Broadsign acquires Place Exchange in out-of-home consolidation deal

Out-of-home advertising technology provider Broadsign announced on November 25, 2025, the acquisition of Place Exchange, an independent supply-side platform specializing in programmatic digital out-of-home transactions. The Montreal-based company acquired the entire Place Exchange platform and technology portfolio with minority investment from Crestline Investors, marking its fourth acquisition in less than seven years.

The transaction expands Broadsign's programmatically transactable inventory network to 1.8 million screens globally. Place Exchange brings extensive demand-side platform integrations, the PerView measurement solution, and specialized capabilities across on-screen cinema, programmatic audio, place-based video, and in-store retail media. The combined organization will employ 370 people worldwide.

Financial terms were not disclosed. Solomon Partners advised Broadsign on the transaction while LUMA Partners served as financial advisor to Place Exchange.

The acquisition addresses growing demand in the out-of-home sector, where international spending is forecast to reach $49 billion in 2025 within a global advertising market projected at $992 billion. Broadsign CEO Burr Smith stated the acquisition "will allow Broadsign to deliver the most comprehensive OOH advertising solution in the market."

Place Exchange operates a supply-side platform supporting workflows for planning, targeting, delivery, reporting, and attribution similar to online and mobile advertising channels. The platform received recognition as a Deloitte Technology Fast 500 Winner in 2025 and AdExchanger Programmatic Power Player in 2024.

The platform offers programmatic guaranteed capabilities, reach and frequency measurement, audience-based targeting at screen level, dynamic bid triggers, geospatial targeting for moving media, and advanced analytics. These features enable advertisers to transact out-of-home inventory through automated systems rather than manual negotiation processes that traditionally characterize the channel.

Place Exchange CEO Ari Buchalter joined Broadsign alongside the Place Exchange team. "OOH is having a major moment, with more buyers and DSPs of all shapes and sizes leaning into the medium, sparking a new era of innovation," Buchalter stated. The combined entity will focus on automation and data to "reimagine how the channel is bought, sold, and measured."

The deal combines Broadsign's content management system, ad serving, and buy-and-sell-side capabilities with Place Exchange's supply-side platform and complementary solutions. Broadsign publishers gain access to new demand sources while Place Exchange's demand-side platform partners and media buyers can reach premium international inventory on the Broadsign Platform.

Programmatic guaranteed buying represents a significant component of the transaction's strategic value. This approach combines automated transaction efficiency with inventory certainty, allowing advertisers to reserve specific placements in advance while maintaining programmatic workflow benefits. Broadsign introduced automated in-advance buying capabilities through a partnership with StackAdapt and Branded Cities announced on November 13, 2025.

The acquisition extends Broadsign's reach across diverse out-of-home environments including roadways, airports, shopping malls, grocery stores, convenience stores, health clinics, and transit systems. More than 2 million static and digital signs globally run on Broadsign infrastructure, serving media owners such as Outfront, Pattison Outdoor, Global, oOhMedia, Intersection, Sainsbury's, Woolworths, Stellar Ace, and Douglas.

Place Exchange's measurement capabilities through PerView provide attribution and audience verification tools that address persistent challenges in out-of-home advertising. Traditional outdoor advertising struggled with precise audience measurement, but digital infrastructure combined with location data and mobile tracking enables impression-level measurement comparable to other programmatic channels.

The platform's specialized solutions for cinema, audio, and retail environments demonstrate out-of-home advertising's expansion beyond traditional billboards. In-store retail media represents a particularly significant growth area, with retail media projected to capture 20% of global advertising revenue by 2030.

Crestline Investors provided minority investment in the transaction. Will Palmer, Crestline Partner and Co-Head of US Credit, stated, "Programmatic buying has emerged as one of the strongest growth engines within DOOH, bringing greater automation, measurability, and demand into the channel." Palmer will join the Broadsign Board of Directors.

Crestline Investors, founded in 1997 and based in Fort Worth, Texas, manages approximately $20 billion in assets as of September 30, 2025. The firm specializes in private credit strategies across direct lending, opportunistic, and portfolio finance platforms.

The acquisition concludes a significant development year for Broadsign. The company introduced an AI assistant for out-of-home creative categorization scheduled for release in early Q2 2025, addressing operational challenges where media owners manually process tens of thousands of advertising creatives monthly. A partnership to advance carbon measurement for digital out-of-home reflected environmental considerations increasingly important to advertisers.

The programmatic out-of-home market has demonstrated sustained growth momentum. Industry data shows 30% adoption rate in China according to VIOOH's State of the Nation 2025 report, with programmatic digital out-of-home now ranking as the fourth most popular advertising channel among 14 major media formats surveyed.

Technical infrastructure supporting programmatic out-of-home has advanced substantially. Demand-side platforms including Adform launched DOOH planners with inventory visualization in June 2025, while IAB Australia released comprehensive guidance on August 21, 2025, for programmatic digital out-of-home buyers.

Platform consolidation reflects broader programmatic advertising trends. Amazon DSP integrated Disney's Real-Time Ad Exchange in June 2025, providing direct access to premium streaming inventory. Microsoft Monetize joined Amazon's Certified Supply Exchange program in October 2025 as Microsoft discontinued its demand-side platform.

Supply-side platform consolidation enables more efficient transactions across fragmented advertising inventory. Independent supply-side platforms like Place Exchange aggregate inventory from numerous media owners, providing standardized access for demand-side platforms and reducing integration complexity for buyers.

The transaction addresses measurement standardization challenges that have hindered out-of-home advertising adoption among performance-oriented advertisers. Closed-loop attribution connecting advertising exposure to business outcomes remains difficult in out-of-home environments compared to digital channels where user-level tracking enables precise measurement.

Place Exchange's Clear certification program delivers buyers quality, consistency, transparency, and compliance standards across its supply ecosystem. These standards address brand safety concerns and regulatory compliance requirements that vary by location, particularly for sensitive categories such as alcohol advertising near schools or political messaging adjacent to polling locations.

Mark Boidman, Head of Media and Entertainment Investment Banking at Solomon Partners, stated, "We believe this transaction makes Broadsign the clear number one global provider of tech solutions to the out of home media industry adding the leading SSP as it relates to OOH and in store media."

The acquisition's impact extends across the out-of-home advertising value chain. Media owners gain access to incremental demand through Place Exchange's established demand-side platform relationships. Advertisers benefit from expanded inventory access through Broadsign's global footprint. Agencies can execute out-of-home campaigns through existing programmatic infrastructure rather than specialized buying platforms.

Technical integration between Broadsign's systems and Place Exchange's supply-side platform will determine the transaction's operational success. Combining different technology stacks, data formats, and workflow processes typically requires substantial engineering resources and creates short-term disruption risks.

The out-of-home sector faces competitive pressure from other digital advertising channels offering more sophisticated targeting and measurement capabilities. Programmatic infrastructure helps address these challenges by enabling data-driven buying decisions, real-time optimization, and standardized reporting comparable to display, video, and social advertising.

Connected TV advertising's rapid growth demonstrates how premium video inventory can scale through programmatic infrastructure. Out-of-home advertising follows similar patterns, with programmatic capabilities enabling efficient transactions across previously fragmented inventory sources.

Brands spanning AB InBev, Disney, H&M, Honda, HP, Johnson & Johnson, KLM, Uber Eats, Sea-Doo, and Samsonite have executed programmatic digital out-of-home campaigns enabled by Broadsign technology. Agency relationships include Talon, OMD Worldwide, Havas, Starcom, dentsu, Omnicom Media Group, and Publicis Groupe.

The acquisition positions Broadsign for accelerated feature development across its platform through expanded engineering resources. Place Exchange's team brings specialized expertise in programmatic advertising infrastructure, measurement solutions, and demand-side platform integrations that complement Broadsign's existing capabilities in content management and ad serving.

Timeline

• November 13, 2025: Broadsign enables advance DOOH booking through StackAdapt partnership
• November 20, 2025: Programmatic DOOH delivers 20x better carbon efficiency than display ads
• November 25, 2025: Broadsign announces acquisition of Place Exchange with minority investment from Crestline Investors
• August 21, 2025: IAB Australia releases comprehensive guide for programmatic DOOH buyers
• August 5, 2025: Programmatic digital out-of-home adoption reaches 30% in China
• June 18, 2025: Adform launches DOOH planner with inventory visualization
• February 5, 2025: Broadsign debuts AI tool for out-of-home ad creative approvals
• October 2025: Place Exchange named AdExchanger Programmatic Power Player
• 2025: Place Exchange named Deloitte Technology Fast 500 Winner
• 2019-2025: Broadsign completes four advertising technology acquisitions in less than seven years

Summary

Who: Broadsign, a Montreal-based out-of-home advertising technology provider, acquired Place Exchange, an independent supply-side platform specializing in programmatic digital out-of-home advertising. Crestline Investors provided minority investment. Place Exchange CEO Ari Buchalter and the Place Exchange team joined Broadsign. Crestline Partner Will Palmer will join Broadsign's Board of Directors.

What: The acquisition includes the entire Place Exchange platform, inventory network across the United States and internationally, demand-side platform integrations, PerView measurement solution, and specialized capabilities for cinema, programmatic audio, place-based video, and in-store retail media. The transaction expands Broadsign's programmatically transactable inventory to 1.8 million screens and increases the combined workforce to 370 employees globally. Financial terms were not disclosed.

When: The acquisition was announced on November 25, 2025, marking Broadsign's fourth acquisition in less than seven years and concluding a year of significant product development including automated in-advance buying capabilities and AI-powered creative categorization tools.

Where: The transaction affects global out-of-home advertising markets, with particular emphasis on North American and international programmatic digital out-of-home inventory. Place Exchange maintains extensive inventory networks in the United States and abroad, while Broadsign operates infrastructure supporting more than 2 million signs globally across roadways, airports, shopping malls, retail stores, transit systems, and other environments.

Why: The acquisition addresses growing demand for comprehensive out-of-home advertising technology as international out-of-home spending reaches $49 billion in 2025 within a $992 billion global advertising market. Combining Broadsign's content management, ad serving, and transaction capabilities with Place Exchange's supply-side platform and measurement solutions creates integrated infrastructure for programmatic guaranteed transactions, enabling more efficient, dynamic, and data-driven out-of-home advertising campaigns while providing media owners access to new demand sources and buyers access to premium international inventory.