5 Minutes With… Sam Holland

Having spent more than 14 years across leading OOH players including ECN, Outdoor Plus, and Verifone, Sam Holland has witnessed first-hand how innovation has redefined outdoor. Now as client partnership director at UniLED, he’s championing third-party verification (TPV) as the next major leap for DOOH, one that promises not just greater accountability, but also richer creative opportunities and smarter data-led planning.

Sam reflects on how the sector has evolved, why 2026 could be the year of TPV, and how verification is set to unlock a new era of trust and creativity in OOH.

LBB> You’ve worked across ECN, Outdoor Plus, Verifone, and now UniLED, how have you seen the role of OOH evolve over your 14+ years in the sector?

Sam> Technological innovation is the main driver of the OOH evolution. It has had a phenomenally positive impact – accelerating its growth and advancing the inventory and ecosystem in ways that were unimaginable.

In part, this was because the sector didn’t rest on its laurels. Instead it grabbed the bull by the horns when it saw the opportunity – adapting to digitisation and innovating at pace.

This started with the upgrading of OOH inventory from static only billboards (one brand, one ad campaign) to digital screens (multiple brands, multiple ad campaigns). By investing in digitising inventory (screens) in the right locations, media owners can ensure more brands have access to key target audiences with the same physical space. The benefits for the brands (or advertisers) are multifold. Not only does it offer cost-efficiency and real-time optimisation capabilities, but also advanced targeting.
For example, DOOH enables geographically or even temporal targeting, allowing for audience led, behavioural and event-based planning. It essentially offers the flexibility of digital media combined with the public, mass reach of OOH.

Alongside this, we’ve seen the introduction of digital OOH (DOOH), programmatic DOOH (pDOOH) and 3D DOOH, with more innovations likely to follow.

And finally, let’s not forget OOH audiences are not going away. In fact, with continued global urbanisation leading to the exponential roll out of both static and digital screens in more locations, the sector’s audiences are actually growing.

LBB> What was it about the UniLIVE platform and third-party verification that convinced you this was the future of DOOH?

Sam> When I was working at Outdoor Plus, I had several conversations with Ben [Zloof, CEO at UniLED) about technology, innovation and the possibilities/opportunities opening up for the OOH sector. In one of the discussions, Ben mentioned that the UniLED team was working on the development of a third party verification (TPV) platform for DOOH – UniLIVE.

TPV was not a new concept; it has been used in the world of online advertising for several years. It just seemed so logical, yet smart for it to be used to help measure DOOH. UniLIVE was the very first third-party verification platform to be introduced to the UK OOH sector.

Forward-thinking media agencies were quick to implement the tool, recognising just how essential it was in providing impartial, accurate and transparent assurance that DOOH ad campaigns were running and delivered as planned. The use of UniLIVE has evolved over the years as media agencies, owners and advertisers leverage the added values that TPV has to offer – from data-insights that facilitate smarter decision making to simply making post-campaign reporting less time consuming.

LBB> You’ve said that 2025 was the year of programmatic, and 2026 will be the year of TPV – can you unpack that prediction?

Sam> I’d like to claim the predication as my own, but it’s actually something that I’ve been hearing in the wider OOH industry. As a TPV provider, it’s music to my ears.
One of the reasons why comments, conversations and predictions about the rise of TPV are coming into play is the rise of pDOOH. This has led to unprecedented innovation in the OOH sector which has facilitated a whole host of impressive creative and media planning work from our partners in the programmatic space.

In tandem, however, advertisers continue to have a razor-sharp focus on ad spend. They want assurance from agencies that budgets are being allocated to the media channels that are working the hardest - ensuring brand discoverability, capturing audience attention, and, ultimately, facilitating product/service sales.

As a result measurement that leverages accurate and impartial performance data has never been more important.

For DOOH this is where the use of TPV comes into play – it’s moving agencies away from using ‘booked’ to granular delivery data (what was actually played against what was booked). As a result more accurate post-campaign reports are being created, marketing mix modelling is being enhanced and econometric analysis is being strengthened. And perhaps most importantly, clear-cut outcomes/insights are being provided to enable agencies and advertisers to make more informed campaign planning and ad spend decisions.

LBB> How do you see TPV transforming not just measurement, but also trust and transparency in OOH?

Sam> As with any media channel trust and transparency is centred around the ability to deliver what was promised.

TPV has evolved far beyond simple playback confirmation. Today, it’s a critical component in streamlining operations, protecting budgets and building the trust needed to push the medium forward.

It achieves this not just by delivering proof of delivery, but generating vast datasets, across networks, geographies and timeframes across multiple, not just individual, campaigns. When aggregated, these insights offer powerful levers for better decision making, and for future ad campaign planning and optimisation.

However, the power of TPV to unlock actionable insights goes beyond post-campaign reports, and retrospective analysis. While still critical, the additional value it offers lies in its ability to facilitate in-flight detection.

In-flight detection, enables agency teams to monitor for any errors - technical or manual that could lead to incorrect or under delivery – and course-correct them before the campaign ends.

This ability to optimise inflight offers agencies and advertisers vital reassurance that there is active oversight and careful consideration throughout the duration of its delivery. By offering transparency, TPV builds further trust in DOOH.

LBB> OOH is often described as a balance of creativity and tech innovation – how do you see TPV unlocking new creative opportunities for advertisers?

Sam> Digital OOH (OOH), programmatic DOOH (pDOOH) and 3D DOOH have unlocked the delivery of exceptional creativity for brands. Some are giving social/digital a run for its money.

OOH has always been a canvas for bold, creative storytelling – and as technology evolves, the opportunities to personalise, adapt, and innovate are greater than ever.

But creativity needs both resource and confidence.

By taking responsibility for delivering the proof that DOOH ad campaigns are running exactly as intended, TPV can save agencies time. This invaluable resource can instead be redirected to other priorities including ‘test-learn’ creative strategies.

The ability to monitor and optimise ad campaigns while they are in-flight helps agencies to measure exactly when, where and how often a creative ad campaign activation runs. This performance data and insights can then be compared across time slots, formats or locations.

It also helps with the identification of any under or over-delivery. This information can then be used to adjust the weighting or schedule of the ad campaign to maximise exposure or to shift ad spend and upweight to another region.

This assurance that TPV provides plays a part in freeing agencies and advertisers to take bigger creative risks – whether that’s testing dynamic formats, building campaigns around contextual triggers like weather or events, or experimenting with multiple creative versions in-market. Essentially, TPV supports agencies to amplify what works - enabling informed, impactful decisions, while they still count.

In short, verification isn’t just about accountability, it’s about unlocking trust in the medium - and with that trust comes the confidence to push creative boundaries.

LBB> The OOH industry has a tight-knit, community feel – how has that culture shaped the adoption of innovations like TPV?

Sam> Quite simple, the people I’ve been lucky to work and partner with in the OOH industry are proactive in championing its ongoing success. They want to see, and play their role, in both driving and championing further innovation in the media channel, facilitating the sector’s continuous growth.

This, in part, has been the reason for the adoption and implementation of TPV platforms such as UniLIVE. The OOH community is fully aware of the immeasurable benefits it brings and the opportunities it unlocks.

LBB> Looking ahead, how might TPV data be integrated into broader marketing strategies, from econometric analysis to AI-driven campaign planning?

Sam> TPV provides true delivery data for OOH, eliminating the uncertainty that can weaken modelling. This strengthens both econometric and media mix modeling which depend on accurate consistent data. As a result, it ensures that OOH’s impact on sales, and return on investment (ROI) becomes even more visible – helping to justify bigger creative and media investment in the medium.

It doesn’t end there. TPV helps to connect OOH to the omnichannel story. The data from TPV platforms can be integrated into cross-channel dashboards – and treated the same as digital and broadcast media – this shows brands how OOH works in tandem with other mediums.

Additionally, as the adoption of AI increases and the technology plays a bigger role in media optimisation and predictive planning it will need reliable data inputs. TPV provides true performance data for OOH delivery which can be fed into AI systems alongside other media. This ensures AI models plan and optimise against what actually happened, not just what was booked.