Since the Broadsign announcement of their purchase of Place Exchange we have been discussing how this transaction may impact the industry with a number of critical players in the OOH space.
First, a few key comments from a conversation we had with Ari Buchalter, the CEO of Place Exchange:
Ari, can you confirm yet, that Broadsign generally supports your move towards MRC approval for the PerView product? We understand that there are not yet final standards from the MRC and that would create a decision point. I am trying to get a sense of the new owners as you know it impacts the OOH industry.
Broadsign is very excited about adding PerView to their market-leading offerings, and we look forward to continuing growing PerView as part of the Broadsign portfolio. We continue to believe that accreditation is an important criterion for any industry measurement solution, and we look forward to the complete MRC standards for OOH being finalized and released.
How will Place Exchange fit into the Broadsign universe?
The Place Exchange brand, products and team will continue to operate in the market under the Broadsign banner. I will be taking a role on the executive team at Broadsign, which will include overseeing a number of key product areas and growth initiatives, very similar to my focus at Place Exchange, with the objective of growing the combined business.
Burr Smith is the Chairman, President and CEO of Broadsign. Here are his thoughts as the new owner of Place Exchange
Burr, From your perspective, why is bringing Place Exchange under the Broadsign banner a key move for your business?
The Place Exchange acquisition is a key move for Broadsign for a number of reasons – for starters their strength in the US market complements our international programmatic media reach exceptionally well which will be a significant value driver for our media partners; Second, Place Exchange also has some great technology and talent that will work well for us in many parts of our business from the leading programmatic guaranteed solution to retail media to measurement. We are just all-around really thrilled to bring the two organizations together.
Broadsign shares on your website, that the Company is making it easier than ever for media owners, agencies and brands to harness the power of out-of-home and connect with audiences across the globe. Could you give us two key ways that you see Place Exchange adding to that commitment?
By combining our organizations and technology together, we will power more than 3 million signs through programmatic pipes and our full-stack OOH platform. Unifying our solutions will simplify the path to market and open significant new revenue opportunities for media owners around the globe.
Second, Broadsign is really focused on helping to solve some of the bigger, long-term problems our industry faces which are primarily around the complexity and manual workflows required when planning and buying out-of-home inventory. Programmatic buys only cover 10% of the industry, meaning that 90% of OOH media buys are not leveraging the advanced data, audiences, real-time inventory availability, and booking tools that we have on the programmatic side and that we know brand advertisers want. Bringing these types of tools to the direct, in-advance, buying side of the business is critical to growing the entire OOH industry. The technology from Place Exchange will help us advance on this front significantly.
The Broadsign family and management team have really enjoyed our journey in our industry and we’re pleased with the progress that we’ve made. But our objective has always been to help the OOH industry achieve its true destiny in the overall advertising market and there’s still quite a way to go on that journey.
Insider also reached out to Mark Boidman, Partner & Entertainment Group Head at Solomon Partners, who served as financial advisor to Broadsign on its acquisition of Place Exchange.
Mark, what is Solomon Partners sense of how adding Place Exchange will benefit Broadsign.
We believe this transaction makes Broadsign the clear number one global provider of tech solutions to the out of home media industry adding the leading supply-side platform as it relates to OOH and in store media.
IBO has a strong connection with Place Exchanges’ PerView product and and we reached out to Chris Cowlbeck, CVO at IBO.
Chris, what’s your read of the transaction and how it impacts the IBO membership.
PerView has seen increasing adoption with our members and with buyers, and in speaking with the PerView team after the announcement, we’re delighted to hear that it’s full steam ahead!” Chris Cowlbeck, CVO IBO.
Insider’s thoughts – Why is this important? Let’s start with measurement. We have heard that possibly in the first quarter of 2026 there may be a completed industry standard for measurement in the OOH space. We see agreement on one industry measurement standard, not only as important, but a game changer for whoever successfully moves first through the accreditation process. As of today, Place Exchange has been the only company, we know of, who has publicly stated their intent to do so. The addition of Broadsign provides a financially strong parent company with an international commitment to the OOH industry.
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