at 0.84 grams CO2e per impression. The alignment between a B Corp-certified media owner and a platform that emphasises low-carbon programmatic delivery may prove relevant for brands with sustainability reporting requirements built into their media procurement criteria.

Global context

The Open Media deal is small in absolute scale relative to some of VIOOH's recent international integrations. In March 2026, VIOOH announced a strategic partnership with OUTFRONT Media, connecting more than 7,600 digital screens and 18 billion monthly impressions to its platform - representing approximately 25 percent of the entire US digital out-of-home market. The JCDecaux Ireland deal announced in February 2026 opened 32 percent of the Irish digital out-of-home market through 288 screens generating 311 million monthly viewable impressions.

By comparison, Open Media's 42 screens and 120 million monthly impressions represent a different proposition - not market-coverage breadth, but curated premium inventory in specific high-value environments distributed across the UK's national geography. The contrast illustrates how VIOOH's supply-side strategy accommodates both scale-oriented integrations and boutique, premium-format inventories within the same platform infrastructure.

UK digital advertising spend reached £18.7 billion in the first half of 2025, according to the IAB UK HY 2025 Digital Adspend Report, with Digital Out-of-Home delivering £490 million in that period. The broader market trajectory - with UK total digital advertising forecast to reach £45 billion by 2026 - provides the commercial backdrop against which programmatic DOOH partnerships are continuing to multiply.

Why this matters for marketing professionals

For media buyers and campaign planners, the practical implication is access. Open Media's inventory - which had previously required direct sales engagement - can now be activated through existing programmatic workflows. A campaign already running across digital display, video, or connected television can incorporate Open Media's UK screens without a separate insertion order or manual booking process. The 42 screens are distributed across seven geographically distinct markets, making the inventory operationally useful for national campaigns that require regional representation beyond London.

The emphasis on real-time optimisation in the press release reflects a broader shift in how DOOH is positioned relative to digital channels. Where traditional outdoor buying required advance commitment to specific locations and time periods, programmatic access enables mid-flight adjustments based on audience data, weather signals, or competitive context - capabilities that have become standard expectations in digital media management but are relatively new to out-of-home.

Open Media's portfolio includes what the announcement describes as "spectacular" sites - large-format premium placements that carry visual impact disproportionate to impression count. Those environments, combined with the ability to activate them programmatically through VIOOH's 50-plus DSP connections, position the inventory for inclusion in upper-funnel brand campaigns where contextual prestige matters alongside pure reach metrics.

Timeline

Summary

Who: Open Media, the UK's first B Corp-certified outdoor media owner, and VIOOH, a London-headquartered global digital out-of-home supply-side platform launched in 2018.

What: A programmatic partnership making 42 premium LED screens in the UK available through VIOOH's platform, generating more than 120 million monthly impressions. The inventory represents an estimated 1 to 2 percent of the UK large-format digital out-of-home market and supports both static and full-motion campaign formats.

When: Announced today, 24 March 2026, from London.

Where: The screens are located across seven UK cities - London, Liverpool, Manchester, Birmingham, Newcastle, Brighton, and Belfast - covering city centres, shopping destinations, roadside placements, and event spaces including BOXPARK and Old Trafford.

Why: The partnership extends programmatic access to Open Media's premium inventory, allowing advertisers to activate and optimise placements through existing demand-side platform workflows without direct sales engagement. For VIOOH, the deal adds curated premium UK inventory - including regional cities beyond London - to a platform that has been rapidly expanding its global supply base throughout 2025 and into 2026.

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