The DOOH Insider Interview: Why Programmatic Billboards are Broken
Featuring Sneh, Founder & CEO of Trillboards (Google Incubator Award Winner)
Is the "Programmatic" in DOOH just a marketing buzzword for scheduled signage? To cut through the noise of opaque fee stacks and legacy hardware lock-in, VTM Vending sat down for an exclusive deep dive with Sneh, the visionary Founder and CEO of Trillboards. As a Google Incubator award winner, Sneh is at the forefront of shifting the Digital Out-of-Home (DOOH) landscape from a manual, "trust-me-bro" real estate model to a transparent, software-native ecosystem.
VTM Vending Equipment
In this session, we strip away the AdTech fluff to ask the hard questions: why incumbents are fighting transparency, how the 99% of "long-tail" screens are being institutionally ignored, and how Trillboards is building the "Google Ads for the physical world."
1) What exactly are programmatic billboards, and how do they differ from traditional out-of-home advertising?
A programmatic billboard is a physical screen that behaves like a software endpoint: inventory can be accessed via APIs, bought with constraints (geo, venue type, daypart, pacing), delivered deterministically, and verified with proof-of-play.
Traditional OOH is sold like real estate:
- long lead times
- fixed placements
- manual trafficking
- limited transparency once it’s live
Programmatic DOOH is sold in a real time auction:
- access to inventory through a buying layer
- automated decisioning
- dynamic pacing
- continuous reporting
- the option to optimize while it’s running
The screen isn’t the innovation. The innovation is that delivery, verification, and optimization are software-native. We bring that innovation to the screen through Javascript, WebSockets, and an OpenAPI.
2) Biggest misconception about programmatic DOOH?
People think “programmatic” means “digital screens.” That’s like saying “cloud computing means servers.” Programmatic means:
- automation of buying/selling
- standardized interfaces
- real-time eligibility and pacing
- verifiable delivery
- measurable outcomes
If a DOOH platform can’t prove what played and reconcile it against demand, it’s not truly programmatic, it’s just scheduled signage. That's where the majority of SSPs are.
3) Walk through what happens behind the scenes from start to finish
Here’s the practical chain:
- Buyer intent: A brand or media buying agency sets constraints in a DSP (or directly with us): budget, geo, venue types, time windows, pacing, creative specs.
- Eligibility + selection: Supply is filtered by what’s actually available and allowed as screens have schedules and venues have rules around content.
- Delivery: The creative is delivered to the playback endpoint. This is usually done through an ad server.
- Playback: The ad renders on the physical display. This is where the industry historically gets hand-wavy.
- Proof-of-play: We emit event-driven proof-of-play tied to a specific screen identity and time window. This includes render/completion events and tracking pixels where appropriate. The point is: proof is derived from a verified execution, not from an assumption.
- Reconciliation + reporting: Events are reconciled server-side and made visible in reporting. If something didn’t actually run, it doesn’t get counted as delivered.
4) Key systems in the ecosystem and where Trillboards fits
The DOOH ecosystem has:
- DSPs (buy side execution)
- SSPs / exchanges (supply routing + auctions)
- screen networks (inventory owners/operators)
- playout/CMS (what actually renders content)
- measurement + attribution (reporting, lift, foot traffic models)
Trillboards vertically integrates all of this: we are a screen operating layer + programmatic supply interface. We’re not just brokering; we are making screens programmatically addressable without hardware lock-in. That’s why we can be strict about proof-of-play and telemetry because we’re not three layers away from the screen.
5) How close is DOOH to online RTB and where does it fundamentally differ?
The buy model resembles RTB, but execution differs because DOOH is physical:
Online:
- instant delivery assumptions
- identity targeting
- clicks and conversions as defaults
DOOH:
- scheduled windows + deterministic playback
- environment/venue targeting with audience context factored into it
- verification is about “did it actually play,” not “did someone click”
Dongles make it more like “real-time decisioning inside constrained playback windows” than pure millisecond auctions. We change that with lightning quick web protocols.
6) What “context-aware” signals are realistically used today?
The real signals are mostly:
- location + venue category
- time/daypart
- weather
- events (sports, concerts, holidays)
- basic mobility/footfall models (aggregated, probabilistic)
What’s mostly hype: pretending DOOH has the same identity graph as mobile. Where we’re going: more environment-level intelligence using edge AI analytics so the screen can adapt to what’s happening locally.
7) How sophisticated is targeting vs digital ads?
Less granular than digital, but often more powerful for the job DOOH is meant to do. Digital targeting is identity-heavy and can be narrow. DOOH targeting is context-heavy and can be high-impact because it hits people in real environments: where they eat, train, shop, wait, commute.
You don’t need 1:1 identity targeting to win. Right now it's treated as 1:1000. We are bringing it to 1:10.
8) Where do privacy boundaries come in?
Privacy boundaries matter most when DOOH tries to imitate mobile adtech. The right line is:
- environment-level + aggregated signals: fine
- persistent identification of individuals: not the direction we want
Our thesis is that the future is edge AI processing + anonymized aggregation: process locally, transmit structured text which is passed to Gemini which organizes the data into pgSQL. AI agents read 5 Harry Potters in 10 seconds. We are writing the data layer for agents to make decisions with in a way that doesn't violate PII.
9) Without clicks, how do advertisers know if it worked?
We measure it through:
- verified delivery
- reach/impression modeling
- lift studies (brand or sales)
- foot traffic attribution backed with AI analysis
- incremental outcomes vs control regions/time blocks
Clicks are the wrong default. DOOH is about brand presence, recall, and real-world action.
10) How reliable are impressions/dwell/foot-traffic metrics and biggest gaps?
They’re massively inconsistent across vendors because definitions vary.
Big gaps:
- too many black boxes between screen and report
- weak proof-of-play in parts of the industry
- inconsistent inventory quality standards
- attribution overclaiming
The fix is not “more dashboards.” The fix is deterministic camera/audio measurement at scale which can then be used to model impressions.
11) Biggest inefficiencies in the current supply chain?
The inefficiency is the business model:
- hardware lock-in
- long contracts
- manual onboarding
- layers of fees
- opaque inventory quality
Complexity protects margins. It’s the same pattern you see in any market pre-standardization. Look at car dealerships before Tesla. Learn more about the demand and supply chain inefficiencies, here.
12) Where does it feel manual/fragmented/outdated vs online programmatic?
Onboarding onto a traditional SSP takes several months. DOOH is chaotic: different CMS systems, different operators, different rules, different proof. Most DOOH is still held together with spreadsheets, trafficking teams, and “trust me, bro” reporting. That’s why most networks fail to scale.
Our online programmatic onboarding ensures the endpoint is standardized (a browser/app) and measured. This brings instant programmatic demand and we pay screen owners from day one.
13) Is transparency in pricing and inventory quality a real issue and how does industry address it?
Yes. Buyers can’t easily answer:
- what exactly is the screen?
- what environment is it in?
- what’s the real uptime?
- did it actually play?
- what fees got taken from which middlemen?
The industry tries to address this via standards and verification vendors, but the real solution is structural: build systems where inventory metadata, supply chain transparency, and proof-of-play are native.
14) If DOOH is so powerful, why isn’t every brand using it at scale?
Because the experience is still too hard and too opaque:
- planning is unfamiliar
- creative requirements are different
- measurement is disputed
- supply access feels fragmented
- outcomes are harder to attribute than last-click digital
- It feels expensive.
Brands scale what they can trust and repeat such as AdSense/Meta Ads. We are bridging that for the real world.
15) Biggest barriers for small/mid-sized advertisers?
Three things:
- complexity (they don’t want a PhD in DOOH)
- minimum spend / managed-service gating
- unclear RoAS
Our goal is to make DOOH self-serve and predictable: pick venues/types, pick budget, launch, see verified delivery, iterate. It's what Vibe.co did for CTV.
16) Operator side: what prevents more screen owners from plugging in?
Friction and fear:
- hardware installs
- contracts
- CapEx burden
- Content moderation control concerns
- unclear earnings predictability
Trillboards is built around a simple operator promise: you keep control of your screen and your content, we add monetization with minimal hassle.
17) How does creative strategy change in the physical world?
You have 1–3 seconds to win attention.
- fewer words
- stronger brand cues
- high-contrast design
Most first-time advertisers fail because they use phone-ad layouts on a wall across a room.
18) Is dynamic creative adopted today or mostly hype?
Dynamic creative works when it’s tied to meaningful context (weather, daypart, local events, venue type) and when brands actually design for variation. Most of the hype is people saying “AI dynamic creative” but shipping the same asset everywhere because their agents aren't truly decisive.
19) Common execution mistakes on first DOOH campaign?
- tiny text
- no clear brand
- running the same creatives
- buying “screens” instead of buying “moments”
- not iterating mid-flight
DOOH gets good when you treat it like a performance marketing feedback loop, not a one-time placement.
20) Major players shaping programmatic DOOH?
You named several correctly: Vistar, Broadsign (who acquired Place Exchange), and Hivestack. They’ve built important infrastructure and liquidity.
The key thing: most are oriented around large operators and large buyers. We solve the 99% that's been institutionally ignored.
21) Difference between screen networks vs programmatic infrastructure providers?
Screen networks:
- own/operate inventory
- control venues and playback
- sell impressions
Infrastructure providers:
- provide tooling and pipes (buying, routing, reporting)
- connect demand to many supply sources
- standardize workflows
The industry blurs these lines because everyone wants more margin. We believe it's wrong to do this at the cost of honesty.
22) Biggest weaknesses/limitations in existing platforms?
The most common ones:
- slow onboarding and fragmentation
- opaque fee stacks
- inconsistent proof-of-play quality
- hardware and contract lock-in limiting supply expansion
23) Moving toward open marketplaces or walled gardens?
Both forces exist. Walled gardens win on control and predictability. Open marketplaces win on scale and efficiency.
My belief: the market ultimately wants open standards but it will take time because incumbents profit from fragmentation. We win by continuously driving better outcomes and showing that open performs better.
24) What makes DOOH competition fundamentally different from digital?
- Supply is physical and scarce but is treated as disposable.
- Distribution is operational and relationship driven.
- Venues have real-world constraints and tech challenges.
- And the “endpoint” isn’t a web session, it’s an environment with real people.
In digital, switching costs are mostly software. In DOOH, switching costs include people, installs, contracts, and relationships.
25) What exactly does Trillboards do?
We make any connected screen a programmatic-ready media endpoint through software:
- onboarding without proprietary hardware
- screen identity + health telemetry
- deterministic playback
- event-driven proof-of-play
- programmatic pipes to demand
We’re expanding the supply universe by making the long tail programmatic. For the screen owner it means 'set it and forget it', we pay you!
26) Are you an exchange, platform, network, OS, or something new?
Closest description: screen OS layer + programmatic supply platform. We can operate supply directly, but the bigger thesis is infrastructure: make screens addressable, verifiable, and easy to monetize at scale. It's vertically integrated.
27) What problem made you believe the company needed to exist?
DOOH had the same stinky mess as any pre-standard market:
- too much friction
- too many middlemen
- hardware as gatekeeper
- opaque measurement
- long tail excluded
Meanwhile, screens are everywhere. The market was acting like only premium highway units mattered. That’s wrong. The real expansion is in distributed venues.
28) What’s the key difference in how Trillboards approaches the market?
We start at the endpoint and work upward. Instead of “sell inventory, then bolt on proof,” we built:
- proof-of-play as an event stream
- telemetry as a native layer
- edge analytics directionally built-in
- programmatic integration as pipes, not as a sales story
And we do it without forcing operators into hardware or heavy installs.
29) Is Trillboards meaningfully better — and how?
Yes, because we reduce the two biggest bottlenecks:
- onboarding friction for new supply
- trust gaps in delivery verification
If you can add supply faster and prove delivery cleaner, you can create liquidity without the usual mess.
30) Who benefits most?
All three:
- advertisers get more venue-native inventory with clearer proof
- media buyers get scalable hyperlocal access without a thousand one-off deals
- screen owners get monetization without hardware projects or giving up content control
Consumers benefit when ads become more context-relevant and less creepy.
31) Is it better for everyone, or does it disrupt parts of the supply chain?
It disrupts parts of the traditional chain, absolutely. If your margin depends on friction, transparency is disruptive. If your value is real which is operating venues, maintaining quality relationships, and delivering real outcomes, then you still win.
32) If it’s so needed, why hasn’t industry moved?
Because it requires incumbents to cannibalize:
- hardware margins
- CMS margins
- opaque fee stacks
- closed inventory control
It’s not just technical. The incumbents would implode.
33) Is the challenge technical, regulatory, or structural inertia?
- Mostly structural inertia.
- Secondarily technical (because last-mile proof + telemetry is non-trivial).
- Regulatory is manageable if you avoid identity surveillance and build privacy-respecting measurement from the start.
34) Is anything truly proprietary — tech, infra, data, network design?
The proprietary part is the system architecture and execution:
- event-driven proof-of-play tied to screen identity
- telemetry and health as a core layer
- edge-aware measurement direction
- programmatic supply pipes designed for real-world conditions
There's several cryptographic proofs that operate on the same fidelity as Stripe.
35) What prevents incumbents from copying?
They can copy features. Heck, I could give them my codebase. Copying the model means changing incentives. If your business relies on lock-in and opacity, building an open, software-native endpoint layer evaporates your own unit economics. That’s the real barrier. Do you really want to lay off 70% of your staff doing the excel sheets?
36) How does the Google Incubator award reflect uniqueness/innovation?
It reflects that we weren’t just “another DOOH network.” We were building a new way to turn screens into infrastructure: software-first, verifiable, and scalable. This creates a proprietary data moat which is very 'Google' in nature.
37) What risks exist that most people don’t acknowledge?
- verification gaps leading to inflated delivery claims
- race to scale without standards and quality
- privacy overreach if DOOH imitates mobile adtech
- inventory quality degradation if onboarding prioritizes quantity over truth
38) Trade-offs with automating billboard advertising at scale?
Automation increases speed, but it also increases the cost of bad definitions. If “impression” is flawed, automation just produces flawed outcomes faster. The trade-off is you must be strict about proof, metadata, and quality controls.
39) Hardest unsolved problems — even for Trillboards?
Standardization across the industry and deep measurement validity. We can be strict inside our system. The broader ecosystem still needs shared definitions and cleaner interoperability so buyers can trust cross-network reporting. We believe that our simple to implement technology will bridge this gap.
40) What could go wrong if DOOH evolves too quickly without standards?
A trust crash. Buyers pull budgets if reporting feels inflated or inconsistent. Clawbacks become rampant. The industry can’t afford another wave of “everyone claims everything.” Standards and verifiable delivery are how you avoid that.
41) Looking 3–5 years out, what shifts do you expect?
- more self-serve DOOH buying through Chatbots
- more software-native endpoints running interactive media
- Long-tail more valuable than large format
- tighter proof-of-play requirements
- better A/B testing of creative iteration loops
42) Role of AI and automation?
AI should handle:
- planning (venue mix, daypart strategy)
- pacing and optimization
- creative variant generation aligned to venue context
- anomaly detection (fraud, uptime, underdelivery)
AI should be 'always on' and alerting you for the best outcome possible.
43) Moving toward standardization or fragmentation?
- Short-term: still fragmented.
- Long-term: standardization wins because markets always converge on omnichannel interoperability when budgets get large enough and friction costs become visible.
44) Where do you want Trillboards in five years?
The default infrastructure layer for distributed venue screens which not limited to one geography/vertical. If a screen is connected across the globe, it can become addressable inventory with verifiable delivery.
45) Foundational infrastructure like Google Ads for the physical world, or more specialized?
Foundational. Google Ads worked because it standardized access to inventory and measurement in a way that scaled. DOOH needs that same reliability with privacy-respecting, environment-level intelligence.
46) What would success look like for the ecosystem?
- transparent, verifiable delivery
- clean standards for measurement
- easier access for mid-market advertisers
- more revenue flowing to real venue operators
- fewer layers extracting value just for being in the middle
47) One core insight to leave advertisers and operators with?
DOOH’s future isn’t bigger screens or shinier creative. It’s turning everyday physical displays into trustworthy, addressable media endpoints where delivery is provable, optimization is real, and monetization is accessible without hardware gatekeeping.
See Trillboards In Action
Here’s how real business owners are turning everyday screens into revenue-generating digital billboards. A quick advertising guide can also be found here.
Ready to leverage your screen(s) and start making money from day one? VTM Vending and Trillboards offer an opt-in program so advertisers bid on your screens and you can monetize them effortlessly.