By Pavle Kraishnik, Account Executive, Advertising at Invenda Group.
Every two weeks, I filter the advertising signals worth your time and explain what they mean for media buyers.
This week, two recent DOOH stories stood out to me. One points to where the market is growing. The other shows why physical and digital advertising are becoming stronger when they work together. Two different signals, one clear direction: DOOH is becoming more valuable when it moves closer to the point of purchase, and when it connects to the rest of the media journey
What happened: A new US market forecast covered by PPC Land projects that digital out-of-home (DOOH) will grow 14.5% in 2026, the fastest rate of any ad segment, while traditional OOH grows just 1.5%. The same data expects in-store retail media to drive 55.9% of DOOH’s total growth between 2025 and 2029.
My take: DOOH is not a niche channel anymore.
The brands and agencies that are still treating DOOH as a supplementary line item are going to find themselves behind. The growth is being driven by screens that are closer to the point of purchase, and that shift changes everything about how you think about attribution, audience targeting and campaign ROI.
For media buyers specifically, the question is no longer whether DOOH belongs in the plan. It’s which placements actually deliver at the moment that matters, and that’s where the real conversation is starting to happen.
At Invenda Group AG, we’re sitting right at the intersection of this shift. Our smart vending machine screens are not passive billboards; they’re retail media touchpoints at the exact moment someone is ready to buy. That’s the 55.9% story playing out in real time.
What happened: A 2026 trends piece from Advision highlights Nielsen research showing that OOH combined with mobile delivers 48% higher brand recall than a single channel alone. Its core argument: this is the year physical and digital advertising genuinely converge
My take: The 48% brand recall figure is the one that should make every media planner stop and pay attention.
We talk a lot about reach and impressions in this industry, but recall is what actually moves purchase behavior, and the combination of a physical screen with a mobile touchpoint is proving to be one of the most effective pairings in modern media.
What this tells me is that the brands winning right now are not choosing between digital and physical. They’re connecting them. A screen that catches your attention in a transit hub, followed by a mobile retargeting moment, is not two separate tactics. It’s one cohesive brand experience.
Invenda Group AG screens are built for exactly this. A smart vending machine in a GO station or a university campus is a high-attention physical moment. Pair that with a digital follow-up and you have the kind of multi-channel presence that the data consistently shows drives recall and conversion.
The bigger picture: Put the two signals together and the direction is clear: DOOH becomes more valuable as it moves closer to the point of purchase, and as it connects to the rest of the media journey. This channel will not be won by scale alone. It will be won by screens that help brands show up in the moments that can influence a decision.
--
Read this article and subscribe on LinkedIn
