Formats decide what kind of out-of-home you are buying — billboards, transit, street furniture and so on — and whether you want static or digital screens.
This step has the most direct effect on how much inventory you match, so it is worth understanding before you narrow anything.
Screen Type
Choose Static, Digital, or select both.
Option | What you get |
Static | Printed media. Carries a production cost, and creative has to be printed and installed before the flight. |
Digital | Screens. No production cost, shorter lead times, and creative can usually be changed mid-flight. |
Both | Leave both ticked to see everything. This is the default and returns the widest plan. |
Media Types
Below screen type is a list of media types — Billboard, Transit, Street Furniture, Alternative and others. Tick the ones you want on the campaign.
Each media type shows a few example photographs of the formats it contains, so you can see what you are selecting rather than guessing from the name. Those images are illustrations, not options — you cannot click one to select it.
*Note: Selecting a media type includes every format within it. There is no way to narrow to individual subtypes at this step, so ticking Billboard brings in bulletins, posters, junior posters and the rest together.
To end up with a specific subset of formats, select the media type here and then narrow the units once the campaign exists, using the filters on the campaign's plan.
Seeing The Effect Of Your Choices
The media type list does not show unit counts. To see what your selections are actually returning, read the Campaign Overview panel in the bottom-right of the planner.
Its Formats line summarises what you have chosen and how many formats that covers — for example "Billboard: 12 subtypes". Beneath that sit the three figures that matter:
Matched Units — how much inventory fits everything you have set so far.
Est. CPM
Est. Impressions
Tick or untick a media type and watch Matched Units move. That is the feedback loop for this step.
Choosing Sensibly
Because you are selecting whole media types rather than individual formats, this step is broad by design. A few things that follow from that:
Start wider than you think you need. It is easier to remove units from the plan later than to discover a format you excluded was the one with all the good sites.
If Matched Units barely moves when you add a media type, your markets do not have much of it. That is useful to know before you promise a client that format.
If Matched Units is very low overall, the cause is more often dates or locations than formats. Widen those first.
**Note: The figures reflect your current dates and locations too, so they change if you go back and edit either. It is worth glancing at this step again after any significant change.
Saving Your Formats
Selections save as you make them, and the map and Campaign Overview panel update as you go. Close the step with the X in its top-right corner.
At least one format must be selected before you can create the campaign.