Prateek Sinha highlights how AI is rewriting the economics of OOH at OAC 2026

Prateek Sinha, Founder & Managing Partner of TheFifth.AI, took the stage at the OOH Advertising Convention 2026 to urge the out-of-home (OOH) advertising industry to look beyond AI as just another technology trend and instead see it as a business opportunity that can fundamentally improve how OOH is planned, sold, measured and monetised.

Delivering his keynote, “Doing the X – How AI rewrites the economics of OOH,” Prateek explained that the future of OOH will not be determined by who owns the largest media network, but by who creates the most intelligence around every advertising site.

“The next decade won’t reward the media owner with the most sites. It will reward the one with the most intelligence per site,” he said.

Beginning his session with stories, Prateek highlighted how storytelling creates something OOH has always excelled at. Drawing from his experience across Hindustan Times, Meta and now TheFifth.AI, Prateek said he has seen the industry from the perspectives of an advertiser, a technology platform and a business transformation partner. According to him, AI has the power to solve some of OOH’s biggest challenges, including limited measurement, being a slow medium, and more.

Sharing some examples, he highlighted how companies such as JCDecaux, Talon and Clear Channel are already using AI to transform their businesses. He also emphasised that India is not behind in this transition. According to him, the country already has many of the building blocks in place, with airports, transit media and digital networks using audience data and outcome-based measurement.

A major part of the presentation focused on what he called the ‘AI-X Playbook’ – six business areas where AI can immediately improve revenue. These include sales and proposal creation, planning & audience, creative development, pricing, campaign measurement and operations.

Concluding his keynote, he encouraged media owners, agencies and brands to begin with small, practical AI deployments instead of waiting for large-scale investments. Whether by adding audience data to top-performing sites, automating proposal generation or introducing mid-campaign measurement, he believes the industry can begin seeing measurable business impact immediately.

Echoing a point he made throughout his session, “The winners of the next decade won’t own the most surfaces. They’ll own the most intelligence per surface,” he sums up.