How big is programmatic DOOH in 2026? The most complete global measure so far, the World Out of Home Organization's first programmatic spend study, puts it at $1.339 billion in 2025, about 7% of all digital out-of-home spend. That is small next to the wider market: WOO estimates total out-of-home spend at $54.2 billion in 2025, with digital at 47% of it. The gap is the main story in the numbers below, and it is also why so many figures quoted online disagree.
Every figure on this page links to the report or trade coverage it comes from, with the period it covers. Where a number is our own calculation, we say so.
The key numbers at a glance
| Figure | What it measures | Source and period |
|---|---|---|
| $54.2 billion, up 15% | Global out-of-home ad spend, all formats | WOO Global OOH Expenditure Report 2026, 2025 data |
| 47% | Digital share of global out-of-home spend | WOO, 2025 data |
| $1.339 billion, 7.0% | Global programmatic DOOH spend, and its share of DOOH | WOO Global pDOOH Expenditure Study, published September 2026, 2025 data |
| $9.46 billion, up 3.6% | US out-of-home revenue, a record | OAAA, reported March 2026, 2025 data |
| 36.3%, up 10.5% | Digital share of US out-of-home revenue, and digital's growth | OAAA, 2025 data |
| $6.53 | Average programmatic CPM on one US platform | Place Exchange H1 2025 report |
Why market-size figures disagree
Search for "programmatic DOOH market size" and you will find numbers several times apart. Three things usually explain it:
- Different definitions. Some figures count only spend that passes through supply-side platforms. Others include direct deals booked through automated tools, or forecast the whole DOOH market and call it programmatic.
- Different bases. A share of DOOH, a share of all out-of-home and a share of total ad spend are three different percentages.
- Different methods. WOO's study counts only revenue transacted through SSPs, built from data that 12 SSPs submitted to PwC, which aggregated it without auditing or verifying the individual submissions. Country figures appear only where at least three SSPs reported, so smaller markets show up only in regional totals. Paid research-firm forecasts use their own models, which are often not published.
Illustrative example: checking two figures against each other
Illustrative example. The calculation below is ours, using only the published figures above.
- WOO's programmatic study: $1.339 billion is 7.0% of DOOH, which implies a DOOH base of about $1.339 billion ÷ 0.07 ≈ $19.1 billion.
- WOO's expenditure report: 47% of $54.2 billion is about $25.5 billion of DOOH.
- The two bases differ by roughly $6 billion, even though both come from the same organisation for the same year.
The likely reason is that the two studies collect data differently and cover different markets, but the reports themselves are the place to confirm that. The practical lesson: when you quote a share, quote its base and source with it, and do not mix a percentage from one study with a total from another.
Where programmatic DOOH is most developed
Programmatic penetration, meaning programmatic spend as a share of DOOH spend, varies far more by country than by region. From WOO's 2025 data, as reported by Billboard Insider in September 2026:
| Market | Programmatic DOOH spend | Penetration |
|---|---|---|
| Americas | $667 million | 14.1% |
| United States | $545.5 million | 15.9% |
| Canada | $73.1 million | 15.0% |
| EMEA | $521 million | 9.4% |
| Western Europe | $346.7 million | 21.3% |
| Germany | Not stated in the coverage | 31.8% |
| Asia-Pacific | $151 million | 1.7% |
Asia-Pacific is the clearest contrast. WOO's expenditure report shows digital is a larger share of out-of-home there (55.7% of spend) than in Europe (41.3%) or North America (36.9%), yet its programmatic penetration is the lowest of the three regions. Eastern Asia alone has a DOOH base of $7.3 billion with programmatic penetration of 0.6%. In other words, plenty of screens, mostly sold directly.
How it is bought
- Private marketplaces dominate. In WOO's study, private marketplace deals took 75.7% of global programmatic DOOH spend in 2025. On Place Exchange's US platform in H1 2025, custom and always-on PMPs together took 96%, and programmatic guaranteed rose to 5% from 2% in the previous half.
- Specialist DSPs lead. OOH-specialist DSPs accounted for 65.5% of global programmatic DOOH spend in WOO's data, with omnichannel DSPs taking the rest. Our guide to choosing a DSP for programmatic DOOH covers how to compare them.
- Outdoor screens take the most spend, retail is next. Broadsign's 2026 programmatic report, summarised by Billboard Insider in August 2026, found outdoor venues took 48.4% of 2025 programmatic spend on the Broadsign and Place Exchange platforms and retail 18.5%. Place Exchange's H1 2025 report shows a similar order: outdoor 51%, retail 15%, entertainment 11%, transit 10%. Retail's place in that list is why we track retail media networks and programmatic DOOH closely.
For the mechanics behind these deal types, see how programmatic DOOH buying works.
What it costs
Published CPMs vary with the platform, the venue and how impressions are counted, so treat any single number as a reference point rather than a price.
- Platform average. Place Exchange reported an average programmatic CPM of $6.53 in H1 2025, down from $7.62 in H2 2024, on its US platform.
- By venue. AdQuick's benchmark page, based on programmatic transactions in its marketplace from July 2025 to June 2026 and reviewed in September 2026, gives a median of about $8 for roadside digital and $14 for airports, with retail and mall screens around $10. These are CPMs on delivered ad plays, which AdQuick notes are not directly comparable with CPMs on directly booked inventory.
To compare these with fixed-price buys, see what a digital billboard slot costs per four-week cycle, and to turn a CPM into a budget, use our free DOOH CPM calculator.
How audiences respond
Response data mostly comes from surveys rather than measured campaigns, so it is best read as direction rather than proof. A Harris Poll study for the OAAA, published in April 2024 and based on 1,023 US adults aged 18 to 64, found that 80% are likely to take action after seeing DOOH content they find entertaining or visually appealing, and that 73% view DOOH ads favourably. Respondents also rated time-specific and weather-related offers as useful, which supports the case for dynamic creative based on weather and time. The OAAA is an industry trade body, which is worth noting when you cite it.
For your own campaigns, a test with a control group beats any industry average; our guide to measuring pDOOH success shows how to set one up.
Before you quote a statistic
- Open the original report, not a roundup that quotes it.
- Note the period the data covers, which is often a year before the publication date.
- Note the scope: one platform, one country or global.
- Note the base of any percentage: DOOH, all out-of-home or all advertising.
- Check who produced it and whether they sell the medium.
- Prefer the newest edition, and say which edition you used.
Several figures that circulate widely, including some in earlier versions of this page, could not be traced to an original source when we rechecked them in October 2026, so they have been removed. If a number matters to a decision, trace it yourself.