Stic’s 2025/26 Review: Adam Cohen on Why Transparency Became Essential in OoH

December 29, 2025 by guest author, John Berkovich

As out-of-home advertising continues to evolve beyond static placements and estimated reach, 2025 marked a defining year for accountability and transparency across the sector. Stic founder and CEO Adam Cohen reflects on a year of rapid growth, shifting advertiser expectations, and increasing demand for real-world mobility insight—while looking ahead to how scale, clarity, and human-centered data will shape OOH and digital signage in 2026.

2025 was the year Stic proved what we’ve believed from day one: when you build something that genuinely helps people, momentum takes care of itself.

Our driver network grew more than 600 percent. Brands moved from experimenting with us to running national campaigns. And the broader OoH industry began demanding the level of transparency we’ve been advocating for since we started. We also closed a $10 million bridge round at a $200 million valuation, giving us the fuel to scale into more than 30 states and expand into Canada.

At its core, Stic was built to help people and make earning effortless. You drive your normal life, and you earn. No shift work, no juggling apps, no extra labor. In a year when people were looking for ways to boost income without taking on another job, that simplicity really mattered.

And for brands, we delivered something OoH has been missing: honest visibility. Real routes, real mobility data, real impressions. No inflated numbers, no mystery math — just clarity. 2025 wasn’t just a milestone for us; it was a turning point in what advertisers expect from OoH.

In 2026, I’m excited about scale and not just in terms of footprint, but in how this model can create meaningful, frictionless income for people. There’s a growing appetite for earning opportunities that fit into everyday life rather than compete with it, and that trend is only accelerating. Expanding into more regions across the U.S. and into Canada makes that possible for a lot more households.

On the brand side, the shift toward accountability in OoH is gaining traction. Marketers want transparency they can actually plan against: real mobility patterns, real-world reach, and impression models grounded in how people move through their day.

As economic pressure remains top of mind for more than half of marketers, channels that blend efficiency, measurability, and real-world presence will earn a larger share of attention.

So for me, 2026 is about scaling opportunities for people and bringing more clarity to a medium that’s historically been difficult to quantify.

Digital signage is moving toward a more data-informed, human-centered model. The demand for transparency isn’t going anywhere. Advertisers want to understand how their messages travel through cities, not just where a screen or structure happens to sit.

OoH had a strong year, with revenues hitting record highs, and that strength underscores something important: people still engage with real-world media. What’s changing is the expectation around insight. The next phase is about understanding mobility: how audiences actually move, how city dynamics shift, and how campaigns can align with those patterns.

We’re heading toward an era where digital signage isn’t just about placement, but about context. Smarter mobility data, better impression modeling, and a deeper connection to real human behavior will shape the industry in 2026 and beyond.