Bauer Media Outdoor demonstrates the real impact of OOH at its 2027 Highlights event

At its annual Highlights event, Bauer Media Outdoor gathered clients, partners, and key industry stakeholders around a central question: What makes Out-of-Home truly impactful? To answer it, the media owner chose to make the audience experience it firsthand. Throughout the evening, as well as a few days prior in city streets and train stations, guests were exposed to an unfamiliar symbol discreetly integrated into various environments. Without any direct prompts, many guests had already noticed, recognized, and remembered it by the time it was officially revealed. As the common thread for this 2027 edition, the symbol illustrated the core fundamentals of OOH: being present in the physical world, capturing attention, being understood, remaining memorable, and driving lasting impact.

A strengthened network to be closer to audiences

One year after transitioning from Clear Channel to Bauer Media Outdoor, the media owner consolidates its position as an OOH specialist, backed by the strength of a European media group operating across 13 countries.

This momentum is highlighted by several major recognitions, including the Trends Gazelle 2026 award, the acquisition of Amscreen (rebranded as Outdoor Technic) to accelerate DOOH development, and a Red Dot Design Award 2026 for the design of street furniture installed at STIB/MIVB subway entrances and its seamless urban integration.

Bauer Media Outdoor is also expanding its footprint across Belgium. Following expansions in Ostend, Kortrijk, Brasschaat, and Kontich, the media owner announces the renewal of its partnerships with Waterloo and Ghent, alongside new developments in Blankenberge, Sint-Truiden, Aalst and Hove.

Driven by exclusive contracts, the company significantly bolsters its position in the northern part of the country. Its offering gains substantial power, covering 148 cities, with inventory up by 14% and a reach of 83%¹. Bauer Media Outdoor also solidifies its presence along the Belgian coast across 7 key towns (Blankenberge, Knokke, Koksijde, Nieuwpoort, Ostend, Middelkerke, Bredene), making its coastal presence indispensable.

In total, Bauer Media Outdoor won six major street furniture tenders this year. These wins represent an inventory of 2,600 faces, including 708 brand-new faces (548 classic paper panels and 160 digital screens). With the addition of eight new municipalities, Bauer Media Outdoor will expand its coverage to 287 cities by 2027.

The drivers of visibility

Their results confirm the importance of exposure time, environment, format, and motion in driving campaign visibility.

Train stations offer unique exposure conditions, generating 22% higher brand recognition compared to street-level environments².

Bauer Media Outdoor’s More O’Ferrall large format (36m²) demonstrates proven effectiveness, delivering an average 11,5% boost in brand awareness³. Its panoramic layout plays a key role in brand visibility, giving the logo or packshot a 48% higher probability of being seen first⁴.

DOOH confirms its ability to capture attention: the Pulse study conducted by Bauer Media Outdoor with Kantar shows that 78% of 18–54-year-olds notice it . Combined with print in a national campaign, DOOH delivers 8% incremental brand recognition⁶. For 100% DOOH campaigns, it directly enhances qualitative brand metrics, driving a 9% increase in brand distinctiveness⁷.

DOOH does not replace paper; it amplifies its overall impact.

Creativity as a condition for Impact

A campaign can benefit from the best location, format, reach, and frequency, but if its message is not understood within a few seconds, the opportunity is lost.

Driven by this logic, Bauer Media Outdoor places creativity at the core of its DNA. It comes to life through its internal creative agency, Urban Media, as well as its partnership with Phil Blondé, a renowned creative and passionate OOH enthusiast. Their shared ambition is to spark creativity and push its boundaries. The contests organized with Pizza Hut, Bic, and Harry Potter clearly demonstrate this momentum—with participation growing for every challenge, reaching over 100 submissions on average.

A unique national offering in the market

Thanks to its latest wins, Bauer Media Outdoor adds 160 screens to its DOOH portfolio, bringing its total inventory to over 1,300 screens—a 20% increase. Spread across 155 cities, the network will deliver a national reach of 57%⁸ among adults aged 18–54 by 2027.

It covers the entire Belgian territory: city streets, train stations, Thomas More university campuses, Colruyt retail proximity locations, and STIB/MIVB metro station entrances and exits in Brussels.

Since 2018, Bauer Media Outdoor’s DOOH inventory has grown tenfold, underlining the rapid rise of digital within OOH. UMA benchmark data confirms this trend: in 2025, 37% of OOH ad spend was already digital.

Bauer Media Outdoor achieves 53% reach among 18–54-year-old⁹ and now operates the most extensive network in the industry.

Powerful and flexible, its offering will be enhanced as early as April 2027 with the Digital Audience Packs Flex, allowing advertisers to activate guaranteed audiences nationwide over durations tailored to each campaign's specific needs—whether shorter or longer than seven days.

Starting January 2027, Bauer Media Outdoor will also launch pDOOH Guaranteed, combining the ease and flexibility of programmatic buying with the assurance of delivering exactly what was purchased. By the second quarter of the year, its DOOH inventory will become available on the Open Exchange, meeting the growing demand from other digital market players.

DOOH thus establishes itself as a powerful, flexible, and contextual driver, capable of delivering the right message, at the right time, in the right place.

Boosted solutions

Thanks to several major gains, particularly in the north of the country, Bauer Media Outdoor is strengthening its flagship gOOH! network and will launch gOOH! Max in April 2027.

Toward smarter targeting

To help advertisers reach the right audiences in the right locations, Bauer Media Outdoor continues to enrich People & Places, its targeting solution built on 12 years of development. In 2027, the tool will introduce new personas and a brand-new dimension called Expertise. Advertisers will now be able to target audiences based on their field of study or industry sector—ranging from finance students to active healthcare professionals—with an offering covering over 27 educational tracks and 29 different business sectors

A centralized and personalized client portal

Finally, the official launch of the halooh client portal gives Bauer Media Outdoor’s partners access to all the media owner's products and services, as well as a personalized space to retrieve all campaign data, pre- and post-test analyses, and dedicated insights.

“We have spent years making OOH smarter, more digital, more data-driven, more measurable, and more precise. And we will continue to do so. But all this sophistication ultimately serves one simple goal: creating real impact.” Jan De Moor, Managing Director de Bauer Media Outdoor Belgium

Taken individually, the fundamentals of OOH are levers. Together, they create impact.

‍

Sources:

¹CIM OOH R19b | BMOB full inventory 2027 |Estimated VACover north provinces T18-54, 7 days ​

²BMOB Cobra 2022-2026

³BMOB Cobra 2022-2026

⁴BMOB PaperScan

⁵BMOB x Kantar Pulse, 2024 - 18-54 yo

⁶BMOB Cobra 2022-2026

⁷mResponse

⁸BMOB DOOH Inventory2027 | simulation VACover National T18-54, 7 days

⁹BMOB DOOH Street Inventory 2027 | Simulation VACover T18-54, 7 days​

‍