In this op-ed, co-founder and co-CEO Veridooh Jeremy Yang draws on the implications of Nine’s acquisition of QMS and how it signals a turning point for OOH advertising. Yang argues that the move reinforces the value of combining automation, accountability, and cross-platform reach to make OOH a foundational part of modern media strategies.
Nine Entertainment’s acquisition of QMS Media in Australia last month, is another high-stakes signal about the future of OOH advertising. By offloading radio stations and regional TV interests to fund an $850m purchase of QMS Media, Nine isn’t just diversifying, it’s executing a strategic horizontal expansion to capture more market share and advertiser dollars.
It follows the example set by Bauer Media Group’s acquisition which my co-Founder Mo Moubayed, wrote about last year. Bauer acquired Clear Channel’s Northern European assets in January 2025, complementing its radio and publishing business.
Nine is selling ‘earballs’ (Radio) to buy ‘eyeballs’ (OOH), and will be looking to cross-sell across TV and OOH at a time when OOH in Australia is thriving. Since Veridooh’s Independent Verification technology became the gold standard in 2019, OOH industry net media revenue grew 39 per cent, rising to $1.3 billion in 2024.
DOOH, the format that relies most on Independent Verification, saw its revenue share surge from 56 per cent to 75 per cent between 2019 and 2024, one of the highest rates in the world. Most critically, OOH’s share of total ad spend in Australia more than doubled from 7 per cent to 15 per cent between 2019 and 2024.
By acquiring QMS, Nine has secured a premium network of digital billboards and the prestigious City of Sydney street furniture contract. Unlike many channels that are experienced individually, OOH is shared. It’s seen at the same moment, talked about afterwards and carried into social and digital spaces organically.
This is not a new characteristic of OOH. It’s the reason the medium has always worked, and why it’s resonating so strongly in 2026. When paired with digital innovation and Independent Verification, OOH becomes one of the most powerful channels in modern media.
The new Out of Home Advertising Association of America (OAAA) positioning, launched last month, brings this to life really well: “Out-of-home is for humans. It’s where ideas meet the people they’re made for – through bold, unmissable creative in the places we live, work, and play.”
The ‘sofa to street’ proposition
In his official address on 30 January, Nine CEO Matt Stanton described the QMS acquisition as the final piece of a digital-first, integrated puzzle. He explicitly framed the deal as a way to follow people through their daily journeys: “QMS is a highly complementary media platform… creating an unparalleled advertising proposition that spans from ‘sofa to street’.”
Stanton said that this strategy will enable Nine to leverage its premium content across QMS screens, effectively turning the physical world into a live extension of Nine’s digital broadcast.
Nine’s new strategy will create an ecosystem that provides three distinct competitive moats:
- Cross-platform amplification: Nine can now track someone’s journey from a morning news alert on the Sydney Morning Herald app, to a QMS digital billboard on the drive to work, to a 9Now stream in the evening. This ‘omnichannel’ reach is particularly powerful for programmatic buyers.
- Inventory efficiency: Nine currently spends tens of millions annually to promote its own content (like Stan or The Block). By bringing QMS in-house, they remove third-party margins, turning their marketing department from a cost centre into a profit engine.
- Data-driven convergence: With QMS’s digital assets, Nine can apply the same first-party data strategies used for 9Now to digital billboards. This will give Nine an advantage moving forward where the ‘street’ is as programmable and measurable as the ‘sofa.’
In Australia, the combination of TV and OOH that Nine is bringing together is often referred to as the ‘power couple’, two ‘reach aggregators’ working together to engage millions of people.
Research from Kantar also shows that brands that pair OOH with TV see a 27 per cent higher ROI compared to using TV alone for the same period. Simply adding OOH to a TV-only plan also boosts the effectiveness of those TV spots by 18 per cent, as the physical billboards act as ‘real-world triggers’ for the memory of the TV ads.
Nine’s entry into the OOH space at this scale is another strong endorsement of the sector’s health. Nine is selling a ‘sofa to street’ journey, promising a digital-standard experience in OOH, which Independent Verification provides in Australia.
For ‘sofa to street’ to be more than a slogan, QMS’ commitment to accountability would have reassured Nine that the ‘street’ meets the same rigorous standards as the ‘sofa.’ Other markets are looking to Australia’s example and realising that you can’t have an independently verified digital ecosystem on one end and ‘trust me, it played’ reporting on the other.
At Veridooh, we see this acquisition as another signal that OOH can join the top table of digital media. That’s my mission: to help grow the OOH industry by creating a more automated, trusted and effective channel.
