New start-up to let advertisers bid for billboard space
Bidstack, an 18-month old start-up, plans to become the eBay of digital out of home (DOOH) advertising space. The firm allows advertisers to bid for billboard space, with bids alone determining the price of an ad spot. Bidstack provides an analytics suite with information on space value, including maps showing where advertising spots are available. Data feeds such as social, weather and traffic also provide users with the ability to make informed decisions. The company currently has partnerships in place with Clear Channel, Primesight and Kong Outdoor, and is due to launch on 12 January.

A new platform called Bidstack is aiming to change the way advertisers bid for unused digital out of home (DOOH) advertising space.

The 18-month-old startup is currently in beta ahead of its planned 12 January launch and has a number of partnerships in place with the likes of Clear Channel, Primesight and Kong Outdoor.

Bidstack allows advertisers to bid for billboard space with bids alone determining the price of the slot. Users can research the best places for an advert to be seen and can design it on the platform. Maps are used to show exactly where space is available and data feeds, such as social, weather and traffic, are pulled in to provide more informed decisions.

The platform’s creator and chief executive James Draper describes Bidstack as the “eBay of digital out of home, with screens and bidding periods becoming available all the time.".

“We’re the small business doing things differently,” said Draper. “From the beginning we didn’t want to be like anyone else. We’ve taken risks that have paid off and we’ve gone against the standard startup blueprint. Bidstack is all about changing the game, and we wanted our brand and company to embody that.”

Altair Media is among the first media agencies to use the platform and its director Lyndsey Best, described it as a “really interesting opportunity for many brands” and “something very unique in the out of home marketplace, which is exciting to be a part of”.

Best said: “As a digitally inspired agency, it fits really well with the approach we take at Altair Media with our clients because it brings back the importance of planning – with the granularity of the buying. Being able to make the decision on what a space is worth to your client alone and buying that on an auction means we are making decisions based on our client’s business and not on an agency’s trading deals.”

Bidstack is not the first startup to launch bidding into DOOH this year: OfferMoments is offering advertisers in retail environments the chance to grab outdoor media space programmatically, without having to go through a media agency.

UPDATE: The agency has moved into the virtual out of home space, positioning itself as a marketplace for in-game advertising. It has ran creative in the likes of Football Manager.