New to billboards or out-of-home advertising? This glossary explains 71 of the most common OOH terms — from billboard sizes like bulletins and 30-sheet posters to buying and measurement terms like CPM, GRPs, impressions, and programmatic DOOH. Search below, jump to a letter, or tap a category to filter.
A
Added Value
📊 Buying & MeasurementExtra media a vendor includes at no additional cost when you book — such as bonus weeks, extra digital spots, or additional units. Also called a bonus.
Airport Advertising
🏬 Place-Based & VenueStatic and digital displays throughout airport terminals, concourses, baggage claim, and parking areas. Airport ads reach business and leisure travelers during long dwell times.
Artwork (Creative)
🎨 Production & CreativeThe finished ad design supplied for printing or on-screen display. Every ad unit has its own specs for dimensions, resolution, and file format. Don’t have artwork? BillboardsIn can design it for you.
B
Backlit Display
🎨 Production & CreativeA display illuminated from behind through a translucent printed face. Backlit displays are common on bus shelters, airport and mall displays, and subway platforms.
Billboard / Bulletin – Digital
💡 Digital & ProgrammaticA large LED screen that displays static ad messages in a rotating loop, typically shared by six to eight advertisers. Each message usually appears for six to ten seconds. Compare digital and traditional billboards.
Billboard / Bulletin – Standard
🛣️ BillboardsBillboards, or bulletins, are the largest and among the most impactful standard-sized outdoor media formats. They are located primarily on highways and other major roads. The standard bulletin size is 14′ x 48′.
Bleed
🎨 Production & CreativeExtra image area that extends past the visible edges of an ad so no blank borders show once it is installed. Vendors list the required bleed in their artwork specs.
Bus Bench Advertising
🚌 Transit & StreetAds on benches located at bus stops within urban areas, often at high-traffic intersections. They are primarily used to reach pedestrian and vehicular traffic within a market.
Bus Headlight Display
🚌 Transit & StreetAn exterior ad that appears on the front of a bus, usually under the windshield.
Bus Shelter Advertising
🚌 Transit & StreetAds on curbside structures located along bus routes. Shelters provide visibility to vehicle and pedestrian traffic at high-circulation locations, usually along main roadways, and are often backlit or digital.
Bus Tail Light Display
🚌 Transit & StreetAds placed on the rear of a bus. They primarily reach drivers traveling behind the bus, but can also be seen by pedestrians on busy urban streets.
Bus Wrap
🚌 Transit & StreetAn ad technique in which a bus is entirely covered in a full-color advertising design, creating a highly visible moving billboard.
C
Cinema Advertising
🏬 Place-Based & VenueAds that play on the big screen before the trailers and feature film in movie theaters, plus lobby and concession-area displays.
Connected TV (CTV) / Streaming TV Advertising
💡 Digital & ProgrammaticVideo ads that run on streaming services, such as Hulu, watched on smart TVs and streaming devices. CTV can be targeted by geography and audience, making it a natural complement to OOH.
Copy
🎨 Production & CreativeThe message or creative content of an ad. A copy change means swapping in new artwork during a campaign.
Cost Per Thousand (CPM)
📊 Buying & MeasurementThe cost of delivering 1,000 impressions. To calculate it, divide the total campaign cost by total impressions and multiply by 1,000. CPM makes it easy to compare the value of different OOH units — and to compare OOH with other media. Learn more about CPM.
Cross Read
🛣️ BillboardsA billboard on the left side of the road from the driver’s point of view, read across traffic. Compare right-hand read.
D
Daily Effective Circulation (DEC)
📊 Buying & MeasurementThe average number of people who pass an ad each day and have a reasonable opportunity to see it. DEC is the foundation for calculating impressions and GRPs.
Daypart
💡 Digital & ProgrammaticA segment of the day, such as morning drive time or evening. Digital OOH lets you schedule ads in only the dayparts that matter most to your audience.
Digital Out-of-Home (DOOH)
💡 Digital & ProgrammaticAny OOH unit that displays ads on a screen instead of printed material — digital billboards and screens in airports, malls, gyms, and gas stations. Because nothing is printed, DOOH has no production cost, and creative can be changed quickly.
Display Period
📊 Buying & MeasurementThe interval of time when an OOH advertising campaign is live, typically sold in 4-week increments.
Double Decker Bus Advertising
🚌 Transit & StreetDouble decker buses let advertisers reach high-profile locations and tourist attractions in top markets across the country. This mobile, large-format advertising sits at eye level for greater impact and higher frequency, and can be static or digital.
Dwell Time
📊 Buying & MeasurementHow long people typically spend near an ad — for example, while pumping gas, waiting for a train, or working out. Longer dwell time allows for more detailed copy.
E
Extension
🛣️ BillboardsA cut-out that extends beyond the rectangular frame of a billboard to add dimension and grab attention. Also called an embellishment.
F
Facing
🛣️ BillboardsThe cardinal direction an outdoor unit faces. For example, a north-facing billboard is viewed by vehicles traveling south. How to find which way a billboard faces.
Flight (Flighting)
📊 Buying & MeasurementA flight is a period when a campaign is running. Flighting means alternating active periods with breaks to stretch a budget across a longer timeframe.
Frequency
📊 Buying & MeasurementThe average number of times a person in the target audience sees an ad during a campaign. Reach multiplied by frequency equals GRPs.
G
Gas Station Advertising
🏬 Place-Based & VenueAds placed at gas stations — most commonly digital screens on fuel pumps, plus in-store displays. They reach drivers during several minutes of dwell time while they fill up.
Geofencing
💡 Digital & ProgrammaticDrawing a virtual boundary around a location, such as the area near a billboard, to serve mobile ads to people who pass through it. Often used to extend and measure an OOH campaign.
Geopath
📊 Buying & MeasurementThe independent, nonprofit organization that audits and measures out-of-home audiences in the U.S. (formerly the Traffic Audit Bureau). Geopath data provides impressions and audience demographics for OOH units.
Gross Rating Points (GRPs)
📊 Buying & MeasurementA measure of campaign weight. One rating point equals impressions totaling 1% of a market’s population. In OOH, GRPs are usually expressed daily — a 50 daily GRP showing delivers impressions equal to 50% of the market’s population each day.
Gym Advertising
🏬 Place-Based & VenueDigital screens and posters inside fitness centers, reaching a health-conscious audience during long workout sessions.
H
Hold
📊 Buying & MeasurementA temporary reservation of an ad unit while you finalize your campaign. Holds usually expire after a few days, and inventory can move fast. How long you have to decide.
I
Illumination
🛣️ BillboardsLighting on an outdoor unit that makes the ad visible at night, usually from dusk until midnight or later.
Impression
📊 Buying & MeasurementThe total number of times people are likely to notice an outdoor ad. OOH impressions are typically expressed per 4-week period.
Interior Bus Card
🚌 Transit & StreetAds positioned in frames above passenger seats to reach bus riders. Longer viewing time allows for more copy than standard posters, and regular riders mean high frequency.
Inventory
📊 Buying & MeasurementThe ad units a media vendor has available to sell in a given location and time period.
J
Junior Poster (8-Sheet)
🛣️ BillboardsJunior posters are located mainly in urban neighborhoods and on smaller roads, seen by drivers and pedestrians. Positioned just above eye level, they are free-standing or mounted on the sides of buildings. The viewable area is about 5′ x 11′.
K
King Size Bus Poster
🚌 Transit & StreetAn exterior bus ad that may appear on either side of the bus, typically 30″ x 144″.
Kiosk Advertising
🏬 Place-Based & VenueAds on free-standing information, telephone, or public-service kiosks. Formats vary by market and can be static or digital.
L
Line of Sight
🛣️ BillboardsThe area in which an outdoor ad is viewed. Often refers to other ads in the same viewing space, or nearby landmarks — such as schools or churches — that restrict allowable ad copy.
Loop
💡 Digital & ProgrammaticThe full rotation of ads on a digital screen before it repeats. For example, an 8-second ad in a 64-second loop plays about 1,350 times per day.
M
Media Vendor (Media Owner)
📊 Buying & MeasurementThe company that owns or operates OOH ad space and sells it to advertisers. Also called an operator.
Mobile Billboard
🚌 Transit & StreetA truck equipped with one or more ad panels that is parked at specific venues or driven around designated areas. Also called truckside or mobile truck advertising.
O
Out-of-Home (OOH) Advertising
📘 OOH BasicsAll media formats intended to reach consumers outside the home — billboards, transit, street furniture, place-based screens, and more. OOH reaches consumers no matter what their media consumption habits are.
Outdoor Advertising
📘 OOH BasicsAny ad that appears outside the home, including billboards, bus shelters, bus ads, rail ads, gas stations, taxi tops, airports, malls, movie theaters, and gyms. Often used interchangeably with OOH.
P
Place-Based Media
🏬 Place-Based & VenueOOH ads in venues where people spend time — gyms, airports, malls, bars, doctors’ offices, and campuses. Screen networks in these venues are called digital place-based (DPB) media.
Poster (30-Sheet)
🛣️ BillboardsPosters are located mainly in commercial and industrial areas on major local roads, seen by both drivers and pedestrians. The viewable area is about 10’5″ x 22’8″.
Posting Date
🎨 Production & CreativeThe date a campaign is scheduled to start. A five-day leeway for installation is customary.
Posting Instructions
🎨 Production & CreativeDirections sent to the media vendor specifying which artwork goes on which unit, and when.
Production Cost
🎨 Production & CreativeThe cost to print, ship, install, and remove a printed ad. On BillboardsIn, the listed price for static units includes production. What the listed price includes.
Programmatic DOOH
💡 Digital & ProgrammaticBuying digital out-of-home ads through automated, data-driven platforms (DSPs and SSPs) instead of manual negotiation. It lets advertisers target by time, location, and audience and adjust campaigns in near real time.
Proof of Performance (POP)
🎨 Production & CreativeDocumentation — usually photos for printed ads or play logs for digital — confirming your ad ran as booked.
Q
Queen Size Bus Poster
🚌 Transit & StreetAn exterior bus ad that usually appears on the curb side of the bus, typically 30″ x 88″.
R
Rail & Subway Advertising
🚌 Transit & StreetAds throughout subway and rapid transit systems, including printed and backlit posters on platforms and walkways, entrance displays, station clocks, and in-car signage.
Rate Card
📊 Buying & MeasurementA media vendor’s published price for an ad unit, usually quoted per 4-week period before any discounts.
Reach
📊 Buying & MeasurementThe percentage (or number) of people in a target market who see an ad at least once during a campaign.
Right-Hand Read
🛣️ BillboardsA billboard on the right side of the road from the driver’s point of view. It is the easiest to read without looking across traffic, so it is usually preferred.
Rotary Bulletin
🛣️ BillboardsA bulletin ad that moves to a new location in a market at set intervals, often every 30 to 60 days, to reach a wider audience over the campaign.
S
Shopping Mall Displays
🏬 Place-Based & VenueDisplays in high-traffic areas of malls — entrances, anchor stores, escalators, and food courts. Formats include kiosks, wall-mounts, digital screens, and free-standing displays, used to reach shoppers close to the point of purchase.
Spectacular
🛣️ BillboardsAn outdoor display that is usually larger than 14′ x 48′ and positioned at a prime location in a market, often with special lighting or embellishments.
Spot
💡 Digital & ProgrammaticA single ad slot within a digital loop, defined by its length — often 6 to 10 seconds.
Static Billboard
🛣️ BillboardsA traditional printed billboard that displays the same message around the clock. Also called a non-digital billboard. Digital vs. static billboards.
Street Furniture
🚌 Transit & StreetOOH ads on street-level structures such as bus shelters, benches, kiosks, and newsstands, placed close to pedestrians and drivers.
T
Taxi Top Advertising
🚌 Transit & StreetPrinted or digital panels on the roof of taxicabs, reaching people in retail and restaurant districts, near airports, hotels, convention centers, and sporting events. Taxi tops are typically sold to include both sides.
Tri-Vision
🛣️ BillboardsSimilar to a billboard or bulletin, but with a rotating, slatted face that displays three different ad messages.
U
Urban Panel
🚌 Transit & StreetAds positioned on top of subway entrances in large metropolitan cities.
V
Vinyl
🎨 Production & CreativeThe flexible, single-sheet material most billboard ads are printed on. The printed vinyl is stretched over the billboard face and secured to the frame.
W
Wallscape
🛣️ BillboardsSimilar to billboards, wallscapes are among the largest and most impactful outdoor formats, painted on or fastened to the sides of buildings.
Wild Posting
🚌 Transit & StreetGroups of repeated posters placed on construction walls, barricades, and other urban surfaces for a bold, grassroots look. Also called street posters.
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