GroupM, WPP’s media investment group, has released findings of the Sightline Global Digital Out-of-Home (DOOH) survey on perceptions of DOOH advertising.

The study found that DOOH campaigns drive direct action by consumers. The data reveals that half of global audiences who have seen DOOH ads say they encouraged them to make a purchase “there and then.” DOOH ads also encourage them to search for more information online.

When asked to cite the most surprising findings, Oli Ford, managing partner Kinetic, a GroupM sister company, said the “impact on spontaneous purchases” and other things. “It’s encouraging that the data reinforces several things we understand as truth” such as being “trustworthy and memorable,” which is not necessarily how the industry has thought about the media, he said.

It turns out that survey participants cited DOOH as the top media that prompted them to take action in search. Using a baseline for search and, with the inclusion of out of home and specific search term, product or brands, the group saw an increase in the baseline as a direct result of seeing a DOOH ad.

Conducted by research specialist Kantar on behalf of Sightline, the advanced DOOH solution owned by media investment company GroupM, the new study surveyed the views of 11,000 people in 11 major global markets on a variety of different advertising channels, including DOOH, to assess how this form of advertising is perceived compared with other on and offline formats.

The goal: to discover more about how consumers in global markets perceive digital outdoor ads and to provide new insights into the role they might play in advertisers’ media plans.

Respondents who saw or heard each ad format in the last month were asked which attributes applied to the format. Some 28% who saw DOOH ads in the last month were most likely to say the media was the most innovative format, second only to cinema-goers in terms of associating the format with having the most creative ads.

Consumers overwhelmingly find DOOH ads to be current, interesting, and humorous. DOOH, they say, connects to social media channels, encourages them to search, and inspires interaction. About 37% cited the channel as featuring ads are “entertaining.”

The data also shows that DOOH outperforms other media channels, including TV, social media, and online videos, in creating a lasting impression on consumers, about 50% more memorable than social media.

When live data such as temperature or pollan data is used on DOOH ads, Ford said actions and interest rise. Location data like in an airport on DOOH ads increases the trustworthiness of brands, said Akama Davies, global practice lead for digital OOH at Xaxis.

Two-thirds of those seeing DOOH ads agreed said they “become part of the location” atmosphere, and 63% said it made their journeys more interesting. Some77% of those seeing DOOH ads believed DOOH ads were “quite” or “very informative” and 50% said that they connect them with their favorite social media channels.

The channel acts as a utility by adding value such as news, weather or traffic information, said Davies. He believes the survey findings validate the view that DOOH does not replace existing forms of ad media, but add its own unique value for marketers.

GroupM has released findings of the Sightline Global Digital Out-of-Home survey on perceptions of DOOH advertising, which found that DOOH campaigns drive direct action by consumers.