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Digital signage in 2026: AI personalization arrives, creative renaissance kicks off
It’s been an exciting and innovative year for the digital signage industry. To get a glimpse at what’s coming in 2026 Digital Signage Today reached out to industry leaders for predictions as the new year arrives.
December 22, 2025 by Judy Mottl — Editor, RetailCustomerExperience.com & DigitalSignageToday.com
It's been an exciting and innovative year for the digital signage industry. Just a quick glimpse at 2025 headlines tells the story of digital signage providers crafting unique experiences, forging partnerships and deploying network installations.
Immersive experiences took root in 2025 as did AI. Digital signage networks expanded as did campaign focus. Robotics in digital signage is taking root.
Every type of enterprise from retailers to NASCAR teams to airports are increasingly embracing digital signage to drive exposure.
To get a glimpse at what's coming in 2026 Digital Signage Today reached out to industry leaders for their predictions as the new year arrives.
AI playing role in digital signage
Mike Tippets, vice president at Hughes, predicts digital signage is about to become one of the most underestimated AI and connectivity stories of 2026.
"As retailers, QSR brands, transportation hubs, and service providers accelerate their digital experience plans, screens are turning into intelligent, self-optimizing systems that personalize content, manage themselves and stay connected in places where Wi-Fi cannot," Tippets said in an email interview.
He expects AI-powered personalization will move from concept to reality.
"AI and sensor data will allow screens to tailor content to each viewer, increase engagement, and prevent downtime through advanced analytics and self-healing capabilities."
A renaissance in OOH creative
Shawn Spooner, global CTO at Billups sees a creative 2026 ahead.
"The industry has spent a decade making out-of-home 'programmatic' and 'data-driven,' which has been great for creating more opportunities and screens for targeted ads, but not necessarily great for creative," Spooner said in an email interview.
"While AI hype has been focused on other digital channels, I think we will see a renaissance in OOH creative because of AI, but not in the way many expect. It won't be because AI is doing the creative work, but because it is taking on the other work that is sapping the creative energy of the teams," he said.
Spooner expects that much of the manual, less-creative aspects will become optimized, and the wealth of signals and data points involved in planning, iteration and placement will also help inform better creative execution.
"Imagine AI giving you contextual signals that simulate how your ad performs by the light of a morning commute versus in the evening, in the rain versus the sun, when people are walking versus when they're driving. That's not just testing, it's understanding context at a level human teams never could at scale."
Breaking a barrier
Craig Benner, founder and CEO of Accretive, expects a big barrier to crumble in 2026.
"The OOH total share of media budgets will finally break the 5% barrier and it'll stay there. Between more widespread attribution, retail media, programmatic DOOH, AI-based creative optimization and advancements in how OOH is purchased/counted, we will earn our seat at the adults' table," Benner said in an email interview.
"Once marketers see how OOH can drive real performance, they'll couple that with watching their precious search get brutalized by AI, and 5% will become the new baseline and the absolute minimum. It will NOT remain some target we can't hit."
Benner also expects OOH to stop being the 'surprise winner' in media plans and become a more strategic anchor for more brands.
The industry finally gets its Netflix moment: measurable, accountable, and too effective to ignore. Some progressive Pharma, CPG, and B2B brands have already made this move and seen ridiculous results," he said.
Here comes the creator-powered billboard
AdOmni CEO Jonathan Gudai expects 2026 to be a breakout stage for creators.
"For the past decade, creators have been trapped in a five-inch screen. Digital-out-of-home is their breakout stage. It transforms content into a real-world statement—a way to say, 'this matters beyond the algorithm.' Whether it's a tour, a product drop, or a fan milestone, showing up on a screen in Times Square or a college campus signals that what they're building has cultural weight," he said in an email interview.
While content may be king, context is queen, he said.
"And in DOOH, she rules with precision. The same ad can speak differently on a rainy Monday than it does on a sunny Saturday. This isn't just clever creative, it's strategic adaptation. When ads adjust to real-world signals like weather or time of day, they stop interrupting and start resonating."
Gudai also predicts DOOH will become the interface for the AI agent economy.
"As AI agents begin to guide more of our decisions, DOOH will become their real-world interface — the place where algorithms meet emotion. These agents will filter, recommend, and prioritize, but the final decision still belongs to the human," he said.
"That's the magic of DOOH: it's the moment where a person reconnects with a choice. Advertisers who design for both the algorithmic layer and the emotional moment on the street will win in the AI-powered economy."
About Judy Mottl
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