There’s nothing like cold, hard facts to bring something into perspective, and when we began gathering stats for this look at out of home by the numbers, we were kind of floored.
We love outdoor advertising, of course, but even we were surprised at just how much it has grown, improved and progressed since its invention nearly two centuries ago.
One thing that really caught our eye was this: A recent Magna Global report looked at United States ad spending since 2010 and forecast totals through 2021. Every other major form of advertising, aside from digital, will see its share of total ad spending decline by at least 10 percentage points. Outdoor is the only one that will remain steady, at 4.2 percent.
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That speaks to the versatility and, most notably at a time when digital is soaring, durability of this medium, especially when compared to less-flexible formats like radio and print.
But that’s just one thing we found. There are plenty of others, and we’ll wager that even the most seasoned outdoor veterans don’t know all of these facts about billboards and other formats.
A quick note on sourcing, because we know that’s important. We culled our facts from industry trade groups, top researchers, agencies and other well-respected sources. Unless otherwise noted, statistics apply to the United States and shares of people refer to Americans.
So without further ado, here’s a look at some fascinating research and history about OOH. Just for fun, we broke our numbers into eight categories, with eight pieces of information in each. Take a look!
1. Ad Spending
$9.1 billion — OOH ad revenue in the United States in 2024, the first time in history the medium has crossed the $9 billion mark
4.5% — year-over-year growth in OOH spending in 2024
$6.98 billion — year-to-date OOH revenue through Q3 2025, representing 3.2% growth
$2.13 billion — Q3 2025 OOH revenue, the highest third-quarter volume ever recorded — the 18th consecutive quarter of year-over-year growth
34% — share of total OOH ad spend accounted for by Digital OOH (DOOH) in 2024, up 7.5% from the prior year
27% — share of the top 100 OOH spenders that were technology or direct-to-consumer brands in 2025
3.6% — projected lift in OOH ad spending for 2026, driven by the US midterm elections and the Winter Olympics
13 — number of advertisers that more than doubled their OOH investment in 2024, including Stripe, Nike, Honda, Meta, and Old Navy
2. Out of Home Advertising Effectiveness and Reach
76% — share of consumers who took action after seeing an OOH ad
74% — share of mobile device users who took action on their phones after seeing a DOOH ad, including searching for the brand (44%), visiting its website (38%), or checking its social media (30%)
73% — share of consumers who view DOOH ads favorably — significantly higher than television (50%) or social media (48%)
71% — share of consumers who say they often notice billboards while traveling
65% — share of consumers who search online after seeing an OOH ad
48% — how much more likely consumers exposed to OOH are to visit a physical store
47% — share of consumers who searched for social media handles featured on OOH ads
74.5% — share of OOH revenues coming from large-format ads in Q1 2025, per the OAAA
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70% — share of waking hours people spend away from home, creating constant OOH exposure opportunities
300 hours — time the average driver spends in a car per year, exposed to roadside OOH
194 minutes — time the average person spends in a car each weekday
93% — share of Americans who have driven or ridden in a car in the past month
25,000–50,000 — daily views an average billboard in a metropolitan area receives; up to 100,000 impressions per day on high-traffic freeways
95%+ — visibility rates achievable at pedestrian-heavy intersections
16,000+ — digital billboards now set up across the United States, a 40% increase year over year
⅓ — share of TikTok virality trends that have started from or included OOH displays
4. Return on Investment
$5.97 — average return in product sales for every $1 spent on OOH advertising
497% — average ROI delivered by billboard advertising, per the OAAA
316% — boost in mobile ad campaign ROI when OOH is added to the mix, per OAAA research
$2–$7 — OOH cost per thousand impressions (CPM), the lowest among all major media channels
20–40% — lift in search campaign performance when supported by OOH
15–40% — increase in OOH ROI when location-based targeting is added
43% — share of adults who noticed an OOH ad and visited the advertised business within 30 minutes
96% — share of marketers and agencies who plan to increase or maintain their DOOH spending over the next 12 months, per DPAA research
5. History
1867 — year the first billboard leasing companies appeared in the United States
1891 — year the OAAA was founded, making it one of the oldest advertising trade groups in the country
1925 — year Burma-Shave began its famous roadside sign campaigns, one of the earliest examples of sequential OOH storytelling
1965 — year the Highway Beautification Act was signed, restricting billboard placement near federally funded highways
1990s — decade when digital billboard technology began its commercial rollout in the United States
2000s — decade when programmatic ad buying began reshaping how digital inventory was purchased, eventually reaching OOH
2024 — the year OOH crossed $9 billion in annual US revenue for the first time in its nearly 200-year history
18 — consecutive quarters of year-over-year OOH revenue growth as of Q3 2025
6. Beyond Billboards
10.6% — growth rate of transit OOH in 2024, the fastest-growing OOH format that year
11.4% — transit OOH growth in Q3 2025, again leading all formats
8.3% — growth of place-based OOH in Q3 2025
7.1% — growth of street furniture OOH in Q3 2025
$1 billion+ — projected in-store retail media ad spending by 2028, driven by retailers leveraging first-party data
67% — share of consumers likely to notice and act on a product after seeing their favorite influencer endorse it via a physical billboard
3D anamorphic billboards — one of the fastest-growing OOH creative formats globally, used by Nike, Samsung, and Netflix to generate viral social moments
Interactive touchscreen OOH — rapidly expanding in malls, airports, and transit hubs, enabling two-way engagement between brands and consumers
7. Digital Out of Home (DOOH)
$4.40 billion — projected US DOOH ad spending in 2025, with a 5.95% CAGR expected through 2030
$17.6 billion — projected global DOOH investment in 2025, up 14.9% from 2024
$1.22 billion — projected programmatic DOOH ad spend in the US by 2026, growing 22.6% year over year
42% — share of the global DOOH market held by digital billboards in 2024
9.2% — DOOH growth rate in Q2 2025, outpacing total OOH growth
50% — potential increase in engagement from weather-triggered DOOH creative
20–30% — increase in conversions from geo-fenced retargeting after DOOH exposure
59% — share of marketers who still buy OOH only through direct deals, highlighting the programmatic opportunity still ahead
8. Top OOH Advertisers
Top 10 OOH advertisers in 2024 (in order of spend): Apple, McDonald’s, Amazon, Coca-Cola, Verizon, Disney, Morgan & Morgan, Hotels.com, Google, and Samsung
13 brands more than doubled their OOH investment in 2024, including Stripe, Old Navy, Honda, Nike, Meta, and Total Wine & More
25%+ — share of the top 100 OOH spenders that were tech or direct-to-consumer brands in 2024
Morgan & Morgan — became the #1 OOH advertiser in Q3 2025, the first time a legal services brand has topped the quarterly rankings
Financial services — fastest-growing OOH category in Q3 2025, up 35.5% year over year
FIFA invested more than $5 million in OOH in Q2 2025 to promote the FIFA Club World Cup, ahead of the 2026 World Cup
65% — share of top 100 OOH advertisers that increased their spend from Q2 2024 to Q2 2025
19 — number of top-100 advertisers that more than doubled their OOH investment in Q3 2025
9. Programmatic & AI-Powered OOH
$1.22 billion — projected US programmatic DOOH ad spend by 2026, growing at 22.6% year over year
Majority — share of US marketers who say programmatic DOOH provides more dynamic creative opportunities than traditional or non-programmatic OOH, per a 2024 survey
Real-time triggers — programmatic DOOH now updates creative automatically based on weather, time of day, live sports scores, traffic, and audience demographics
AI-enabled dynamic messaging — becoming standard across major DOOH networks, allowing brands to personalize at scale without manual creative swaps
40% — share of agency professionals worldwide who expect their clients to increase OOH spending, driven largely by programmatic adoption and improved measurement
20–30% — increase in conversions from geo-fenced mobile retargeting after DOOH exposure
Computer vision & facial detection — anonymized audience measurement now enables OOH to report on dwell time, demographics, and attention metrics similar to digital media
5.95% CAGR — projected growth rate of the US DOOH market from 2025 to 2030, reaching an estimated $5.87 billion
10. Ready to Put These Stats to Work?
The numbers don’t lie — out of home advertising is growing, evolving, and delivering stronger ROI than almost any other media channel. At DASH TWO, we’ve been placing outdoor and digital campaigns for brands of all sizes since 2008.
Billboards, wild posting, transit, and digital OOH — we handle the strategy, buying, and execution so your brand shows up in the right place at the right time.
Digital advertising — we pair OOH with Meta, Google, programmatic, and social campaigns to drive cross-channel results and amplify your spend.
Whether you’re a first-time OOH buyer or a seasoned advertiser looking to scale, we’ll build a campaign that performs. Get a Free Quote