Tim Murphy, Chief Sales Officer, QMS
The past year clearly demonstrated that digital out-of-home (DOOH) has moved from a tactical media option to a transformative partner for brands pursuing real outcomes. Even with economic headwinds, DOOH has proven it can deliver growth by doing what few channels can: working effectively in both the short and long term to build brands while driving immediate results.
DOOH has become central to how brands connect their channel strategies, working alongside digital, social, search, video and TV to amplify impact across the board.
Quality is one of the key drivers of the growth of DOOH. The importance of quality was one of the most significant themes that emerged from QMS’s “Great Minds, Greater Brands” study, which was revealed at SXSW Sydney in October: quality assets, quality outcomes, quality measurement, quality innovation.
It’s something as a business we have been focused squarely on since our inception, and what we believe marketers are looking for to build sustainable growth for their brands.
Australian marketers are moving away from “how much” thinking around cost per thousand impressions towards “how well” thinking around attention quality. In our study, one fashion and beauty marketer said: “We’re not interested in cheap, we want quality.” A finance marketer commented that reach is important, but questioned, “Is it getting enough of the right eyeballs?”
It’s clear that the brands that can quantify the quality of their audience attention, not just the volume, will be the winners in 2026.
Attention measurement represents the clearest evidence of this change. Marketers now recognise that attention is one of the most important factors in driving positive outcomes for brands, and DOOH delivers it naturally because it exists in the real world where consumers are present, receptive and undistracted by the clutter that can plague some other media channels.
QMS’s continued leadership in attention measurement in the out-of-home (OOH) industry means brands can now prove not just that their message was displayed, but have an increased opportunity to be noticed and potential to be committed to long-term memory. Our global-first human attention study with Amplified Intelligence found that 90% of the QMS sites tested achieved more than 2.5 seconds of active attention, which is the global threshold for something to be committed to long-term memory.
The imminent launch of the new MOVE audience measurement system marks a major step forward for the OOH industry. For the first time, agencies and brands will gain a holistic view of OOH audiences with the benefit of temporal granularity, significantly improving measurement accuracy across the channel.
It represents the most substantial advancement in OOH measurement globally and will deliver genuine gains in campaign planning and reporting precision
Creative execution will also evolve in 2026. Brands understand the creative capability of DOOH more than ever before, thanks to strong work from the industry demonstrating what’s possible, including 3DOOH formats, full-motion and contextual responsiveness that taps into key cultural moments. The evolution in 2026 will be in applying insight to this innovation to measure the impact and effectiveness of this creativity.
There is a shift in how marketers are approaching AI. No longer seen as just an efficiency tool, the recent The Creative Census – Australia’s annual benchmark on creative thinking across media and marketing – revealed the industry is adapting to an AI-accelerated future where it can be designed for greater collaboration and experimentation.
This was reiterated in our “Great Minds, Greater Brands” study, which found that Australian marketers have a more optimistic view of AI than their counterparts in the UK, seeing the real advantages of its adaptation as a tool for growth.
Programmatic DOOH (PrDOOH) has now broken through the 10% mark in Australia, and trends from overseas markets suggest it could exceed 20% by the end of the decade. Combined with AI automation, PrDOOH is becoming as easy to buy as any digital channel, but with the ability to layer frequency into an in-market audience to accelerate quality business outcomes and capture share of consideration.
As we enter the new year, the Milano Cortina Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games in February 2026 will provide a clear example of all these quality elements working together. QMS’ Winter Games Network will reach an expected 77% of metropolitan Australians during a period of intense attention, using real-time content, across our best assets to bring the cultural excitement and energy of the Games straight to the streets of Australia, and into the results of brands.
Heading into 2026, the fundamentals of the OOH industry are very strong. DOOH has proven it can deliver sustainable growth by playing effectively in both brand building and performance. Quality attention, connected channel strategies, AI advances, creative innovation and measurement precision are all converging.
The challenge now is execution: those who can develop quality assets while accommodating growth, stretch creative boundaries while meeting commercial objectives, and deliver meaningful outcomes with accountability and transparency, will have a good year. Get those right and it’s game on in 2026!