Marketers are rightly obsessed with reach. Without it, campaigns cannot scale. Without scale, brands do not grow. But as the media landscape fragments and every channel claims a bigger piece of the pie, it is worth pausing to ask a vital question: is all reach created equal?

The short answer is no. A thousand exposures in one medium are not the same as a thousand exposures in another. Some touches skim the surface. Others sink in. Some are glances. Others are experiences.

That distinction matters at a time when out-of-home is pushing hard to position itself as a brand-building medium. Digital out-of-home (DOOH) in particular has been elevated with qualities it does not naturally possess. Yes, DOOH is bigger, brighter, and more dynamic than static billboards. It is visible, present, and increasingly sophisticated in its targeting. But there is a crucial difference between what DOOH can deliver and what video does best.

Put simply: DOOH is a powerful stage, but it is not a script.

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The unique power of video

Video is the only medium that combines sight, sound, and motion in a way that tells a story. A single image can catch the eye, but it cannot unfold. Only video has the ability to take viewers on a journey, to introduce a character, to build tension, to resolve into an emotional payoff.

Video is the only medium that combines sight, sound, and motion in a way that tells a story.

For decades, television has been the home of brand. Whether through linear TV or BVOD, moving pictures do not just show something, they make people feel something. And it is feeling that builds memory, and memory that builds brands.

This is not simply about entertainment. It is about effectiveness. Decades of evidence, from Binet & Field to System1, show that campaigns which generate strong emotion deliver the best long-term results. Those emotions are triggered most reliably through video, because moving images and sound tap into more of our senses, hold attention for longer, and create deeper memory structures.

A digital billboard can flash a message. A video can make you laugh, cry, hope, or feel understood. Those are not equal impressions.

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The role of digital out-of-home

To be clear, DOOH has real strengths. It delivers scale, ubiquity, and presence in public spaces. It ensures brands are seen in the flow of daily life. Its dynamism and targeting mean it is far more than a static billboard.

But we must be careful not to overstate its role. DOOH does not create brand stories. It reinforces them. It can remind people of a message they have already felt elsewhere. It can keep a brand present in the street once it has been introduced in the home.

DOOH does not create brand stories. It reinforces them.

The most effective use of DOOH is as an amplifier, to refresh, to echo, to strengthen the emotional memory structures already created through video. On its own, it is a surface touch. In partnership with video, it becomes powerful.

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Attention versus immersion

One of the hottest debates in marketing today is attention. How much of it are people really paying to our ads? And is a second of attention in one medium the same as a second in another?

It is here that the difference between DOOH and video becomes stark. DOOH commands glances. A commuter sees a screen for two seconds as the lights change. A shopper notices a digital billboard while walking past. It is attention, yes, but it is attention as contact.

Video commands immersion. Moving pictures with sound pull you in. They sustain you for longer. They do not just catch your eyes, they engage your emotions. That is attention that builds memory.

Video commands immersion. DOOH commands glances.

Again, both matter. But only one creates the foundation for brand building.

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Every medium has a role

This is not about pitting one medium against another. Every channel in the ecosystem has value. But value is not the same as equivalence.

• Video builds. It creates stories, emotions, and memories that last.
• DOOH amplifies. It extends presence, refreshes recall, and reinforces what has already been felt.

Trying to make DOOH carry the full weight of brand building is like asking a chorus to sing without a verse. It can be loud, but it cannot stand alone.

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The marketer’s choice

For marketers, the question is not whether to include DOOH in the mix. The question is what job are you asking it to do?

If you divert brand-building budgets away from video towards DOOH, you are changing the role of your media without recognising the consequences. You are moving from immersion to glance, from emotion to reminder, from story to slogan.

That does not mean DOOH has no place. On the contrary, its place is vital. But only when it follows video, only when it reinforces what has already been created in people’s minds and hearts.

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Holding the high ground

Television has always been the home of brand because it has always been the home of story. In today’s world, with BVOD adding flexibility, data, and on-demand convenience, that truth is stronger than ever.

The challenge for marketers is to recognise that not all impressions are equal. Not all reach is equal. Not all attention is equal.

Video and DOOH together can be powerful. But their roles are not interchangeable. Video creates, DOOH reminds. Video builds, DOOH amplifies. Video is the whole script. DOOH is the one-liner.

And when you are trying to build brands that last, the story always comes first.

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Closing thought

In the end, brand building is not about being seen. It is about being felt. It is about creating connections in people’s minds and memories that endure long after the ad has finished.

That is something only moving pictures and sound can do.

Digital out-of-home is a powerful stage. But the script, the story, the emotion, the memory, belongs to video.

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Sources

• Binet, L. & Field, P. The Long and the Short of It. IPA, 2013.
• System1 Research, The Creative Effectiveness Ladder (WARC, Cannes Lions, 2020).
• Thinkbox UK, The Age of Television: The Needs That Drive Us (2018).
• Ehrenberg-Bass Institute, How Brands Grow. Oxford University Press, 2010.
• Nielsen, The Science Behind What We See and Hear (2022).