At the most recent Advertising Week, the air was thick with the usual buzzwords. Panels and hallway conversations were dominated by the shifting power of talent agents, the meteoric rise of the creator economy, and the perennial struggle to combat audience fragmentation. Yet, amid these high-tech discussions, an unexpectedly "analog" topic kept surfacing with persistent regularity: out-of-home (OOH) advertising.
For decades, out-of-home advertising—a broad industry term encompassing everything from towering highway billboards and urban wheatpastes to subway leaflets and airport displays—was regarded as a relatively static, if not fusty, corner of the media world. However, in recent years, this traditional channel has undergone a profound transformation, reclaiming a level of relevance that few in the digital age would have predicted. This resurgence is not merely a nostalgic fluke; rather, it is the result of a surprising confluence of technological tailwinds and a fundamental shift in how consumers interact with the world around them.
The primary engine of this growth is the digital evolution of the medium, often referred to as digital out-of-home (DOOH). This hybrid format is increasingly viewed by marketers as a "best of both worlds" solution. It offers the high-impact, physical presence of traditional signage combined with the sophisticated targeting and programmatic flexibility of digital media. Perhaps most importantly in an era of ad-blockers and short attention spans, DOOH is essentially unskippable. Unlike a pre-roll video or a social media post, a digital screen in a high-traffic physical environment cannot be swiped away or hidden behind a premium subscription.
The financial data underscores this renewed enthusiasm. According to the Out of Home Advertising Association of America, U.S. OOH advertising revenue surged by 10.7% year-over-year in the second quarter of 2024, hitting a record-breaking $3.16 billion. The digital segment of the market is moving even faster, posting an 18.5% increase and now accounting for nearly 40% of the total category revenue.
However, the return to physical space represents something deeper than just a new way to buy ad inventory. It reflects a potentially consequential shift in the broader advertising landscape. As the internet becomes increasingly saturated with artificial intelligence, less reliable in its provenance, and harder for human users to navigate without intermediaries, the value of physical, "real-world" space is appreciating.
The Trust Deficit and the Rise of "Slop"
For media companies, the move toward in-person engagement has already become a lifeline. Dedicated industry observers have noted that live events have been one of the few consistent bright spots for publishers facing a volatile digital ad market. Major players ranging from Condé Nast to Semafor, and even industry staples like ADWEEK, have pivoted heavily toward their events businesses. In many instances, these live experiences now generate more than half of a company’s total revenue.
Several factors drive this trend. The shift toward remote and hybrid work has created a more geographically distributed workforce, leaving professionals with fewer organic opportunities for networking. High-quality in-person events fill this void. More broadly, physical media offers a tangible, memorable experience that stands in stark contrast to the ephemeral nature of digital consumption. Scrolling past a display ad on a smartphone is a fleeting, often unconscious action; standing before a massive, well-executed physical installation is an experience.
This distinction is becoming more meaningful as the digital world grapples with the rise of generative AI. The technology has enabled an onslaught of low-quality, automated content—derisively termed "slop"—that is flooding search results and social feeds. As this technology improves, the ability to discern human-made fact from AI-generated fiction is eroding. A 2024 Adobe report found that 87% of U.S. consumers believe generative AI has made it significantly harder to identify what is true online.
This erosion of trust is driving top-tier talent and brands to reconsider where they show up. When Mariano Jeger, the former executive creative director at the renowned agency Droga5, left his post to join Outfront Media this past September, he cited this very dynamic. As digital content becomes easier to manufacture and harder to authenticate, brands are finding a renewed sense of security in physical environments where the context is fixed and the audience is guaranteed to be human.
The Threat of the "Answer Engine"
AI is not just changing the quality of what consumers see; it is changing how they access information altogether. The rise of "answer engines" like ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini represents an existential threat to the traditional open web. These tools provide direct answers to user queries, often bypassing the need for a user to ever visit the original publisher’s website.
For publishers, this means a potential collapse in referral traffic, which in turn shrinks the audience and the advertising inventory they can sell. The situation is further complicated by the development of AI "agents" like Muse and Dots. These products are designed to perform tasks on behalf of a user—such as booking a flight or researching a product—by crawling websites directly.
The tension between these agents and media owners is already boiling over. Recently, Amazon took the step of blocking Muse from crawling its site. While the motivations behind such disputes vary, they highlight a core problem for any ad-supported destination: an AI agent can extract all the utility and data from a website without ever "viewing" the advertisements that fund that site’s existence.
As the digital ecosystem becomes more mediated by non-consuming AI entities, the value of physical space—where a human must physically be present to interact with the world—becomes an increasingly attractive proposition for marketers.
The Commodification of the Physical World
As out-of-home advertising becomes more sophisticated, the logic of "retail media"—where retailers use their own data and physical footprints to sell ads—is expanding into almost every other sector. Any company that controls a physical space where people spend time is now a potential media owner. Rideshare vehicles, commercial airlines, grocery store aisles, and shopping malls are all being reimagined as high-value advertising inventory.
However, this "omnipresence" of advertising in the physical world is not without its critics. In major urban centers like New York City, the proliferation of digital kiosks and screens can feel like an environmental scourge. New York Times journalist Ezra Klein recently addressed this sentiment on his podcast, expressing a sense of sadness at the way public spaces are being surrendered to constant commercial messaging.
Klein noted that while the common defense for these ads is that they subsidize public services, the reality is often less impactful. The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA), for example, reportedly receives only about 1% of its operating revenue from advertising. This raises a difficult question for urban planners and citizens: would the public be willing to pay slightly more for services in exchange for an ad-free environment?
This tension highlights the fundamental difference between digital and physical advertising. In the digital world, consumers have some level of agency; they can close a tab, delete an app, or put down their device. In the physical world, there is no "opt-out" button. You cannot close a subway platform or ignore a billboard that dominates your commute.
Talking Heds: Industry Moves and Market Shifts
While the OOH boom reshapes the physical landscape, several other key developments are currently defining the media and advertising industries:
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Sinclair’s Substack Venture: Sinclair, a local broadcast giant reaching nearly 38% of U.S. households, is taking a surprisingly experimental step by launching a national news brand on Substack called The National Press. Led by CEO Chris Ripley, the venture will leverage Sinclair’s network of 1,200 journalists to test the appetite for news within the Substack ecosystem through both free and paid tiers.
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Morning Brew’s Creator Acquisition: In a move that solidifies its commitment to creator-led media, Morning Brew has acquired Express Checkout in an all-cash deal. The brand, which covers the CPG industry, will see its founders Nate Rosen and Jenna Movsowitz join Morning Brew as employees. CEO Robert Dippell noted that the company’s creator-focused monetization has grown by more than 50% year-over-year.
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The Rise of Skydance: The media landscape has a new behemoth following the merger of Skydance and Warner Bros. Discovery. The David Ellison-led empire now controls iconic brands like Paramount, HBO, CNN, and CBS. However, the new entity faces a daunting $80 billion debt load and currently sits in fourth place in the streaming wars, leaving it with a significant challenge in convincing advertisers of its "must-buy" status.
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Piers Morgan’s YouTube Empire: Former television host Piers Morgan is proving the viability of the YouTube-first model. His Uncensored Media brand is now launching $4.99 monthly subscriptions for its various franchises, including royals and soccer coverage. Under new CEO Rashida Jones, the company is diversifying into licensing and events, marking a successful transition from linear TV to digital ownership.
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OpenWeb’s Financial Strain: The adtech firm OpenWeb, once valued at $1.5 billion, recently sought insolvency protection in an Israeli court. The company’s struggles—triggered by the loss of a major client in Microsoft and an internal boardroom coup—serve as a stark reminder of the volatility facing firms that rely heavily on the shrinking open web advertising market.
The Next Frontier: In-Game Advertising
While physical space and newsletters are seeing a resurgence, the world of video games is being eyed as the next massive advertising medium. Wes Morton, co-founder and CEO of Creativ Company, believes that automated, programmatic advertising will soon become a staple of the gaming experience.
"Publishers were always open to custom partnership deals, but now they’re professionalizing," Morton says. He points to the viewership of The Game Awards—which now exceeds the audience of the major traditional award shows combined—as evidence of the medium’s scale.
The delay in gaming’s ad evolution has largely been technical. Unlike a flat website, a 3D video game environment makes measuring "viewability" much more complex, as the player’s perspective is constantly shifting. However, with the IAB recently introducing in-game advertising standards, the "pipes" are finally being built.
Morton predicts that as cloud gaming technology improves, high-fidelity games will be streamed directly to televisions with smartphones serving as controllers. This "ease of entry" will likely turn gaming into one of the most dominant advertising platforms of the next five years, further blurring the lines between entertainment and marketing.
For two decades, the flow of advertising dollars followed consumers from the physical world into the digital one. Now, driven by the complexities of AI and a growing desire for authentic, unskippable experiences, that value is beginning to flow back toward the physical realm. The coming years will determine just how much of our physical environment we are willing to trade for the convenience of subsidized services and the evolution of the media landscape.
