The retail industry just put serious money behind digital billboards. Retail is the biggest advertiser category in global programmatic digital out-of-home: $165 million in 2025, 12.4% of total spend, with finance right behind at $161 million. When the most measurement-obsessed buyers on earth put nine figures into a channel, the testing window is open.
Why these numbers are a signal, not a story
Read the leaderboard. Retail at $165 million and 12.4%, finance at $161 million, a gap of $4 million on a $1.4 billion base. That is essentially a tie with a narrative, and it is the point: two industries with completely different businesses independently decided that buying digital screens programmatically is worth nine figures.
Retailers buy proximity to stores and foot traffic. Financial brands buy trust and mass awareness in crowded places. When both land at the top of the same channel, the signal is about the channel, not the category. Buying screens programmatically has crossed from experimental budget to strategic budget for the advertisers with the most to lose.
What maturity looks like
Total global programmatic digital out-of-home hit $1.4 billion in 2025, and 34.5% of it already flows through the same buying platforms advertisers use for everything else. That is the maturity metric. It means billboards get planned against the same audiences and objectives as the rest of your mix, judged on the same outcomes, and bought without new vendors, new contracts, or new workflows.
Why the small base is your entry window
The honest caveat: programmatic is about 7% of all digital out-of-home spend. Roughly 93% of the world's screens still trade the old way, through direct buys and long-term contracts.
That is not a weakness in the story. A channel at 7% programmatic penetration, with retail and finance already spending nine figures each, is early in its adoption curve, not late. Retail leads because the channel finally became testable: buy screens in a few markets, measure against foot traffic or sales lift, scale what works. Buyers right now are fishing in a lightly contested pond, with less auction competition, better prices, and cheaper learning. Waiting until programmatic billboards are obvious means waiting until they are expensive.
The one-market test playbook
Start with one market and one objective: store visits, local awareness, or event support. One market keeps the test cheap. One objective keeps the read clean. If retail is buying screens programmatically at this pace, run the same test they run.
Buy through the platform you already use for other channels. Build creative for the medium: screens get seconds of attention at a distance, so use short copy, high contrast, and one idea per placement. Measure like you mean it: foot traffic lift, store sales in exposed markets, awareness gains. If the test market shows lift, expand to the next tier of markets. If it does not, you spent test money to learn something real, which is the entire point of the 7% window.
Read the study like an analyst
One fair warning: this is the first edition of the study, and 2025 figures are estimates. Methodology settles over time. Treat this edition as the baseline and watch the trend. Anchor on the structural numbers: retail at $165 million and 12.4%, finance at $161 million, $1.4 billion total, 34.5% through existing platforms, programmatic at about 7% of all out-of-home. If the 7% climbs and the $1.4 billion compounds in future editions, the thesis holds.
Where does your brand show up when your customer looks up from their phone?
Data over opinions.
How we can help
We as your partner plan, run, and measure your digital billboard campaigns alongside your other channels. We cut wasteful middlemen so more of your budget reaches real customers. We design a one-market test around one business objective, then scale to more markets only when the results justify it. And we track foot traffic, store sales, and awareness gains back to the ads that drove them.
Frequently asked questions
How do I test digital billboard advertising without risking much budget?
Start with one market and one objective, such as store visits, local awareness, or event support. One market keeps the test cheap and one objective keeps the read clean. If the test market shows lift, expand to the next tier of markets. If it does not, you spent test money to learn something real.
Why should I buy billboard ads through the DSP I already use?
34.5% of programmatic DOOH spend already flows through omni-channel DSPs, and the buyers getting value are planning it alongside everything else. That means planning billboards against the same audiences and objectives instead of in a silo, with unified reporting that judges DOOH on the same outcomes as the rest of the mix. You can add screens without new vendors, contracts, or workflows.
How do I measure whether my billboard ads are working?
Judge the test on business outcomes, the same standard the rest of your mix faces. Measure foot traffic lift, store sales in exposed markets, and brand awareness deltas. Build creative for the medium too: screens get seconds of attention at distance, so use short copy, high contrast, and one idea per placement.
Is it too late to get value from programmatic billboard ads?
No, programmatic is only about 7% of all digital out-of-home spend, so the channel is early in its adoption curve, not late. Less auction competition means better prices and better placements for early movers. Waiting until programmatic billboard buying is obvious means waiting until it is expensive.
Sources
Want your brand on the screens retail buyers are bidding on?
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