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Digital OOH Is the Real-World Expression of the Open Internet

Digital OOH Is the Real-World Expression of the Open Internet

What Jeff Green’s vision reveals about the future of Out-of-Home.

At the DMS BY LUMA 2025 conference last week, Trade Desk CEO Jeff Green dropped a masterclass in how media should work: open, transparent, outcome-driven. He never mentioned Out-of-Home, but he didn’t have to.

If you’re paying attention, the signal is loud and clear:

DOOH isn’t outside the open internet — it is the open internet, in real life.

And it’s finally ready to perform like one.

1. Complexity Breeds Opportunity

Trade Desk built its business on complexity — because with complexity comes the chance to optimize, compete, and win. Jeff made that explicit: performance media needs transparent, competitive ecosystems to thrive.

“The open internet is where competition exists… where no single player owns the supply chain.”

Marny POV:

That’s DOOH today. It’s open by nature. Nobody owns the whole pipe. And with the right data layers, it can be just as performant as any other channel on a media plan.


2. Fragmentation Is the Problem — and the Play

Let’s be real: the biggest challenge in programmatic DOOH isn’t volatility.

It’s fragmentation.

The pipes are messy. The asset quality is inconsistent. The data is often buried or siloed. But that’s not a reason to back off. It’s a reason to go deeper.

“AI helps us look through thousands of supply paths and make real-time decisions.”

Marny POV:

This is our lane. We enrich data, score inventory, and streamline complexity. Fragmentation is the problem. Solving it is the play.


3. Everything Is Performance Now

Jeff made it clear: the false divide between brand and performance is over. Every impression counts — you just need the right KPIs for the moment in the funnel.

OOH has long been bucketed as an “awareness” channel. But that misses the full-funnel potential.

Marny POV:

When you layer in search lift, foot traffic, or on-site behavior post-exposure, OOH moves from passive to performance — from beautiful to measurable.


4. DOOH Is Ready for Its Open Internet Era

Trade Desk’s vision for media is transparent, measurable, and curated for performance. Out-of-Home is ready to meet that moment.

DOOH is already available in The Trade Desk. But the opportunity is bigger than pipes — it’s in the intelligence layer:

  • Which screens drive lift?
  • Which creative variations correlate with action?
  • Which venues outperform their CPM?

Marny POV:

We’re not just activating. We’re interpreting. Scoring. Optimizing. OOH is ready to compete with digital — because it is digital.


Let’s Build Smarter

DOOH doesn’t have to be a black box. It’s part of the open internet. It’s full-funnel. It’s flexible. Performance is the outcome.