Top 10 OOH Articles of 2024

by Amber Larkins, OOH Today

2024 was quite a year in the out-of-home industry, and OOH Today covered all of it.

But what stories were you, our readers, most interested in? Women in OOH, Top Creatives, Programmatic, and more topped the charts for 2024.

Here’s a round-up of the top stories that you cared about from last year:

1. Reagan Outdoor Matriarch, Julia Reagan Passes On

The Reagan Outdoor Advertising matriarch, Julia Reagan, passed away in June 2024 at the age of 81. Born on October 30, 1942, in Baltimore, Maryland, she pursued higher education diligently, earning a Ph.D. from the University of Utah.

In December 1965, she met her future husband, William “Bill” Reagan, and they eloped after just five dates. Their 58-year marriage was marked by mutual support as Julia completed her doctorate and Bill established Reagan Outdoor Advertising. Together, they raised four children and shared passions for travel, adventure, and ballroom dancing.

Often seen at the side of her husband Bill at the OOH conferences, she was a delightful woman who gave back to the community. Her legacy of love, kindness, generosity, and family continue to inspire all those who knew her.

2. The Top 24 Women Who Drive Growth in Out-of-Home 2024

In 2024 we honored and recognized 24 women for their achievements in outdoor advertising during Women’s History Month. March is Women’s History Month. This annual award elevates women’s voices in our industry only once a year. We should be working to elevate women’s voices in our industry every day. The 2024 award winners together represent a total of over 436 years in the business.

This annual recognition by OOH Today underscores the ongoing efforts to elevate women’s voices in the industry and encourages organizations to support and promote diversity within their ranks.

3. OOH Today’s Top 10 OOH Creatives for 2024

OOH frequently takes a high level of creativity and artistry far beyond the reach of capitalism to surprise, delight, and inspire us. The best creative professionals continuously revitalize old approaches with the awesome power of new perspectives to keep OOH fresh and compelling. Last year, OOH Today went on a search to find the best OOH design creators responsible for consistent creation of amazing outdoor advertising.

This recognition underscores the importance of creativity in OOH advertising and highlights the individuals driving the industry forward with their visionary work.

4. White Supremacists Infiltrate Automated DOOH

In April, a series of automated digital billboards posted messages and images filled with hate speech to honor Hitler’s birthday. White Lives Matter Michigan took credit for the postings on X. Billboard4Me, a company owned by Roland Outdoor, is an automated billboard-buying service responsible for the ads. They said these ads made it through their filters. The irony of the pitch in Billboard4Me signature, “We’ll make ’em go viral…” is likely not what they had in mind.

Warning: the images in this article are highly offensive.

This breach underscores the vulnerabilities in automated DOOH advertising platforms, particularly the inadequacy of relying solely on algorithmic filters without human oversight. The incident has sparked discussions within the advertising industry about the necessity for stricter content review processes to prevent the dissemination of hate speech and other inappropriate content.

5. Lightbox Goes Dark

Lightbox Video Network, a digital out-of-home video network with 4,800 screens in shopping environments and city street window fronts across the US closed operations in March 2024. This was a difficult decision made after facing ad market challenges, financial hurdles, and never fully recovering from the pandemic.

Industry professionals expressed regret over Lightbox’s closure, noting its substantial ad network and the positive trends toward in-store shopping. Lightbox’s team remains hopeful about the future of out-of-home advertising, expressing pride in their contributions over the past two decades.

6. Toxic Workplaces in the Billboard Industry–Identify and Resolve

Workplaces are meant to be spaces of growth, collaboration, and achievement, but some organizations become breeding grounds for toxicity, undermining employee well-being and hindering professional development. This article explores the characteristics of toxic workplaces considering the specific challenges faced by OOH employees and how these challenges can be faced.

Key indicators of such environments include poor leadership, lack of transparency, discrimination, excessive workloads, and ineffective communication. These factors can lead to decreased productivity, mental health issues, and high turnover rates among employees.

7. Geopath President Mabin is Out

After dedicating more than 16 years to Geopath, with the last three as President, Dylan Mabin announced his impending departure from the organization in April. Dylan’s profound impact on Geopath and the out-of-home industry’s measurement advancements cannot be overstated. He initially joined the organization in 2008, when it was still known as The Traffic Audit Bureau for Media Measurement. During his tenure, Geopath’s membership expanded into transit and place-based media, now encompassing over 1.6 million out-of-home media assets, substantially increasing from just 350,000 assets 16 years ago.

8. Kevin Jones, New CEO, on the Future of Adams Outdoor

Kevin Jones was announced as Adams Outdoor’s CEO in May, taking over from Kevin Gleason, the former CEO. Jones stepped into the CEO role at Adams Outdoor with more than 30 years of experience in the technology industry—and, like several new hires for top-tier positions across the industry, no out-of-home advertising experience. It’s his fourth CEO role across various industries. He said he has a common theme across his work history of running ambitious businesses that want to grow fast–like Adams.

9. Programmatic as a Growth Driver–Fact or Fiction

The rise of programmatic is not translating to growth of the OOH pie, according to this piece by Rob MacMillan, leading to some very important questions. Is programmatic really attracting new advertisers who are spending meaningful new money or is it just the same advertisers executing via an automated platform? If programmatic is driving meaningful new revenue, where is it going? As its not showing up the numbers? Is their fee extraction worth it for both publishers and advertisers or is this a market inefficiency that dilutes the effectiveness of each dollar spent via this channel?

10. Is There a Killer Among Us–Or Irresponsible Bad Actor?

On the eve of the 2024 OOH Media Conference, police were called in response to an alleged LinkedIn post by ‘a digital marketer’ that arguably intimated a potential violent killing threat. It mentioned ‘Carlsbad,’ the site of the Annual OOH Conference, and, according to the Police statement, the ‘OAAA CEO.’ The executives handled the potential threat with commendable poise and responsibility, ensuring the success of the event.