Digital out‑of‑home (DOOH) has officially evolved from emerging to essential. Global DOOH investments are on pace to top $50 billion by 2026, embedding digital screens at the core of cities, commutes, and commerce.
At the same time, programmatic technology is rewriting how these screens are activated and valued. DOOH is now a dynamic, data‑driven touchpoint, automated, measurable, and accountable, and fully integrated into the digital media mix.
After a decade of steady build‑up, 2026 is the year DOOH becomes a true scale channel. Multiple forecasts now pinpoint its global spend outpacing traditional OOH and claiming a larger share of total media budgets.
Static assets are being digitized, premium real estate is lighting up with screens, and advertisers are shifting from fixed placements to flexible, dynamic activations. In the world’s top markets, DOOH growth is driven by city expansion, smart technology, retail media, and infrastructure upgrades.
“DOOH has graduated from test budgets to core media plans. In 2026, it’s a scaled, global channel right alongside CTV, social, and digital video—but its impact extends far beyond media. The digital screen network has become a layer of physical infrastructure reshaping how real estate is valued, activated, and experienced. From retail and hospitality to mixed‑use developments, DOOH is now part of the built environment, connecting brands, spaces, and audiences in real time. It’s not about ad placements anymore, but the digital monetization of property itself and the ability to connect with defined audiences for the benefit of both advertisers and consumers.” — Joe Kunigonis, CEO, Smartify Media
The revolution isn’t just digital, it’s programmatic. The backbone of DOOH is becoming automated, data‑driven, and seamlessly connected to omnichannel platforms.
Programmatic DOOH (pDOOH) is seeing the sharpest growth as buyers demand the same transparency and control they’ve come to expect from other digital channels. Now, advertisers can manage DOOH through their DSPs, activating campaigns with real‑time triggers, frequency controls, sequential creative, and contextual intelligence.
Whether reacting to weather, sports wins, traffic peaks, or stock movements, brands can shift from planning months ahead to delivering relevance in the moment. Programmatic doesn’t just make buying easier; it makes DOOH more precise, measurable, and better connected to other digital channels.
The biggest transformation isn’t just visible, it’s measurable. DOOH networks are now layered with mobile signals and AI analytics to create privacy‑safe audience insights.
Instead of just buying locations, brands can plan around audience behavior, like “weekday commuters” or “shoppers within five miles.” Attribution is advancing rapidly, linking screen exposure to store visits, site traffic, and even incremental sales.
That data evolution changes everything: DOOH now blends creative scale and physical presence with performance‑grade intelligence, bridging upper‑funnel storytelling and bottom‑funnel results in one channel.
Today’s consumer moves fluidly between screens including mobile, connected TV, social, and increasingly, the ones they encounter in the physical world. A real‑world screen strategy ensures your brand shows up intentionally and consistently across that ecosystem.
DOOH delivers high‑impact visibility in premium, brand-safe environments on commutes, on busy streets, in shopping centers, and near the point of purchase.
A smart real‑world screen strategy connects these physical moments back into the digital ecosystem, unifying audience data, creative strategy, and performance measurement into one continuous cycle.
For leading brands, DOOH is no longer a campaign, it’s an always‑on growth engine.
In 2026, the brands that win won’t just “do DOOH.” They’ll command a cohesive, data‑connected real‑world screen strategy that turns physical presence into measurable performance and creativity into scale.