Where the Out-of-Home Industry Is Headed Next, According to Trailhead's CEO
Twenty years in the industry, John Murrow has a clear read on where it’s headed next.
TRAILHEAD MEDIA · CEO PERSPECTIVE
Trailhead Media CEO John Murrow started his out-of-home career in 2005 as a real estate representative in Charleston, South Carolina, working his way through several regional operators before co-founding Trailhead in 2020. Twenty years in, he has a clear read on where the industry is headed next.
Consolidation Isn't Finished
Independent operators still control thousands of billboard faces across the country, and many of their owners are approaching retirement with no clear succession plan in place — much like the operators that first became part of Trailhead’s own network. Murrow expects that shift to continue for years — the exact dynamic behind Trailhead’s own Sell Your Billboards program.
Static Still Pays the Rent
Despite the industry’s focus on digital transformation, Murrow is clear that static billboards remain essential in rural and small-metro markets, where the economics work differently than in major cities. He describes the next decade as a hybrid story, not a purely digital one.
“Out-of-home is one of the only mediums where you cannot scroll past, mute, or skip. As long as people drive cars and walk past buildings, the medium has a place.”
He also points to the long-term ground lease — the real estate underneath every billboard — as the industry’s most underrated asset, and the relationships built with landowners as the true differentiator between platforms built to last and those that aren’t.
See how that outlook took shape from the beginning in How Trailhead Media Was Built to Buy the Billboards No One Else Wanted.
Read the full outlook from Trailhead’s CEO: “The OOH Industry in 2026 and Where It Is Going Next” on johnmurrow.com.