As regular readers of The FPC Newsletter know, we are massive bulls on OOH ad tech. We have discussed the macro trends that are making the channel a huge opportunity for innovative ad tech startups.
We talked about its continued importance for brand building in an AI-first world that is quickly collapsing the traditional marketing funnel.
And we put the case forward for a $100 billion OOH market by the end of the decade.
In this edition of the newsletter, we’ll outline a clear thesis for why OOH is a key investment focus for our Fund 2. It’s an exciting space, and we are all in.
The Market Opportunity
Let’s start with the raw numbers and projected growth over the next decade. In 2025, the market grew 15% to $54 billion. WOO (World Out of Home Organisation) attributed this strong growth to the rise of programmatic and DOOH.
Even if growth compounded at the rate of 4% - roughly the rate implied by WOO’s own trajectory, and backed up by PwC’s 3.9% OOH forecast - the market will be in excess of $66 billion by 2030.
At the bullish end of the scale (because we love to over-index to the bull case), we could get into the 75-100 billion range. To get there, you’d need not only a strong macroeconomic tailwind but also a significant shift in how buyers perceive OOH.
OOH would need to steal market share from other channels, and overlap with hyper-growth retail media would need to accelerate aggressively.
Why are these headline numbers great for ad tech startups? A few underlying data points are worth outlining here: digital screens now account for nearly half of OOH inventory, overtaking static supply by the end of the year; pDOOH is still small but is expected to grow at 17% per year until the end of the decade.
These two pieces of information underline why it’s a great time to build activation and measurement solutions in the space - put simply, OOH needs more ad tech.
Why Industry Fragmentation Is Good For Business
OOH remains a highly fragmented space. Lots of independent players operate on the supply and demand side. It feels like pre-programmatic display advertising. On the media side, the big opportunity is at the aggregation layer, since screen/inventory owners are unlikely to consolidate. And right now, many opportunities remain to build either programmatic infrastructure or a classic ad net.
Just a note: vanilla aggregation is not the winner. Sales houses offer undifferentiated supply. Data-driven solutions with access to unique demand/supply will be requisite for any OOH growth story. Buyers want addressable scale. Sellers want new sources of demand.
No Google. No Meta. No Amazon. No Walled Gardens.
Google, Amazon and Meta run huge monopolies across the biggest media channels. But big tech cannot leverage its digital heft (data and assets) in OOH to dominate, making it very attractive to both builders and investors.
Sure, big tech integrates DSPs (DV360 and Amazon DSP) into some pDOOH supply - but extreme fragmentation and chronic complexity prevent another suffocating monopolist play.
You can build ad tech for OOH without worrying about aggressive price gouging or competition-crushing auction manipulation - which big tech has been either accused (Amazon) or found liable for (Google).
Big tech is part of the ecosystem; it’s not the ecosystem itself. Another reason to be all over this vertical.
The M&A Proves Why OOH Is A Strong Area To Invest
The OOH M&A market is very robust. Over the last few years, outcomes have totalled billions. Between 2023 and 2026, notable OOH ad tech deals include Perion-to-Hivestack ($100M+), T-Mobile-to-Vistar Media ($621M) and MidOcean Partners-to-GSTV ($500-600M).
Europe has seen several big exits. Blis, ClearChannel (Northern European assets sold to Bauer for $625 million), Skyrise and Splicky all point to a healthy M&A market in Europe.
We believe there is a lot of juice left in OOH European lemon - especially if you invest in the right solution and create the right conditions.
What We Are Looking For - In OOH Ad Tech
It’s important to outline what we are looking to invest in. Are we looking for another DSP or SSP? No. On the media side, we like ad nets. Ad nets with a data/tech asset, unique supply and unique demand. We like a good monopoly - a category with one dominant player.
There is a bunch of whitespace in OOH, and we are excited about what could be built. There is a commercial blueprint to get these companies to revenue and profitability. FPC has the resources and network to invest, scale and exit (at very strong multiples). We are lining up at least two investments that fit our internal thesis.
We also like measurement and attribution. Measurement is messy in OOH; fragmentation makes it very difficult to measure ad efficacy. It is changing, no doubt - but it still has a way to go. That is presenting an opening for new companies to think smarter and bigger. OOH is evolving to become an essential outcomes-focused channel for big brands - not just an add-on mid-to-upper funnel activation.
How Do We Go From Standing Start To A £100 Million+ Exit?
FPC has access to 250+ LPs in senior roles across the global industry. Some of whom have deep experience scaling big OOH plays.
As an in-the-weeds ad tech specialist fund, we have a plan to make this work (TLDR outlined below).
Identify the defensible area
Combine commercial framework with proprietary data/tech
Build the category
Hype the category
Establish category leadership
Know the buying cohort from day one
Sell the business to one of the identified cohorts (through a tried-and-tested FPC methodology)
And that ends our in-depth OOH thesis. Happy to expand on the above and give our LPs the insider view. Until next time, readers.