Programmatic OOH CPM tracker
The one verifiable programmatic OOH CPM series — and why it is not a beauty rate. The blended numbers, the venue-type cuts, and the honest reason no salon CPM benchmark exists.
Everyone planning beauty DOOH wants the same number: “what’s the CPM?” This tracker gives you the only programmatic OOH CPM series worth standing behind — and is equally clear about what it isn’t. The figure that exists is a single SSP’s blended, cross-venue, billboard-heavy average. There is no audited beauty in-venue CPM to copy. So use the series below as an order-of-magnitude anchor and a sanity check, never as a salon rate card.
The series
The most defensible programmatic OOH clearing-price series we can verify comes from one supply-side platform’s recurring trends reports. Charted over four half-years (Place Exchange — primary, single-SSP):
| Period | Blended programmatic OOH CPM |
|---|---|
| H1 2023 | ~$7.17 |
| H2 2023 | ~$7.24 |
| H1 2024 | ~$7.16 |
| H2 2024 | ~$7.62 |
The trajectory is gently up, with roadside large-format clearing around $7 and the commonly-cited overall range running roughly $2–$15 depending on venue and deal type (range — directional). That’s the anchor. Now the three reasons it is not your salon rate.
Why this is not a beauty CPM
- It’s a single SSP’s blended, cross-venue average. It mixes roadside, transit, retail, place-based and more into one figure, weighted toward large-format outdoor — which is the largest share of spend. The blend is an industry pulse, not a venue rate.
- Blending hides enormous variance. Venue types clear at very different prices; an average across all of them tells you little about any single one. (The same SSP’s venue cuts make this concrete — see below.)
- No beauty in-venue dollar CPM is published. The most the reports say about the category is directional — “retail and health/beauty venues saw higher CPMs” in H2 2024 — with no per-venue number (Place Exchange).
The venue-type cuts (where they exist)
When the same source has published venue-level dollar CPMs, the spread proves the point. For H1 2024 (vs H2 2023) (Place Exchange — primary):
| Venue category | H1 2024 CPM | (prior) |
|---|---|---|
| Education | ~$8.50 | (~$7.79) |
| Transit | ~$6.83 | (~$6.40) |
| Point of Care + Health & Beauty (combined) | ~$6.28 | (~$7.03) |
Note the catch: the closest thing to “beauty” is a combined Point-of-Care + Health & Beauty category — never beauty alone — and in this cut it fell. For H2 2024 the source gave no venue-level dollar figures at all, only the directional “health/beauty saw higher CPMs.” So even the venue cuts don’t yield a salon number.
The single published “salon CPM” — and why it proves the gap
There is exactly one public per-venue salon CPM: a self-serve platform’s fixed list price of roughly $7.84 (women’s salon) / $8.82 (men’s salon), quoted as gross, all-in, undated and “subject to change” (Adomni — directional). Treat it as “one platform’s list price,” not a benchmark. Notice what it actually demonstrates: even the only salon CPM in existence is a single vendor’s number — which reinforces rather than resolves the conclusion that no audited beauty CPM benchmark exists.
On the direct side, a single US broker lists salon screen advertising at roughly $695–$1,295 per venue per four weeks with a ~$5,000 market minimum (Blue Line Media — single broker, undated) — useful as one data point, but a flat per-venue fee, not a CPM, and not a benchmark.
CPM is gross — track net, not the sticker
Whatever number you anchor to, remember the quoted CPM is gross. The ad-tech chain — DSP, SSP, data, verification — takes a cut before money reaches the media owner: landmark audits (display, not DOOH) put publishers at roughly half to two-thirds of advertiser spend, with DSP+SSP fees around ~20% and wide variance (ISBA/PwC; eMarketer — directional, cross-channel). DOOH’s chain is typically shorter, but the direction is certain: a $10 gross CPM is not $10 to the screen. And because methodologies vary ~20–30% between vendors, two “$8 CPMs” from different sources are not the same media.
How to use this tracker
- As a sanity check on order of magnitude — if a quote is wildly off ~$7-and-rising, ask why.
- Never as a salon rate card. Price beauty inventory from your own net-yield model and real quotes, because no beauty CPM exists to copy.
- Account for the haircut — model net, not gross, and don’t compare gross CPMs across vendors as if equal.
- Watch the deal type — open exchange is cheapest; PMP and programmatic guaranteed carry higher floors (see the deal-type mix tracker).
Related: CPM · Floor price · Deal-type mix tracker · Programmatic share of DOOH · How much does it cost to advertise in salons? · How to price your inventory