A new survey found B2B marketers are undervaluing Out-of-Home (OOH) advertising despite a significant portion of companies secretly using it as trackable growth engine.
The study, The State of B2B Out-of-Home Advertising Adoption, conducted by OneScreen.ai and B2B research platform Wynter, spotlights a $50 billion blind spot that is letting more aggressive peers gain a critical advantage.
The primary reason B2B marketers avoid OOH is rooted in outdated perceptions about tracking and capability— 77% of marketers cited a lack of measurement as their main concern, while 57% had previously ruled out the channel because they doubted it would reach their Ideal Customer Profile (ICP).
OneScreen’s Wise
This skepticism persists despite 52% of marketers believing OOH can reach their ICP effectively, a conflicted view that underscores the need for better education, observed Greg Wise, Co-Founder and Chief Customer Officer at OneScreen.ai.
“The biggest barrier isn’t the channel, it’s the outdated thinking holding marketers back,” said Wise in a statement. “Modern OOH is a mix of programmatic formats that can be measured and are highly targetable.”
Who is Using OOH?
The study found that 46% of all B2B companies are already using OOH with adoption strongest among mid-market firms (201–5,000 employees).
OneScreen.ai officials argue this barrier is obsolete as modern adtech allows OOH to be tied directly to digital performance— companies using these methods are reporting over 90% ROI satisfaction. Brands actively using OOH are tracking lift in branded search volume in exposed markets; spikes in web traffic following campaign runs; and pipeline acceleration for specific target accounts.
The knowledge gap is stark: 77% of marketers admit they’d need agency support or a platform to execute an OOH campaign, suggesting the problem is a lack of expertise, not a lack of opportunity.
Cost and Adoption Reality
Despite the perception that OOH is reserved for Fortune 500 budgets, 53% of marketers believing OOH is prohibitively expensive despite data indicates the opposite.
Growth-stage companies are strategically blending formats, such as digital transit ads and event-proximate placements, to signal market leadership without requiring massive spending. Companies with higher allocations to brand awareness (30% or more of their budget) are significantly more likely to be OOH adopters.
The most successful B2B marketers are treating OOH not as a standalone channel, but as a force multiplier that amplifies existing campaigns, especially events. Forty two percent of marketers expressed a desire to use OOH to “swarm events”— placing ads in airports, hotels, and transit hubs to dominate the conversation around a major conference.
Additionally, OOH is increasingly being used to drive users offline to online. By using unique URLs or geo-targeting, the channel builds physical-world awareness first, making subsequent digital retargeting and demand generation efforts significantly more effective.
Path Forward
The appetite for OOH is high, with 70% of skeptical marketers saying they would adopt it if they knew how to measure its impact.
The report offers a forward for B2B marketers and the agencies that support them—Prioritize Education to move past measurement anxiety by establishing frameworks to track OOH’s impact on branded search and web traffic; use major industry events as targeted, measurable pilot programs; and invest in differentiation to create bold, unique B2B advertising that avoids the “sea of sameness.”
For the full The State of B2B Out-of-Home Advertising Adoption report, click here.
