Assertion Contradicted AI assessment confidence: 95% certainty 4/5 debate potential 1/5

Buying billboard ads requires calling owners rather than online bidding

Douglas Lusted · EP 363: Google AdSense for Physical BillBoards Does $250k with Douglas Lusted · Jul 22, 2016 · at 10:29

Douglas Lusted, CEO of LinkIt, explains the lack of programmatic online buying infrastructure in the legacy outdoor billboard industry.

0:00 / 0:07exact quote · 7.0s

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“Cause right now you can't do that. You have to physically call the billboard owner and try and make a deal. So real time bidding is what I would do with it.”

quote is from the automated transcript, cleaned for reading: filler sounds and stutters are removed, nothing is rephrased. names can be misheard (the analysis reads context, assessments check outside sources). how →

The claim, plainly

As of 2016, buyers cannot purchase billboard ads online and must physically call billboard owners to negotiate deals.

a quote alone can be ambiguous, so this restates it with the references and context of the conversation around it resolved. AI-written; the tape below the player is the source.

Assessment

The claim asserts that in 2016 buyers could not purchase billboard advertising online and were required to physically call billboard owners to negotiate deals. Historical industry evidence demonstrates that multiple online marketplaces and programmatic real-time bidding platforms for digital out-of-home (DOOH) and digital billboard advertising were commercially operational years prior to July 2016. Specifically, Fliphound launched its public online buying and real-time bidding platform in May 2013, serving over 1,000 advertisers across more than 120 digital billboards by early 2016. Furthermore, Vistar Media launched its programmatic DSP/SSP in 2013 and partnered with major operators (such as Lamar Advertising and Outfront Media) in 2014-2015 to make thousands of digital billboards programmatically purchasable online. Additionally, Blip Billboards launched its self-serve digital billboard marketplace in June 2016.

Fliphound launched an online buying and real-time bidding marketplace for digital billboards in May 2013, enabling direct self-serve purchasing via credit card.
Vistar Media launched programmatic buying and real-time trading for DOOH in 2013, integrating over 2,800 digital billboards from Lamar Advertising and Outfront Media by early 2015.
Blip Billboards commercially launched its online self-serve marketplace for digital billboards on June 6, 2016, prior to the claim date.

Checked against

[1] fliphound.com [2] billboardinsider.com [3] signsofthetimes.com [4] mediapost.com [5] daktronics.com [6] mediapost.com [7] broadsign.com [8] mayoseitzmedia.com

online billboard buying platform before 2016 OR in 2015 OR in 2014 Vistar media programmatic DOOH launch date 2012 2013 2014 2015 Fliphound billboard launch date "Fliphound" online billboard 2013 OR 2014 OR 2015 programmatic billboard buying 2014 2015 2016 "Lamar Advertising" "Vistar Media" 2015 OR 2016 "Adomni" launch date 2015

assessed as of 2026-09-02

This assessment is an AI reading of a public statement, made against the cited references with the confidence shown. It can be wrong. The quote, the tape and the references are all on this page; if something is off, use report an error below. full disclaimer →

Mentioned

billboard advertising

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Assertion Supported

LinkIt tracks billboard audiences using Wi-Fi sensors instead of cameras

“We have guys who use cameras. So they put a camera on the screen and track people. We actually track people through small wifi sensors.”

Douglas Lusted Jul 22, 2016 ▶ 7:12 EP 363: Google AdSense for Physical BillBoards Does $250k with Douglas Lusted

Assertion Contradicted

The digital billboard industry is growing revenue by about 35% annually

“I don't think it's going to, you know, I don't think the industry is going to fold by any means. It's growing by about 35% per year.”

Douglas Lusted Jul 22, 2016 ▶ 9:47 EP 363: Google AdSense for Physical BillBoards Does $250k with Douglas Lusted

Assertion Not checkable as stated

Ontario Lottery and Gaming is piloting LinkIt across 9,000 digital screens

“The biggest customer prospect we have now who actually is doing a pilot is OLG, which is the Ontario lottery gaming in Canada. They have 9000 screens out there. That's the largest one in Canada.”

Douglas Lusted Jul 22, 2016 ▶ 11:18 EP 363: Google AdSense for Physical BillBoards Does $250k with Douglas Lusted

Assertion Not checkable as stated

LinkIt generated approximately $100,000 in first-year revenue

“Our first year revenue was about a 100,000.”

Douglas Lusted Jul 22, 2016 ▶ 3:08 EP 363: Google AdSense for Physical BillBoards Does $250k with Douglas Lusted

Assertion Supported

LinkIt has raised approximately $1M CAD across two seed rounds

“No we've raised two seed rounds. In total, we've raised about a million dollars. Well, Canadian, which is about 50 cents US these days, but no, we've raised capital.”

Douglas Lusted Jul 22, 2016 ▶ 3:51 EP 363: Google AdSense for Physical BillBoards Does $250k with Douglas Lusted

Assertion Partly supported

LinkIt raised $600K–$650K from XDL Capital and BDC

“We had raised about six, 650,000. And we raised it from XDL capital, which is a local VC in Toronto, as well as BDC, which is kind of like a government BC out in Canada.”

Douglas Lusted Jul 22, 2016 ▶ 4:46 EP 363: Google AdSense for Physical BillBoards Does $250k with Douglas Lusted

Buying billboard ads requires calling owners rather than online bidding

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