Digital out-of-home is projected to be one of the areas in out-of-home to experience growth this year, with an expected rise of 9% in 2009, according to PQ Media. (This is down from an approximate increase of 11.2% in digital OOH ad spend in 2008.)

But the medium has also been critiqued for its paucity of solid metrics for increasingly price-conscious advertisers, MediaBuyerPlanner writes.

Hoping to address that need, JiWire — which delivers ads across more than 25,000 public Wi-Fi hotspots — claims to offer the same measurability advertisers get with online advertising.

JiWire gives advertisers targeted and measurable ways to reach people on wireless devices like laptops, networks and Wi-Fi enabled phones. Campaigns executed via JiWire target the 43 million people using public hotspots - an audience three times more likely to have a higher income than the general population (per Nielsen).

McCann WorldGroup and Microsoft are using JiWire's media channel for an ad campaign to increase purchase intent of Microsoft's Office 2007 Home and Student editions. Instead of demographic-only targeting, the effort incorporates geo-targeting to reach families with more accuracy. Parents of school-age children were served relevant messages about the Student Edition, while high-income families saw messages about the Home Edition.

McCann WorldGroup's EVP and chief innovation officer says that with JiWire, "we can micro-target an audience, and knowing exactly who will be viewing our advertisements makes for less waste and a higher attention level."

Because it can be more granular, McCann is able to develop messages that immediately relevant to the given audience and its environment, resulting in a more effective campaign, the company says.

"We have a deep understanding of who is using wireless networks and therefore have the ability to be that much more targeted, which is particularly important in the current economy," blusters Kevin McKenzie, founder and chief executive officer of JiWire. "As people increasingly access the internet from places outside of their home and office, JiWire's goal is to leverage this for advertisers while enabling wireless Internet service operators to monetize their networks."

Adcentricity, aggregator of more than 80 out-of-home digital networks, recently added a mobile component to its offerings via a partnership with Impact Mobile.

"The convergence between digital out-of-home media and mobile is happening now and smart marketers are figuring out how to use these forms of media together to create the ultimate engagement tool," said CEO Rob Gorrie, CEO of Adcentricity.

Gorrie believes that adding a mobile component to a digital out-of-home plan enables consumers to interact with brand messages in a relevant way and offers an additional means to evaluate ROI.