OOH Advertising Locations: Places You Can Advertise Your Ads in Indonesia

Out-of-home (OOH) advertising in Indonesia has transformed significantly over the last decade. What once consisted mostly of static billboards along major highways has evolved into dynamic LED screens, large-format premium placements, landmark billboards, and highly targeted media in urban centers. As cities grow, mobility increases, and competition intensifies, the demand for high-visibility brand exposure continues to rise—making OOH more relevant than ever.

Indonesia's diverse cityscape creates a unique playground for marketers. Each major city offers different audience behaviors, traffic patterns, cultural nuances, and media opportunities. Jakarta attracts corporate professionals and trend-driven urban dwellers. Surabaya thrives as a commercial and industrial hub. Bandung draws creative youth and lifestyle-oriented communities. Medan, the economic giant of Sumatra, offers powerful exposure to fast-growing middle-class consumers.

This article explores four of Indonesia’s most strategic OOH markets—Jakarta, Surabaya, Bandung, and Medan—and breaks down what makes each city special, how audiences behave, and which locations offer the strongest visibility for advertisers. Whether you are expanding brand awareness, launching a new campaign, or strengthening your national marketing footprint, understanding these OOH landscapes will help you strategize more effectively.

 

Jakarta: The Beating Heart of Indonesia’s OOH Scene

Jakarta is Indonesia’s largest city, the center of business, government, entertainment, and urban lifestyle. It is also the single most competitive OOH market in the country. With over 10 million residents and nearly 30 million daily commuters including those from Bodetabek, the city promises unmatched audience volume and diversity.

 

Why Jakarta Matters for OOH

Jakarta’s advertising landscape thrives due to several factors:

• High commuting frequency – long daily commutes mean long daily exposure to OOH.

• Mixed audience demographics – from professionals to students to travelers.

• Strong commercial density – offices, malls, and entertainment areas cluster tightly.

• Brand-conscious consumers – people in Jakarta tend to be highly aware of trends.

OOH works exceptionally well here because people often move through predictable, congested routes. This creates extended exposure time—the perfect environment for strong brand recall.

 

Jakarta’s Most Strategic OOH Zones

1. Sudirman–Thamrin Corridor
This is Jakarta’s branding “runway.” The area is lined with skyscrapers, hotels, embassies, and premium retail. Major corporate brands dominate here to position themselves as market leaders.
Large-format LEDs, iconic billboards, and innovative digital OOH formats fill the corridor—making it one of the most photographed business districts in Southeast Asia.

2. SCBD (Sudirman Central Business District)
This upscale area is the epicenter of nightlife, dining, and finance. Its high-income audience and long dwell time make it ideal for tech, banking, lifestyle, and luxury brands. OOH units here are modern, stylish, and strategically located around pedestrian-heavy zones.

3. Senayan Area
Home to Senayan City, Plaza Senayan, GBK Stadium, and several office towers, Senayan attracts youth, professionals, shoppers, and concertgoers. When major concerts or events take place at GBK, traffic and pedestrian counts surge dramatically.

4. Kelapa Gading & Pantai Indah Kapuk (PIK)
These areas cater to upper-middle-class families, food enthusiasts, and lifestyle communities. Brands in F&B, fashion, beauty, and tech find excellent resonance here.

With its enormous reach and ever-growing media landscape, Jakarta remains a cornerstone of any nationwide OOH strategy.

 

Surabaya: The Commercial Powerhouse of East Java

Surabaya is Indonesia’s second-largest city and a vital economic gateway to eastern Indonesia. While not as congested as Jakarta, Surabaya offers high advertising efficiency due to stable traffic flow, wide roads, and strong purchasing power.

 

Why Surabaya Is a Strong OOH Market

Several characteristics make Surabaya essential:

• Large middle-class population with high spending potential

• Strategic industrial and commercial zones

• Heavily traveled thoroughfares connecting malls, offices, ports, and residential areas

• Brand-aware consumers who respond strongly to product-based messaging

Surabaya’s pace is fast, productive, and driven by commerce, making it a solid market for FMCG, automotive, retail, fintech, home appliances, and lifestyle products.

 

Surabaya’s Top OOH Districts

1. Tunjungan Area
Tunjungan is the heart of Surabaya’s commercial activity. Tunjungan Plaza (TP), one of Indonesia’s largest malls, attracts heavy traffic from families, professionals, and tourists. The roads surrounding TP have rotational traffic flow throughout the day, ensuring consistent OOH visibility.

2. Darmo Boulevard
Darmo is known for its beautiful leafy roads and high-income residential communities. It’s perfect for large billboards with broad visibility lanes. Premium brands often prefer this location for long-term branding.

3. Wonokromo & Diponegoro Areas
These central routes function as connectors between business districts and residential areas. They’re packed with cars during peak hours, making them suitable for brand awareness campaigns.

4. Pakuwon Mall Area
Pakuwon is a lifestyle magnet—home to international brands, restaurants, and entertainment venues. OOH placements here are impactful due to concentrated family and millennial audiences.

Surabaya continues to grow rapidly in infrastructure and commercial development, further strengthening its value for OOH advertisers.

 

Bandung: The Creative Capital of West Java

Bandung offers a different advertising pulse—youthful, creative, trend-driven, and socially expressive. As a university city and lifestyle hub, it attracts students, tourists, young families, and creative professionals.

 

Bandung’s Unique OOH Advantages

Bandung stands out due to:

• A large student population, especially around ITB, UNPAD, and Telkom University

• Creative culture and strong social media behavior—Bandung residents love posting visually striking ads

• Tourism-heavy economy, with weekend visitors coming from Jakarta

• High affinity for fashion, F&B, music, beauty, and lifestyle brands

OOH here works best when it incorporates creative language, eye-catching design, and culturally relevant themes.

 

Bandung’s Prime Advertising Hotspots

1. Dago Area
The Dago corridor hosts cafés, boutiques, hotels, and student activity hubs. Traffic flows intensely, especially on weekends. Billboards here connect directly with Gen Z and urban millennials.

2. Cihampelas (Ciwalk)
A vibrant shopping street famous for Cihampelas Walk. Families and youth dominate this zone, making it ideal for retail, food, beauty, gadgets, and entertainment brands.

3. Pasteur Toll Gate
All weekend tourists entering Bandung pass through Pasteur. Large-format OOH here captures an enormous volume of incoming visitors.

4. Asia Afrika Area
A cultural landmark with historical architecture. Tourists frequently take photos here, and any well-placed OOH can become part of the visual landscape.

Bandung’s creative community means brands have opportunities to experiment—OOH that uses humor, unique visual styling, or trendy phrasing tends to get attention here.

 

Medan: The Economic Titan of Northern Indonesia

Medan is the commercial heart of Sumatra and a critical distribution hub for trade across the northern region. Its population is large, active, and increasingly urbanized—creating a strong foundation for impactful OOH campaigns.

 

What Makes Medan a Strategic OOH Market

Medan's strengths include:

• High-density urban population

• Growing middle-class spending power

• Strategic location for logistics, industry, and commerce

• Consumer patterns aligned with fast-moving retail growth

The city is energetic and commercially vibrant, making it suitable for OOH that focuses on practicality, price, value, and brand reliability.

 

Key OOH Hotspots in Medan

1. Gatot Subroto Area
This major road is known for heavy vehicle circulation throughout the day. Billboards placed here get constant exposure from commuters, logistics vehicles, and shoppers.

2. Merak Jingga Commercial Area
A strong business district with banks, retail stores, and offices. It offers steady visibility among employees and professionals.

3. Medan Mall & Sun Plaza Area
These malls draw large crowds from various demographics—families, teens, businesspeople, and travelers. OOH placements around the malls provide a consistent branding impact.

4. DeliPark Area
The DeliPark area is one of Medan’s busiest lifestyle and commercial zones, attracting constant foot and vehicle traffic throughout the day. With its mix of shopping, dining, and entertainment crowds, billboards here gain strong visibility and high dwell time. It’s a prime spot for brands looking to capture attention in the heart of the city.

Medan’s strong economic activity, combined with urban expansion, makes it one of Indonesia’s fastest-growing OOH markets.

 

Why OOH Advertising Thrives in Indonesia

Across all four cities—Jakarta, Surabaya, Bandung, and Medan—OOH remains powerful because it is:

1. Always On
OOH operates nonstop, delivering uninterrupted visibility day and night without depending on clicks, algorithms, or user activity. Your message stays planted in the real world, meeting people exactly where they are. Whether during morning commutes or late-night traffic, the exposure never switches off. This makes OOH one of the most consistent channels for brand presence.

2. Hard to Ignore
With bold visuals, towering formats, and bright LED illumination, OOH naturally grabs attention the moment someone enters the area. Its physical scale makes it impossible to scroll past or mute like digital ads. Commuters, pedestrians, and drivers can’t help but notice what stands directly in their line of sight. This unavoidable presence amplifies brand recall.

3. Public and Shareable
Eye-catching billboards often turn into organic photo moments, especially in visually iconic areas like Bandung’s creative neighborhoods or Jakarta’s lively city center. When people capture and share these scenes, your ad travels even further beyond its location. OOH becomes not only a display but a part of the city’s visual culture. This public visibility adds social value to your campaign.

4. Cost-Efficient at Scale
OOH becomes highly economical when designed for mass reach, delivering millions of impressions per day across major routes. A single placement can serve long-term visibility without recurring click-based costs. The economics improve the wider your audience grows, making it ideal for brands seeking maximum exposure. It’s one of the most budget-efficient ways to dominate a market.

5. Perfect for Localized Messaging
OOH shines when tailored to each city’s identity—whether tapping into Jakarta’s fast-paced metropolitan life, Bandung’s youth-driven creativity, Surabaya’s commercial vibrancy, or Medan’s bustling lifestyle corridors. Messaging that reflects local nuances resonates more deeply with daily audiences. By speaking the city’s language, your brand earns a stronger connection and impact.

 

Building an Effective OOH Strategy in Indonesia

Choosing the right location is only the beginning. Here’s how to ensure maximum impact:

 

Target the Right Audience

Each city offers unique demographic clusters:

• Professionals in Jakarta

• Families and traders in Surabaya

• Students and creatives in Bandung

• Commercial buyers and urban shoppers in Medan

Each major city has distinct audience clusters that shape how messages are received. Jakarta is dominated by professionals and urban workers, while Surabaya attracts families and local traders across its commercial districts. Bandung’s streets pulse with students and creatives, and Medan draws commercial buyers and lifestyle-oriented shoppers. Understanding these demographics ensures your message speaks directly to the people most likely to engage with it.

Understanding these clusters ensures message relevance.

 

Choose the Correct Format

Different objectives require different OOH formats, so selecting the right one is crucial. Static billboards excel at long-term brand building and broad recognition, while digital OOH enables dynamic, time-sensitive storytelling. Large-format LEDs at intersections capture high-impact, memorable moments, whereas highway billboards offer uninterrupted visibility across long distances. Matching the format to your campaign goal creates stronger results.

 

Use Strong Visuals and Simple Messaging

OOH must communicate instantly, making clarity and visual strength essential elements of effective design. Bold images, minimal text, and recognizable branding help audiences absorb the message within seconds. Since people view billboards while moving, every element must work hard to deliver meaning quickly. Simplicity ensures nothing gets lost in the rush of daily traffic.

 

Align Creative With the City’s Identity

Every city has its own personality, and tailoring your creative to local context strengthens engagement. A playful, experimental approach blends well with Bandung’s youthful creative culture, while Jakarta’s premium feel favors polished, upscale visuals. In Surabaya, family-oriented messaging connects naturally with its community-driven audiences. Medan, with its strong trading and shopping culture, responds best to value-driven communication.

 

Consistency Builds Familiarity

In Indonesia’s fast-growing and competitive market, long-term visibility is key to building trust. Repeated exposure strengthens brand recall, ensuring your message stays top-of-mind even in crowded advertising environments. Consistency across formats and locations helps audiences build familiarity with your brand identity. Over time, this presence turns into strong positioning and loyalty.

 

OOH Advertising That Shapes Cities

OOH advertising across Jakarta, Surabaya, Bandung, and Medan continues to shape how brands communicate in Indonesia. Each city offers distinct energy, consumer behavior, and advertising potential, allowing brands to tailor their messages with precision.

Jakarta provides scale and prestige.
Surabaya offers commercial strength.
Bandung delivers creativity and cultural relevance.
Medan ensures reach within one of Indonesia’s most powerful regional markets.

In Jakarta to Medan, the skyline is the stage — and OOH is the spotlight brands can’t replace.

Together, these cities form the backbone of Indonesia’s national OOH ecosystem—one that continues to evolve, innovate, and empower brands to stand tall in the public eye.

 

Now, it is your turn to be iconic and shake Indonesia's ground with your powerful outdoor advertising. Contact us here, and let's make history. 

 

Pictures Credit: Wicaksana Indonsia, Tribun Jatim, infojktku, Media Art