Amsterdam’s Giant Schiphol Airport Switches On Programmatic For Its Internally-Run DOOH Media Network

May 14, 2025 by Dave Haynes

Advertising is present in pretty much every airport a traveler might come across, but the ad faces – static or digital – tend to be put in, managed and sold by third-party out of home media companies. But the company that runs Amsterdam’s sprawling airport, as well as two other Dutch airfields, does things differently.

The Royal Schiphol Group has its own Schiphol Media business unit, that operates a DOOH network with 1,400 screens at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol, as well as at smaller sister airports in Eindhoven and Rotterdam/The Hague.

I mention this because the combined network, and passenger volumes, make for a big media audience, with Schiphol alone counting almost 67 million passengers in 2024. Now the combined media opportunity is available for programmatic ad booking, visible through a platform developed by LDSK and hooked into exchanges like My Adbooker, and Place Exchange.

Amsterdam’s airport was turned on for programmatic after what is described in PR as successful implementations at Eindhoven and Rotterdam The Hague Airports.

Programmatic advertising at Schiphol enables brands to align their campaigns with real-time passenger flows and airport activity. This allows for precise targeting of campaigns based on passenger demographics and travel profiles, resulting in more relevant messaging and an enhanced passenger experience.

Advertisers benefit from full budget control to ensure maximum visibility. With all media channels managed in-house, Schiphol can ensure data transparency and therefore maximize campaign effectiveness for advertisers at the same time.

“This is an important step for us towards the future of advertising at Schiphol,” says Djeremy Hoebee, Digital Lead, Royal Schiphol Group. “It empowers us to allow brands to easily connect with Schiphol and our passengers in a dynamic and measurable way. It allows for more flexibility and the opportunity to leverage our data for more effective and relevant campaigns.”

This is interesting because it may reflect a shift by larger venues like airports to invest in and own media, rather than doing deals with a JC Decaux or Outfront. In the past, the main barrier would have been no insights and skills in selling media. But with programmatic, that is less of an issue.