Digital out-of-home represents 42% of total OOH revenue and is growing at double-digit rates. Global DOOH investment grew 15% in 2024 and is projected to increase another 14.9% in 2025, reaching $17.6 billion. In the U.S., DOOH accounted for more than 34% of total OOH spend in Q1 2025, growing 9% year-over-year.
But the real story isn't the growth—it's the transformation. Static digital billboards are becoming dynamic, data-driven, AI-optimized advertising surfaces. Programmatic DOOH is projected to surpass $1 billion in 2025, fundamentally changing how brands engage audiences in physical spaces.
Here's how AI is reshaping out-of-home advertising.
What Makes DOOH Different
DOOH occupies unique territory in the advertising landscape. Unlike digital display or video, DOOH reaches audiences in physical locations—streets, transit systems, airports, malls, gyms, elevators. This creates distinct advantages: high-impact visual real estate, captive audiences in specific contexts, and brand-safe environments controlled by property owners.
Traditional OOH was broadcast media: buy a billboard, hope the right people see it. DOOH enables digital precision: target specific screens, dayparts, and conditions based on data.
AI amplifies these capabilities, enabling real-time optimization that responds to context—weather, events, traffic, audience composition—in ways static billboards never could.
AI Applications in DOOH
Real-Time Contextual Optimization
Ads can adapt based on:
- • Weather (show hot beverage ads on cold days, sunscreen on sunny days)
- • Time of day (breakfast messaging in mornings, dinner in evenings)
- • Local events (sports game nearby, concert traffic)
- • Traffic conditions (longer dwell time in congestion)
British Airways' famous "Magic of Flying" campaign exemplified the potential: billboards detected planes flying overhead and displayed the flight number and destination in real time.
AI-Powered Audience Measurement
AI-powered computer vision and mobile location data now enable more precise audience measurement—counting impressions, estimating demographic composition, and measuring attention. This data feeds optimization algorithms.
Programmatic Buying
Advertisers set targeting parameters—locations, audiences, times, weather conditions—and AI determines which screens to bid on, when, and at what price.
- • StackAdapt, The Trade Desk, Viant offer programmatic DOOH capabilities
- • Broadsign and Vistar Media operate as major SSPs
Cross-Channel Integration
Connects DOOH exposure to digital follow-up. Someone sees a DOOH ad, then receives coordinated messaging on mobile, display, or connected TV. AI-powered identity resolution enables this coordination.
The DOOH Inventory Landscape
Roadside billboards remain the largest format—digital billboards along highways and major roads reaching drivers and passengers. These offer massive reach but limited targeting beyond location and time.
Transit includes subway stations, bus shelters, airports, and train platforms. Transit environments capture commuters in predictable patterns with significant dwell time.
Retail and mall screens reach shoppers at point of purchase. Retail media networks increasingly include in-store DOOH, connecting advertising to purchase data.
Place-based networks encompass screens in specific venues: gyms, offices, elevators, doctors' offices, bars and restaurants. These environments offer contextual relevance.
Implementation Framework
Phase 1: Define Objectives and Audiences
DOOH excels at awareness and consideration. Define target audiences and identify where they physically move—commute patterns, shopping behaviors, entertainment venues.
Phase 2: Select Inventory Strategy
- • Programmatic open exchange: Broadest reach, efficiency
- • Private marketplaces: Curated inventory, better brand safety
- • Direct deals: Premium placements, guaranteed delivery
Phase 3: Develop Contextual Triggers
Identify conditions that should activate or modify creative: weather thresholds, time windows, local events, inventory availability. These triggers make DOOH dynamic rather than static.
Phase 4: Create Adaptive Creative
Design creative that can adapt to contextual triggers. Ensure creative works at billboard scale—bold, simple, readable at distance.
Phase 5: Integrate with Digital Channels
Plan how DOOH exposure connects to digital touchpoints. Mobile retargeting of DOOH-exposed audiences extends campaign reach. Cross-channel frequency management prevents over-exposure.
What's Coming
Expanded programmatic access. Premium inventory that currently requires direct deals will increasingly become programmatically accessible.
AI creative generation. AI-powered creative generation will eventually reach outdoor advertising. Early applications include dynamic text and simple image variations.
Better measurement. Mobile location data, computer vision, and attribution modeling are improving DOOH measurement.
3D and immersive formats. Anamorphic 3D billboards and AR-enabled screens are creating new creative possibilities.
The OOH Advantage: OOH advertising delivers $7.58 marginal ROI, outperforming digital channels. Research indicates OOH boosts digital media ad effectiveness by 31% and social media effectiveness by 56%. For brands seeking high-impact, brand-safe environments that reach audiences in physical spaces, AI-powered DOOH offers precision targeting that traditional OOH never provided.
