Several of the DPAA’s representatives dashed out some bold predictions during the opening of the organization’s Global Summit in NYC. Among the more agreeable statements was that the DooH industry’s growth track won’t be over soon, and that we’ll see some major consolidation in 2026 and 2027. But when it came to AI, the speakers made some interesting – and possibly controversial – claims about how quickly it will transform the DooH media chain.
There’s consensus everywhere in media that AI is changing ad creation. But another interesting thought is that it’ll diminish the relevance of certain channels and strengthen others – in out-of-home, there’s a looming sense that roadside will decline, while place-based will grow. In his opening remarks at the Summit, Zoom Media’s François de Gaspé Beaubien, even went as far as suggesting: “If you own a roadside billboard and you want to maximize your ROI, I would sell those assets and redeploy to environments where people congregate.”
His reasoning is the rise of autonomous cars – they will prompt people to spend less time at the wheel looking out of their window and more time in the backseat looking at their phone.
To make the case stronger, Gaspé Beaubien drew a comparison to his previous life as the owner of Canada’s largest consumer magazine and radio companies in Canada. He sold both at their height, recalling how furious his father who started the business was with him but later applauded his bold decision. He sees a similar timeline playing out in out-of-home: “Non-urban roadside billboards will retain value. Just as magazines and radio stations retain value today….but the height of their valuation is now.”
The same trend prompting roadside to decline, however, could cause place-based to increase in value. “As to Digital Placed Based, or digital boards where people congregate, ranging from Times Square and Shibayu Crossing to Elevators, Gyms, Doctor’s offices, subways, airports – those screens, those audiences will gain in value going forward.” Digital placed based, Gaspé Beaubien predicts, “shall proceed from silver, to gold and eventually achieve platinum.”
Overall, Gaspé Beaubien believes DooH to be one of the great beneficiaries of the plate tectonic upheaval that is AI. While he doesn’t spell it out, AI also promises major opportunities for the adtech landscape. It will be deeply integrated into the systems powering programmatic DooH, helping advertisers connect more intimately with consumers. Programmatic platforms could go beyond automating ad sales and delivery, enabling real-time, AI-generated creatives tailored to current audiences and triggered automatically through data streams. This would make each ad stream as relevant as it gets, and reduce scattering effects to a minimum.
That’s the dream – though DooH has a long way to go before reaching this level of sophistication.