White-label DOOH network: build by territory or by industry

What are the two ways to organize a licensed network?

The short answer: draw the boundary where your existing screen relationships are tightest. If they cluster by place, a geographic territory fits. If they cluster by type of business, a business category fits.

Both options share the same foundation. The licensing program lets a partner deploy a white-labeled digital out-of-home (DOOH) sub-network, meaning advertising on screens in venues people already visit, run under the partner's own branding. It is based on a revenue share plus an annual fee. Partners launch on the CETV Now self-install device, software and campaign tools, and CETV Now provides central support, ad demand and creative tools, so there is no technology to build or maintain. If DOOH is new to you, what DOOH is and how it works is a useful primer.

The licensing program is for anyone who knows of or has access to hundreds of screens, or who sees an opportunity to bring screens onto the network and operate a sub-network of their own. The territory-or-category decision is how you draw a line around those screens.

What does building by territory look like?

A territory-based network is defined by place. You organize screens in a defined area and serve the people who pass through that area's venues, whatever kind of business those venues are. As a hypothetical, a partner with relationships across restaurants, salons, gyms and auto shops in one metro area could group them as a single local network. Whether a territory can mix venue categories, and how its borders are drawn, is settled per territory and is not covered here.

Where territory fits well

• Your relationships are local. If you know many venue owners in the same area, a territory lets you use all of those relationships without forcing a single venue type.
• Advertisers often think in service areas. Many local advertisers plan around where their customers live and work. On the main CETV Now network, advertisers can target by neighborhood, city, metro, zip code, sector or vertical, and individual venue, so place is a normal planning dimension.
• Growth stays close to home. Adding venues in the same area, across different categories, builds on relationships you already have.

What to watch for with territory

• Mixed settings. A salon waiting area and a car dealership lobby are different environments, and not every advertiser wants both.
• The geography has to make sense to an advertiser. They need to understand the area you cover and why it matters to their customers.
• Availability depends on the place. Where a territory sits changes what can be confirmed, as the note below explains.

What does building by industry look like?

An industry-based network is defined by the type of business. You organize screens in one category and build the network around that audience and setting. CETV Now publishes media-network pages by industry, including fitness and gyms, restaurants, hotels and hospitality, car washes and salons and spas. The full list is on the media networks page, and licensing is available by any business category, not only those listed.

As a hypothetical, an operator who knows owners of fitness studios in many different places could build around gyms alone. How far a category network can extend geographically, and whether it is tied to any area at all, is not covered here.

Where industry fits well

• Your relationships are deep in one category. If you already deal with one kind of owner, you know how that business runs and how to talk to the people who run it.
• The audience shares a situation. People at a gym front desk or in a salon chair are in a similar moment. CETV Now reports average dwell time of 15+ minutes across its network, but that is a network-wide figure, not a number for any single category.
• Advertisers can buy a context. A brand whose customers match the category can plan against it directly. The main network supports targeting by sector or vertical, so category-based buying is already part of how advertisers plan there.

What to watch for with industry

• A narrower pool of relevant buyers. Fewer advertisers may want one category than want a whole area. Whether that matters depends on the category.
• Growth means more of the same. Adding venues usually means finding more owners in the same category, so the size of that category within your reach matters.
• Category rules can apply. Some categories carry regulated advertisers, as the caution below describes.

How do you decide between territory and industry?

Start with a list of the screens you know of or can reach, then group it two ways: by area and by business type. Work through four questions in order.

1. 01

   Where does your screen access already sit?

   Sort the list rather than size it. If most screens cluster in one area, that points to territory. If most cluster in one business type, that points to industry. If the split is even, the next three questions decide.

2. 02

   How concentrated is the audience?

   Concentration means how much the people you would reach have in common. A territory concentrates people by place. An industry concentrates them by situation, such as a gym front desk or a service lounge. Neither is stronger in general. The test is which shared trait an advertiser could name in one sentence.

3. 03

   How would advertisers buy it?

   Picture three advertisers you could realistically approach. Would each describe the purchase by area ('near our shops') or by audience ('people who visit gyms')? On the main network, agencies and media buyers can plan across markets and venue categories through one partner, so a boundary that is simple to state is easier to fit into a plan. How agencies use DOOH shows how that planning works.

4. 04

   How easy is it to grow?

   Territory growth means adding venues within the area, usually across categories. Industry growth means adding more venues of the same type. Ask which one you can do with the relationships you have today. The terms for expanding a territory or adding a category are not covered here.

Two hypothetical operators show how this plays out. One has relationships with restaurant, salon and gym owners across a single metro area. Their access is mixed by category but concentrated by place, which points to territory. The other knows gym owners in many different places. Their access is concentrated by category but scattered by place, which points to industry.

How do the two models compare side by side?

What does not differ in the program description: both are a white-labeled sub-network, both are based on a revenue share plus an annual fee, and both come with the platform and support described above. Specifics are discussed per territory or category.

What should you ask in a licensing conversation?

Fees, territory size and terms are discussed per opportunity, so the conversation is where the specifics come out. Bring these questions and write down the answers, because this guide does not answer them.

1. 1How is the boundary of a territory or category defined, and how are screens at the edge or in two categories handled?
2. 2How does the revenue share work, what does the annual fee cover, and what are the license term and renewal terms?
3. 3If I start with one model, can I add the other later or expand to a new area or category?
4. 4Do advertisers on a sub-network get the same targeting options the main network offers, such as zip code, vertical and time of day?
5. 5How does ad demand reach a sub-network, and which parts of selling and servicing advertisers sit with me and which with CETV Now?
6. 6Which parts of the platform can run under my own branding?
7. 7How are new screens brought onto the network, and what support do I get while that happens?
8. 8What reporting is available to me and to advertisers?
9. 9For regulated categories such as healthcare, alcohol or financial services, what are the creative review and category rules?
10. 10Is my area available, and if it falls in a live market, how does it relate to the existing network there?

Bring your screen list, grouped by area and by business type, so the conversation starts from your real access instead of a guess. You can start through the licensing page, or contact CETV Now at (833) 807-1500 or info@cetvnow.com.

What does this guide not cover?

It covers how to think about the boundary, not what a deal looks like. Revenue-share percentages, the annual fee, license terms, territory size and other deal specifics are discussed per opportunity and are not published here. This guide also gives no revenue, return or payback figures, and none should be inferred from it.

CETV Now reports 4,000+ advertisers, 150M+ monthly impressions and 3,000+ commercial locations across its network. These are network-wide figures that have not been audited by a third party, and CETV Now has not published a market-level breakdown, so they cannot tell you how a particular territory or category would perform. Results vary.

Two neighboring paths are covered elsewhere. If you are a single brand with many locations rather than a partner organizing other owners' screens, a Bespoke Media Network is a private, branded channel built and managed by CETV Now. To see what every licensee launches on, read about the platform, and for how DOOH fits into a wider media plan, see the digital out-of-home overview.