By Chad Smith, VP Supply, Blip Billboards

Whether you run a single board or 10,000, you’ve likely felt it: the pace is faster, the expectations are higher, and the margin for error is tighter. And yet, too often, we’re still playing from a handbook written for another era.
The out-of-home industry is changing. The way we buy, sell, measure, and manage campaigns is evolving-and not slowly. What worked five years ago feels outdated today. But that’s not a bad thing. It’s a sign of progress. The real challenge isn’t the change itself. It’s that some of the ways we work together haven’t caught up yet. That is where some of the inefficiencies come: old mentalities.
We All Want the Same Thing
Most people in this industry-media owners, platforms, buyers, and agencies-want the same things. Campaigns that perform. Revenue that’s sustainable. Systems that make the work easier, not harder.
Buyers want access and results. Media owners want control and value. Tech partners want adoption and performance. These goals aren’t at odds. They just haven’t always been aligned. There’s more common ground than we give ourselves credit for. The friction doesn’t come from what we want. It comes from how disconnected the journey has become between those wants.
What Needs to Shift
If we want a more modern, responsive, and resilient OOH industry, we need more than better tech. We need better collaboration.
- Communication: Let’s stop pretending every company needs its own language. We gain more by speaking plainly, sharing ideas, and reducing the guesswork.
- Transparency: Whether it’s pricing, reporting, or expectations-clarity is good business.
- Trust: And not just from buyers, but between owners, platforms, and everyone else working to push this space forward.
We don’t need more walled gardens. We need more alignment, shared language, and wins that are easier to replicate.
The Role of Leadership
The industry doesn’t need a hero. It needs a network of leaders willing to collaborate-even when it’s inconvenient. That means media owners stepping into uncomfortable conversations, examining some of their previous bias and ways of doing things. That means platforms like Blip | Adkom doing more than just building tech-we’re here to lead with transparency and flexibility, creating momentum that lifts the whole ecosystem and helps media owners win, not just participate. Have we got it right 100% of the time? No, but if we can continue to evolve we can get a ton closer.
That includes me. That includes you. That includes anyone who wants to be part of something bigger than their own bottom line.
No one company or group will fix out-of-home. But if enough of us are willing to work together, we can build something better than any of us could on our own.
Let’s Build the Next Chapter
If you’re tired of the same loop, you’re not alone. I’ve had more conversations than I can count with people across the industry who feel the same way. People who want to do good work and see this industry grow-but also want a better way to get there.
The next chapter of OOH doesn’t belong to the biggest or the loudest. It belongs to the ones willing to listen, collaborate, and move forward-together.
Let’s keep building.
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I 100% agree! Thank you for putting this out there.