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Winning the fitness-conscious audience with programmatic DOOH
Mon, 13th Jul 2026 (Today)
BEN BAKERManaging Director APACVistar Media
Across Australia and New Zealand, people are increasingly integrating fitness and wellbeing into their daily lives. From the rise of run clubs to marathon participation and regular gym attendance, fitness has become one of the region’s most popular pursuits, with one in six Aussies and one in five* Kiwis a member of a gym or fitness facility. For advertisers, this means some of the most influential health and wellness moments are happening outside the home. Not just near gyms, but on the way to work, around retail precincts, at universities, in commuter corridors and across everyday lifestyle environments.
While ad visibility is already fragmented, there is one media channel built to capture attention when consumers are on the move, in the moments where context, location and mindset converge.
That’s where programmatic digital out-of-home (DOOH) comes into its own. It allows brands to move beyond broad-reach visibility and activate with greater relevance. Through POI targeting, contextual venue selection, day-parting and audience movement insights, advertisers can align their message with the real-world moments where attention and intent are already closely connected.
For health and wellness audiences, this might mean showing up near gyms in the morning, around retail or university environments during the day, or in commuter and fitness precincts in the evening. The focus will be on how programmatic DOOH gives brands the scale of OOH, while adding the flexibility, addressability and measurement needed to influence behaviour more effectively.
A recent campaign run by is a clear example of this in action. With the objective of increasing brand awareness, consideration and sign-up intent nationwide, the campaign used proximity-led programmatic DOOH to reach health-minded audiences close to gyms and competitor locations. By activating urban panels, bus shelters and billboards within 1km of its own gyms and 500m of competitor locations, using a 6am to 10pm day-parting strategy to align delivery with key fitness behaviours, from morning workouts to lunchtime routines and after-work gym sessions, they were able to achieve a +3% lift in awareness, +8% lift in consideration and +40% lift in sign-up intent.
Building on this momentum, the second phase expanded the campaign across a broader mix of environments, including retail malls, grocery environments and sports entertainment screens, while continuing to target audiences near Anytime Fitness and competitor gyms. This scaled approach strengthened results even further, increasing awareness from +3% to +6%, consideration from +8% to +15%, and sign-up intent from +40% to +55%.
This opportunity is not limited to fitness brands. As health and wellness increasingly influence how Australians shop, snack, exercise and move through their day, brands across the category are looking for smarter ways to connect with consumers in real-world environments
For Arla Protein, a challenger brand entering a saturated protein market, the challenge was to build awareness quickly while competing against more established players. Through a precision-led programmatic DOOH campaign, the brand activated within 500 metres of Coles supermarkets and alongside top-performing chilled dessert stores, using day-parted delivery and creative optimisation to reach consumers close to the point of purchase. The campaign delivered a +175% lift in awareness, +248% lift in consideration and +364% lift in purchase intent, while also achieving a 3.6x sales peak and +13% baseline growth.
The same principle also applies to brands outside the traditional fitness category. Samsung, for example, used programmatic DOOH to embed Samsung Health into everyday wellbeing moments, reaching health-conscious audiences across gyms, pilates studios, yoga centres, universities, run clubs and popular urban running routes. The campaign was designed to increase awareness, consideration and purchase intent for its wearable product line, while driving deeper engagement with Samsung Health.
Together, the three campaigns show how powerful programmatic DOOH can be when motivation, routine and timing play a central role in decision-making. Whether encouraging a gym sign-up, prompting consideration close to the point of purchase or embedding a brand into everyday wellbeing moments, the opportunity lies in reaching consumers when context and mindset are already aligned.
As fitness and wellness become more embedded in everyday routines, brands need media strategies that can move with consumers and respond to real-world behaviour. By combining the scale of OOH with data-led precision, programmatic DOOH enables brands to connect with audiences where they are, when they are most receptive, and in ways that can influence consideration, intent and action.
*2025 Health and Fitness Association Global Report
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Image: Ben Baker
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