US out-of-home advertising revenue reached $2.13 billion in Q3 2025 — the highest third quarter ever recorded. Digital out-of-home (DOOH) was the strongest growth driver, up 11.6% in that quarter alone. The Out of Home Advertising Association of America (OAAA) confirmed 18 consecutive quarters of growth heading into late 2025.
Those aren’t projections. That’s money already spent. And a significant chunk of it went into screens sitting inside shopping malls, retail stores, and commercial spaces where people physically walk past them every day.
Then in February 2026, LG showed up at ISE 2026 in Barcelona with a 1,184 square meter booth dedicated entirely to commercial display systems — the kind that go into malls, retail chains, airports, and hospitality venues. What they showed wasn’t just bigger screens. It was a different way of thinking about what screens inside a mall actually do.
LG at ISE 2026 treated mall screens as connected systems, not standalone displays
The booth included:
- Transparent OLED panels designed for storefront windows — shoppers see products behind the glass and promotional content on the glass simultaneously.
- Digital shelves with integrated pricing and product information that updates remotely.
- Kiosks with smartphone interaction — QR/NFC handoffs that move the shopper from a public screen to a personal device mid-interaction.
- A 4.2 x 5.6 meter LED tower at the entrance paired with suspended transparent mesh LED elements (T-Mesh).
- LG Business Cloud — a centralised platform linking every screen to remote monitoring, content scheduling, and analytics.
Park Hyoung-sei, president of LG’s Media Entertainment Solution Company, said it directly: “We’re redefining commercial spaces with integrated ecosystems that go beyond hardware.”
That last part matters. The shift happening right now isn’t about screen resolution or brightness. It’s about treating every screen in a mall — from the entrance video wall to the food court kiosk to the elevator display — as nodes in one connected system that shares data, responds to context, and measures results.
The numbers behind why malls are investing in this now
A few data points that explain the spending:
- 75% of US shoppers visit malls to socialise, not just shop (Mappedin, 2026 retail technology report). The mall isn’t competing with e-commerce on convenience anymore. It’s competing on experience.
- 78% of Gen Z and millennials say they appreciate when brands add digital touchpoints to physical shopping experiences.
- Malls using interactive wayfinding report a 30% increase in visitor dwell time. Longer dwell time directly correlates with higher spend per visit.
- Nielsen projects US retail media spending to reach $60 billion in 2025 and $100 billion by 2028 — with endcap screens, kiosk displays, and checkout screens as major channels.
- Programmatic DOOH is expected to hit $1.23 billion by 2026 as advertisers shift toward flexible, data-triggered placements that respond to time, location, and foot traffic patterns in real time.
The money is moving because the measurement improved. Five years ago, a screen in a mall was a digital poster — you put content on it and hoped people noticed. Now the same screen connects to foot traffic sensors, scheduling software, and advertiser dashboards that show exactly how many people saw the content and what they did afterward.
What floor-standing displays actually do at store entrances
This is one of the most visible changes in malls over the last 18 months. Floor-standing digital signage displays for retail positioned at store entrances and high-traffic corridors act as the first point of contact between a shopper and a brand.
What they handle in practice:
- Dynamic promotions that change based on time of day, day of week, or real-time inventory levels. Morning commuters see coffee deals. Weekend browsers see seasonal collections.
- Event and seasonal campaign content that updates remotely across every screen in the network simultaneously. No printing costs. No installation crew. One click from a CMS dashboard.
- Brand storytelling through video loops — lifestyle content, product demos, behind-the-scenes footage that gives a storefront personality beyond what a static poster ever could.
- Measurable walk-in lift. Shoppers who weren’t planning to visit a store get pulled in by visual prompts on screens they pass. That impulse traffic is trackable when the signage system connects to foot traffic analytics.
The reason these work where static posters didn’t isn’t just that they move. It’s that they’re contextual. A screen that shows the same content 24/7 is a digital poster. A screen that adjusts based on who’s walking past, what time it is, and what’s in stock — that’s a retail tool.
Self-service kiosks moved from “nice to have” to operational infrastructure
Kiosks used to be the thing malls installed near the food court so people could find a store on a map. That era is over.
In 2026, kiosks handle:
- Product search and store directory navigation — touch-enabled maps with 3D floor plans, amenity lists, and real-time store hours.
- Self-service ordering and booking — food court orders, service appointments, event ticket purchases. All without queuing.
- Loyalty program integration — log in, check points, redeem rewards, receive personalised offers. All at the screen.
- Personalised recommendations based on browsing behaviour or stated preferences.
A self service payment kiosk system takes this further by letting shoppers scan products, complete checkout, and process payment without touching a staffed register. The data syncs across online platforms, mobile apps, and in-store systems — so a purchase started on a phone can finish at a kiosk, or vice versa.
The operational impact:
- Fewer routine questions for staff — freeing capacity for complex needs and actual customer service.
- Shorter queues during peak hours — which directly affects whether a shopper completes a purchase or abandons.
- Centralised updates — tenant changes, maintenance closures, event wayfinding adjustments push to every kiosk simultaneously from one platform.
- Analytics on every interaction — what people search for, which stores get the most directory lookups, where wayfinding drops off. Mall operators use this data to inform tenant positioning, rent negotiations, and marketing spend.
Samsung announced glasses-free 3D for signage
Worth noting separately. Samsung revealed spatial signage — glasses-free 3D display technology designed for billboards and retail environments. The idea is that a screen at a mall entrance or storefront can display 3D product visuals that pop out of the flat surface without requiring the viewer to wear anything.
This is early-stage for widespread retail deployment. But it signals where the next round of investment goes — from flat dynamic screens to dimensional displays that compete with physical product windows for attention.
The shift underneath all of this
The real change in 2026 isn’t any single screen or kiosk. It’s that mall operators started treating digital displays as enterprise IT infrastructure rather than marketing decoration.
That means:
- Security and monitoring are now standard — connected screens are endpoints that need the same protection as any networked device.
- Cloud-based CMS platforms manage content, scheduling, and analytics across hundreds of screens from one dashboard.
- Measurement is expected, not optional. Operations teams want throughput data. Marketing teams want engagement metrics. Advertisers want audience verification. The signage network has to deliver all three.
- Screens, kiosks, and mobile are stitched into one journey — arrive, navigate, self-serve, purchase, follow up. The handoff between a public mall screen and a private phone screen is where the conversion happens.
OAAA’s 18 consecutive quarters of OOH growth didn’t happen because screens got brighter. It happened because the systems behind those screens got smarter, more measurable, and more connected to the actual business of running a retail space.
References
- OAAA, Q3 2025 OOH Revenue Report — $2.13 billion, highest Q3 on record, 18 consecutive quarters of growth.
- LG Electronics, ISE 2026 booth showcase — 1,184 sq meter commercial display systems exhibition, February 2026. Via TechRadar.
- Mappedin, “2026 Retail Technology Trends” — 75% of US shoppers visit malls to socialise; 78% Gen Z/millennials appreciate digital touchpoints.
- Nielsen, US Retail Media Spending Projections — $60 billion in 2025, $100 billion by 2028.
- REACH Media Network, “Digital Signage in 2026: Future Trends” — programmatic DOOH projected at $1.23 billion by 2026.
- Friendlyway, “Exploring Top 7 Digital Signage Trends in 2026,” January 2026.
