Perion sat down with Jack Plowright, GM of Platform & Partner Strategy at LUMO, to talk about redefining DOOH in New Zealand, how programmatic has driven innovation and growth, and what the future of intelligent, data-driven outdoor media looks like.
Who is LUMO? Introduce the services or solutions you offer.
LUMO is a New Zealand-owned Digital Out-of-Home (DOOH) media network, focused on creating intelligent, innovative solutions that redefine how people experience brands. We operate at the intersection of technology and creativity to help businesses grow and communities stay connected.
Since launching New Zealand’s first pure-play digital billboard network in 2016, we’ve grown to 71 fibre-connected sites, reaching over 1.6 million Kiwis each week.
Our ‘live and open’ network is built for full transparency. At its heart is LENS – New Zealand’s only real-time, camera-based impression measurement system – offering clear insights into audience reach and frequency.
Can you discuss some of the top priorities for your business this year?
Innovation that makes an impact.
Our focus is on meaningful innovation—leveraging geospatial and behavioural data to reach the right audiences and understand not just who they are, but why they’re there.
Create chatter, not clutter.
In DOOH, where ads can’t be skipped, brands must show up memorably. Dynamic creative, context, and data help turn moments into experiences, not just impressions.
Make it easy to support.
To unlock DOOH’s brand-building potential, we need better tools, measurement, and easier access. Standardisation and simplification are key.
Collaborate to create value.
Collaboration with partners like Metservice, Flicks, Tribe, Perion, and local media suppliers drives smarter, more integrated campaigns.
How have you seen new opportunities come about with programmatic platforms such as Perion?
Programmatic platforms like Perion DOOH have opened up new opportunities for both advertisers and the DOOH sector. For LUMO, they’ve been key in reaching digitally native brands that may have previously overlooked DOOH due to perceived complexity. A major shift has been moving from static location-based buying to serving ads at the right time, in the right context, to the right audience. Campaigns like Resene Colourmatch, Fire & Emergency Wildfire, Bargain Box, and Life Pharmacy, which used Perion’s Custom Event solution, show how real-time data and contextual targeting position DOOH as a true digital alternative. Similarly, Spark New Zealand identified cultural moments like Laneways Festival to engage audiences at scale through proximity-based activations. Programmatic has also raised DOOH’s profile among digital-first buyers by integrating it into broader media strategies. But with growing inventory, differentiation is critical – it’s about deeply understanding your product and clearly communicating its unique value in a competitive market.
Why was it important to integrate programmatic DOOH into your overall business strategy?
I’m perhaps bullish, but I truly believe that soon all media will be transacted through platforms and based on audience—whether via RTB or other automated pathways. As digital and traditional media converge, integrating programmatic into our strategy became a necessity, not just an opportunity. During lockdowns, unpredictable road audiences made it hard to align DOOH delivery with real audience movement. Perion’s ad server and programmatic stack helped solve this, ensuring DOOH was delivered only when and where it had real value.
How has programmatic DOOH driven growth across your business?
We’ve seen a significant increase in new brands leveraging our network, driven by programmatic’s ability to offer easier access and fresh applications of DOOH. But beyond just making inventory more available, programmatic has unlocked new levels of creativity, enabling more dynamic, data-driven campaigns that push the boundaries of how DOOH is used.
What types of screens (formats and environments) in your network are available programmatically?
When LUMO introduced programmatic DOOH in 2020, removing barriers—particularly supply silos and restrictions—was key to driving adoption. Today, all 71 of LUMO’s Digital Roadside Billboards, across New Zealand’s major cities, are available via DOOH-enabled DSPs, allowing buyers to activate campaigns whenever and however they choose. Our offering supports non-guaranteed models such as open auction, private marketplace (PMP), and preferred deals, with Programmatic Guaranteed (PG) coming soon. To suit different buyer strategies, we’ve experimented with a range of deal setups and pricing structures, including first-price and fixed-price auctions, unit-based floor pricing, deal-specific floor pricing, always-on access deals, campaign-by-campaign deals, and advertiser-specific agreements.
Are there unique nuances or learnings that you can share around the New Zealand market?
With 78% of OOH revenue coming from digital, New Zealand leads the world in digital-to-static revenue ratio. But beyond being highly digital, the market stands out for its competitiveness, innovation, and adaptability. Despite a population of just 5 million, the country has over 3,500 digital screens and more than a dozen operators in a $200M NZD market—driving higher inventory quality and smarter, data-led solutions. As traditional media declines, DOOH’s growth will depend on unified audience measurement, platform integration, and industry-wide standardisation to better tell its value story.
What are you most excited about for the future?
What excites me most is how Digital Out-of-Home (DOOH) continues to evolve as a platform to build brands publicly. It’s no longer just about large-scale reach—it’s about sustained, data-driven, and contextual reach. With innovations in audience measurement, predictive data signals, and creative experimentation, DOOH is cementing its role in the media mix.
With proven effectiveness across brand and performance, and continued growth in programmatic accessibility, DOOH will become even more seamless. Brands will increasingly use first-party data, advanced measurement, and AI-driven decision-making to drive real outcomes—not just impressions.
AI agents will be a major shift on both the buy and sell sides, streamlining creative production, ad-serving, and operations. From VAST-tag delivery to predictive yield optimisation, AI will remove friction, automate workflows, and make DOOH smarter, faster, and more efficient.
