Week in focus: The Future of OOH
Last week, The Media Leader took a deep dive into the out-of-home (OOH) industry.
With key insights from industry leaders on the challenges and trends facing the sector, to reports on OOH’s growth and the World Out of Home Organization’s (WOO) Annual Congress in London, here you can find a roundup of the full week’s coverage.
Creativity and attention
At the WOO congress, creativity was repeatedly hailed as being at the heart of successful OOH campaigns. This sentiment was echoed by Nicole Lonsdale, chief client officer at WPP Media OOH, who writes that while most ads are designed to be seen, the ones that stand out are the ones people want to share. She asks, what does it take for OOH creativity to drive impact beyond the space it lives in? And notes that those who are successful will find attention become even more valuable.
Similarly, managing director of Evolve, Danielle Austin, argues that with OOH campaigns, you’re not designing for attention you can hold; you’re designing for attention you have to earn instantly. From measurement, briefs, and bravery, Austin suggests that OOH is a channel that plays by “different rules“.
It’s for this reason that OOH is a unique advertising channel, and Luke Willbourn, MD of Talon, writes about how brands should take advantage of it. He notes that OOH has become a modern, integrated platform that combines scale with precision, creativity with impact, and visibility with accountability.
For Global Street Art, creativity is central to its mission for us to “live in painted cities”. In an interview with The Media Leader, CEO Lee Bofkin shares why he thinks artistry is undervalued in OOH.
Looking for inspiration on creative OOH? Enjoy our roundup of the industry’s top ten OOH campaigns, with explanations about what makes them so distinctive.
Data and measurement
Measuring the impact of an OOH campaign has often been a challenge for the industry, but Route’s research director, Ruth Chalisey, lifts the curtain on how it can work by explaining how to measure advertising on a bus: something that is constantly moving and interacting with people who are also moving.
Matt Longley – CEO of Mobsta – argues that there is an overwhelming amount of data and measurement reporting available across the market, so what matters now is intelligence that can clearly explain behavioural context to support stronger, more accountable planning decisions and sharper forecasting.
Digital and programmatic
The growth of OOH has been largely driven by the adoption of digital (DOOH) and programmatic (pDOOH). The responsiveness of programmatic is attractive, and Christoph Berg, CEO of MINT Square, writes that independent agencies have a natural advantage as they can often make faster decisions due to thinner organisational structures. However, access is still a barrier, and ultimately, he writes that the long-term growth of pDOOH will depend upon participation.
Meanwhile, Tim Harvey, founder of Knitting Media, says that open standards are essential as OOH media trading moves towards agentic AI. But, he suggests, proprietary second and third-party systems create barriers that cloud this future.
Perion’s CEO, Tal Jacobson, writes that while OOH was once a fixed and slow moving channel, DOOH has made it live and dynamic. He argues that there is an opportunity as many investment strategies haven’t caught up to this shift.
In light of the growth of digital and programmatic, The Media Leader asked industry leaders whether digital OOH transformation should be moving faster, looking at OOH measurement, programmatic adoption, and where the channel is headed in the next three years.
News
On the podcast, The Media Leader welcomed Tom Goddard, president of WOO, ahead of the annual congress to discuss how OOH is becoming easier to buy, more measurable and collaborative.
The Media Leader‘s WOO congress coverage kicked off with JCDecaux’s co-CEO Jean-François Decaux’s keynote speech on Thursday. He rallied industry leaders to embrace collaboration and change the sector’s narrative to improve growth.
Part of this narrative shift comes from the industry publicly sharing how it reinvests back into the community. The Media Leader spoke to leaders from across the industry about where ad spend actually goes, touching on true value and social responsibility.
Elsewhere, the AA/Warc Expenditure Report showed that OOH adspend continues to exceed pre-pandemic levels in the UK, while Outsmart reported that OOH in the UK saw 15% revenue growth in Q1 2026, totalling £341.2m.
Further reading
Beyond effectiveness: WOO 2026 day one takeaways
The industry’s favourite OOH campaigns
What the OOH industry needs to do to double its market share – with WOO’s Tom Goddard
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