For a long time, out-of-home media was completely built around the standard 1-in-6 loop rotation model. But as programmatic budgets scale, digital-first buyers are expecting physical screens to play by the exact same rules as web or CTV channels.

Just being "digital" isn’t cutting it anymore. If you own or operate screens, staying competitive right now means adapting your infrastructure to meet three core requirements:

• Trading loops for impressions: Modern omni-channel buyers don't want to purchase a static time slot. They want to bid on verified, live impression numbers.
• Activating real-time triggers: The screens commanding the highest CPMs are the ones leveraging dynamic data—like shifting creatives on the fly based on weather changes, local traffic gridlock, or hyper-local foot traffic spikes.
• Omnichannel compatibility: If a buyer can’t easily package your screens alongside their mobile or CTV spend in their preferred DSP, they’ll simply move their budget somewhere else.

Our crew at Moving Walls put together a quick blueprint mapping out exactly how media owners can audit and upgrade their supply-side setup to win these budgets: How Media Owners Stay Competitive in the pDOOH Era

For the supply-side folks and screen operators in here—what’s been your biggest hurdle in moving traditional inventory to programmatic? Is it the technical integration itself, or just proving impression verification to skeptical clients?

We’ve got standard protocols like VAST and OpenRTB running seamlessly for digital streams (CTV, mobile, web), but the moment you try to apply those same automation standards to physical media networks—like Programmatic DOOH or retail signage—things get incredibly messy.

The architecture gap is brutal. We are trying to force protocols built for web browsers onto physical hardware that relies on loop-based caching, real-time edge triggers (like weather or local foot traffic data), and complex impression multipliers (where one ad play equals multiple viewers).

Do you think we'll ever see a truly unified protocol that bridges digital streams and physical screens seamlessly, or are the infrastructure differences just too fundamentally decoupled?

A few areas that seem to be getting the most attention right now:

• AI-powered content creation and localization
• Programmatic advertising across more channels
• Retail Media Networks
• Audience measurement and attribution
• Streaming profitability and ad-supported models
• Creator economy platforms
• Digital Out-of-Home (DOOH) automation
• First-party data and privacy-focused targeting

Personally, I think we're moving toward a future where media businesses rely less on manual operations and more on automation, audience intelligence, and real-time decision-making.

Curious to hear from people working across streaming, publishing, advertising, broadcasting, and other MediaTech sectors:

What trend do you think will have the biggest impact on the industry by 2030, and why?

I got tired of endless feeds — the good stuff always gets buried under noise.

So I started a project called CuSo where I can collect my favorite finds into “Drops.” Right now I’m curating the things I’m into: F1, street food clips, and hidden travel spots.

First Drops are live here → CuSo.app

Would love your feedback if this feels useful.

Hi-

I am as a layperson archiving/cataloging media for a small ballet company. They have been around for almost 50 years. I want to make information accessible by searching for dancer/choreographer/director/performance/year. I also have nearly 50 years of media scanning to do. Can anyone suggest the best scanning machines and programs as well as the best archive/catalog apps/programs for me?

Thanks in advance!

I’m working on a product to run advanced human-like real-time moderation on text, images, and videos across multiple languages.

I’d love to hear:

• What challenges do you face with content moderation?

• Are there specific pain points you wish tools could solve better?

I’m here to learn from your experiences and understand how we can help. Let’s chat!

https://twoshot.app/model/454
This is a free UI for the melody flow model that meta research had taken offline

Here's the paper: https://arxiv.org/html/2407.03648v1

I'm putting together a list of startup events in the MediaTech space. Best event example would be the upcoming SXSW event in London. What else is there? I'm struggling to find the right startup events in the MediaTech space

Hi all!

I recently started working at a VC and they are heavily invested in the MediaTech space. I was doing some general research on the internet to better understand the space, but can't find much.

Came across this subreddit, hopefully someone has some insight into what this space is. I understand it's everything concerning media but with a tech spinoff. But isn't MediaTech is like an umbrella term for industries such as film, music, streaming, etc...? Is it a broader term?