Product News | October 11, 2021

Why digital wayfinding signage is better for your business

We all know the feeling of walking into a large building and having no idea where to go. Roaming through hallways, taking wrong turns or trying to find someone to show you the way can be an absolute nightmare.

Luckily, this doesn’t stop people from exploring new places. In fact, people spend 70% of their time away from home. To make the journey more exciting, digital wayfinding signage is the way to go.

Show instead of tell

Digital Wayfinding — Adding mobile to the mix makes it even easier to navigate locations. With QR codes, apps and websites, maps and instructions can be sent straight to smartphones so people don’t have to look for another kiosk if they need more information.

With smartphones, tablets and laptops, it is now easier than ever for people to explore their surroundings. And while Google maps and online directories are useful tools, they’re only one piece of the wayfinding puzzle. Digital wayfinding solutions dig deeper to provide people with customized, up-to-date, interactive information.

Beyond what their static ‘you are here’ ancestors can provide, digital touchscreen kiosks and interactive screens show users tailored instructions on how to reach their destination. With highlighted paths and 3D maps, visitors can visualize exactly what route they are going to take.

Better your screens, better your business

Unlike static, digital allows businesses to collect data about user behavior based on searches and clicks. This lets businesses review, monitor and analyze the effectiveness of their digital directory.

Places with high foot traffic can benefit from knowing what stores and services are searched for more often, helping build strategies to make shops more visible and easier to find. The information gained from analytics can help businesses understand what content works and what doesn’t.

User data can help businesses like malls, airports and museums grow and improve their offerings. Search volume can be used to determine which new shops or added services will be most interesting to customers.

And while digital wayfinding signage is a great way to increase customer satisfaction, it is also a useful tool for internal communications. “Building managers and HR personnel can use kiosks and real-time data to better the work environment,” explained Jérôme Hérard, founding partner at ViaDirect, a global leader in digital wayfinding solutions. “With the recent popularity in flexible working conditions, desk sharing and coworking spaces, having a digital system in place to keep everyone informed is essential.”

Update content on the fly

Printed maps and static signs can quickly become outdated, seeing as offices reorganize, exhibits change and shops relocate on a regular basis. Digital wayfinding solutions makes these changes a breeze. With the ability to update maps and directories in minutes, maps are kept up-to-date without having to spend hundreds if not thousands on printing and installing static posters.

Digital screens also have the added ability to display non-wayfinding content. When no one is actively looking for directions, screens can display current weather, event schedules, local news and other interesting content. Locations can also make extra revenue by displaying advertisements on the screen.
Businesses can also add to the user experience by getting creative with their screens’ messages and colors to present an exciting brand identity. Personalized content and wayfinding features leave a positive impression on a user.

Digital wayfinding signage is the perfect solution for businesses to enhance their consumer experience and an easy way to manage and update content.

Product News | October 11, 2021

A sneak peek at the data-backed findings in our 2026 Programmatic DOOH Trends Report

Cover of the "Programmatic DOOH Trends 2026 Report" featuring a nighttime cityscape with digital billboards in Times Square and Broadsign branding.

Programmatic digital out-of-home (pDOOH) is thriving, bringing digital speed and accountability to a medium built on real-world reach. But as the channel’s capabilities expand and campaigns become more sophisticated, so do the investment strategies behind them.

To better understand the trends and shifts defining today’s programmatic OOH marketplace, we analyzed aggregated transaction data from the Broadsign and Place Exchange SSPs — together representing the world’s largest independent programmatic OOH ecosystem, with more than 1.7 million programmatically-enabled screens and over 1.5 trillion available impressions each month.

The result is Broadsign’s new 2026 Programmatic DOOH Trends Report: a comprehensive global snapshot of programmatic digital out-of-home activity. Drawing on full-year 2025 and Q1 2026 internal transaction data, it surfaces useful signals about what today’s buyers value — and how media owners can use those signals to inform inventory positioning and packaging strategies.

Read on for a sneak peek of some of the key findings you’ll find inside.

The programmatic digital out-of-home market is maturing

Programmatic DOOH is no longer limited to a small group of early adopters. Today’s advertiser mix reflects a channel that has proven its value across a wide range of business contexts and use cases — a clear sign of a maturing market.

Top Spending Advertiser Categories

*Global, full-year 2025 | Categorized by IAB category*

Food & Drink, at 18.5%, remained the largest advertiser category by spend share in 2025, followed by Shopping at 11.8% — reinforcing the channel’s strong fit for brands looking to influence consumer decisions close to the point of purchase. Meanwhile, Personal Finance (10.5%) and Technology (8.9%), the third- and fourth-largest categories, together accounted for nearly a fifth of all programmatic OOH spend last year, highlighting OOH’s appeal among categories with longer consideration cycles.

A diverse mix of demand is a strategic advantage for media owners. It reduces dependence on any single industry’s budget cycles while creating more opportunities to grow revenue across a range of advertiser categories and campaign objectives.

Programmatic DOOH spend extends beyond core outdoor environments

The broad-reach outdoor environments that out-of-home has long been known for continue to anchor programmatic OOH spend. But advertisers are also investing across a diverse range of other context-rich venue types, indicating strong demand to reach audiences in relevant moments throughout the physical world.

Spend distribution by venue category

Outdoor accounted for nearly half (48.4%) of all 2025 spend, reflecting its unmatched ability to deliver wide coverage and cost-effective reach. Retail (18.5%) also occupies a distinct position in the mix thanks to its proximity to real-world purchase decisions. Transit (12.7%) and Entertainment (10.4%) venues followed, demonstrating strong buyer demand for high-dwell environments.

Reach is still the foundation of programmatic DOOH, but buyers aren’t taking a one-size-fits-all approach. They’re investing across a wide mix of venues to support different marketing objectives, making it more important than ever for media owners to highlight what makes each environment unique. The clearer the value proposition, the more opportunities to win new campaigns.

The market is rallying around a few key formats

Programmatic OOH creative — both video and display — is converging around a relatively small number of dominant formats, making cross-network activation (and cross-channel repurposing of creative assets) more straightforward for buyers and giving media owners a clear picture of what creative specs to prioritize.

For example, just two asset sizes — 1080×1920 (vertical portrait) and 1920×1080 (landscape) — collectively accounted for 77% of all programmatic video spend in 2025. Similarly, the top three display ad sizes — 1080×1920 (31.4%), 1920×1080 (23.3%), and 1400×400 (24.2%) — made up 79% of total display spend.

Increasing standardization around creative specifications gives media owners a clear benchmark for the creative capabilities their network should support. Clearly communicating those capabilities — including supported formats, resolutions, and dynamic triggers — can simplify campaign activation and strengthen inventory positioning.

Buyers want curated, negotiated access to premium inventory

Similar to other programmatic channels, private marketplaces are the dominant transaction mechanism in programmatic OOH.

*Global, full-year 2025 | Place Exchange transactions only*

Custom Private Marketplace (PMP) deals — offering buyers the ability to construct deals against specific inventory and audience criteria — were the dominant transaction type in 2025, accounting for 65.8% of all programmatic OOH spend. Always-on PMP deals represented the second-highest share of overall spend (20.5%), highlighting strong demand for turnkey access to curated inventory without the need to establish new agreements.

While open auction remains an efficient way for media owners to make inventory broadly available to programmatic demand, buyers have shown a clear preference for negotiated exchanges and more controlled buying. To remain competitive, media owners should offer inventory through a range of transaction models — including Custom PMPs, Always-on PMPs, and Programmatic Guaranteed deals — to support different campaign requirements.

Explore more in-depth findings in our 2026 Programmatic DOOH Trends Report

Access additional benchmarks, regional trends, and category-level insights drawn from aggregated transaction data from the world’s largest independent programmatic OOH ecosystem.

Month: November 2017