OOH & Place-Based Advertising Glossary | PlaceBased Media
The Place-Based & OOH Advertising Glossary
Out-of-home advertising has its own vocabulary — some of it borrowed from digital, some of it unique to physical media, and much of it used inconsistently across the industry. This glossary defines the terms that matter for planning, buying, and measuring place-based and out-of-home campaigns, written for media planners, public health communicators, brand marketers, and anyone new to the category.
Each term links to a full definition with current 2026 context. We add and update terms regularly.
Core concepts
Place-based advertising (https://placebased.media/glossary/place-based-advertising) — Media placed inside specific physical venues where target audiences gather.
OOH (https://placebased.media/glossary/ooh) — The umbrella category for all advertising reaching audiences outside the home.
DOOH (https://placebased.media/glossary/dooh) — Digital, screen-based out-of-home advertising.
Point-of-care advertising (https://placebased.media/glossary/point-of-care-advertising) — Media placed in healthcare settings like clinics and pharmacies.
Programmatic OOH (https://placebased.media/glossary/programmatic-ooh) — Automated, data-driven buying of out-of-home inventory.
Programmatic DOOH (pDOOH) (https://placebased.media/glossary/programmatic-dooh) — Programmatic buying applied specifically to digital OOH screens.
CPM (https://placebased.media/glossary/cpm) — The cost to reach one thousand impressions.
Impressions (in OOH) (https://placebased.media/glossary/impressions-ooh) — How out-of-home counts audience exposure.
Dwell time (https://placebased.media/glossary/dwell-time) — How long an audience spends in a venue where an ad appears.
Reach and frequency (https://placebased.media/glossary/reach-frequency) — How many people see an ad, and how often.
For the full category overview, start with our pillar guide: What is Place-Based Advertising? (https://placebased.media/blog/what-is-place-based-advertising-guide)
What Is CPM in Advertising? Definition | PlaceBased Media
CPM is the cost to deliver one thousand advertising impressions — the standard way OOH and digital campaigns are priced and compared.
Reach and Frequency in Advertising: Definition | PlaceBased
Reach and frequency are the two core planning metrics of any campaign: reach counts unique people exposed, frequency counts how many times each is exposed.
What Is Dwell Time in Advertising? Definition | PlaceBased
Dwell time is the length of time an audience spends in a venue or location where an ad is placed — a key driver of attention and recall in place-based media.
What Are Impressions in OOH? Definition | PlaceBased Media
In out-of-home advertising, an impression represents one likely visual exposure to an ad, derived from measured audience traffic rather than a digital click or load.
What Is Programmatic DOOH (pDOOH)? Definition | PlaceBased
Programmatic DOOH (pDOOH) is the automated buying of digital out-of-home screens through DSPs, enabling audience targeting, dayparting, and dynamic creative.
What Is Programmatic OOH? Definition | PlaceBased Media
Programmatic OOH is the automated buying and serving of out-of-home inventory through software platforms, using audience data instead of manual, one-off insertion orders.
What Is Point-of-Care Advertising? Definition | PlaceBased
Point-of-care advertising is place-based media inside healthcare venues, reaching patients and caregivers at the moment they are focused on health decisions.
What Is Place-Based Advertising? Definition | PlaceBased
Place-based advertising is a subset of out-of-home media placed inside the specific venues where a target audience gathers, defined by where the audience is rather than how they travel.
What Is OOH Advertising? Out-of-Home Definition | PlaceBased
Out-of-home (OOH) advertising is the umbrella category for all media that reaches audiences outside their homes, from billboards to place-based venue media.
What is DOOH? Digital OOH Definition | PlaceBased
Digital out-of-home (DOOH) is the screen-based, programmable form of OOH advertising that allows creative rotation, dayparting, and richer measurement than static media.