Intersection’s Chris Grosso: There’s No Substitute for Real Life. and That’s Out-Of-Home’s Power
CANNES, France — Science fiction movies have often imagined the future filled with out-of-home advertising. Historians know it goes back centuries further than that. For Intersection CEO Chris Grosso, the medium’s longevity reflects something the industry still struggles to quantify.
“We all know it works. We need to be able to measure it better and measure it on an apples to apples basis. Once we can do that, we think that there’s going to be a lot more growth, particularly in the US,” Grosso told Beet.TV contributor David Kaplan at Cannes Lions. “We’ve seen that in other geographies.”
That measurement gap, Grosso argues, is the primary reason out-of-home punches below its weight in US media budgets compared to markets like France and the UK, where more rigorous audience measurement has made it a larger share of the mix.
Cities as content platforms
Intersection operates small-format, human-scale digital screens in cities and transit systems and networks like LinkNYC in New York, and similar installations in Chicago and Philadelphia. The company’s philosophy is that content drives engagement. And engagement makes both the screens and the advertising more valuable.
“Our view is that if you put content on the screens, it drives engagement, which makes the advertising more valuable, but also makes the screens more valuable to consumers,” Grosso said.
That content spans train arrival times, weather, sports scores, local facts, trivia, games, and art. Most recently, that content also included live streams of Knicks playoff games and World Cup matches on New York City screens.
Mass reach with city-scale frequency
Some of Intersection’s products reach 80% of a city’s population 20 to 30 times a month. It’s a frequency argument that digital channels struggle to match without significant targeting costs.
“What out-of-home can bring you is mass reach and mass frequency. You really can get out to the cities in a big way,” Grosso said. “The best way for brands to reach them is to be advertising out of home, to be able to touch them when they’re in their daily lives or when they’re around big events.”
Measurement is the growth unlock
The industry is working toward a new audience measurement system developed with Ipsos, designed to be more transparent, accurate, and interoperable with the broader media ecosystem. It’s the same structural improvement that unlocked out-of-home’s larger budget share in European markets.
“When we’ve seen that happen in other geographies like here in France or in the UK where you have much better measurement, out-of-home becomes a much larger part of the media landscape and the media budgets,” Grosso said.
Creators come when you offer 50 million impressions
Mass distribution attracts content partners on favorable terms. Creators, sports leagues, and city governments alike will provide content in exchange for the reach Intersection’s networks deliver.
“When we call a creator and say, ‘Look, we can get you in front of every New Yorker and we’re going to give you 50 million impressions. We just need you to make a video.’ People usually show up,” Grosso said.
You’re watching “Dispatches from Cannes Lions 2026: Interviews on Innovation”, a Beet.TV Leadership Series at Cannes Lions 2026, presented by Alliant, Axonet, Clear Channel, DoorDash Ads, Future, GSTV, IAS, Kroger Precision Marketing, Lamar, Mirakl, Nextdoor, OOH Connect, Quan, Shinka, Teads, Tatari, Uber Advertising, Vistar Media, WunderKIND Ads, and Yahoo. For more videos from this series, visit this page. You can find all of our coverage from Cannes Lions 2026 here.
CANNES, France — Science fiction movies have often imagined the future filled with out-of-home advertising. Historians know it goes back centuries further than that. For Intersection CEO Chris Grosso, the medium’s longevity reflects something the industry still struggles to quantify.
“We all know it works. We need to be able to measure it better and measure it on an apples to apples basis. Once we can do that, we think that there’s going to be a lot more growth, particularly in the US,” Grosso told Beet.TV contributor David Kaplan at Cannes Lions. “We’ve seen that in other geographies.”
That measurement gap, Grosso argues, is the primary reason out-of-home punches below its weight in US media budgets compared to markets like France and the UK, where more rigorous audience measurement has made it a larger share of the mix.
Cities as content platforms
Intersection operates small-format, human-scale digital screens in cities and transit systems and networks like LinkNYC in New York, and similar installations in Chicago and Philadelphia. The company’s philosophy is that content drives engagement. And engagement makes both the screens and the advertising more valuable.
“Our view is that if you put content on the screens, it drives engagement, which makes the advertising more valuable, but also makes the screens more valuable to consumers,” Grosso said.
That content spans train arrival times, weather, sports scores, local facts, trivia, games, and art. Most recently, that content also included live streams of Knicks playoff games and World Cup matches on New York City screens.
Mass reach with city-scale frequency
Some of Intersection’s products reach 80% of a city’s population 20 to 30 times a month. It’s a frequency argument that digital channels struggle to match without significant targeting costs.
“What out-of-home can bring you is mass reach and mass frequency. You really can get out to the cities in a big way,” Grosso said. “The best way for brands to reach them is to be advertising out of home, to be able to touch them when they’re in their daily lives or when they’re around big events.”
Measurement is the growth unlock
The industry is working toward a new audience measurement system developed with Ipsos, designed to be more transparent, accurate, and interoperable with the broader media ecosystem. It’s the same structural improvement that unlocked out-of-home’s larger budget share in European markets.
“When we’ve seen that happen in other geographies like here in France or in the UK where you have much better measurement, out-of-home becomes a much larger part of the media landscape and the media budgets,” Grosso said.
Creators come when you offer 50 million impressions
Mass distribution attracts content partners on favorable terms. Creators, sports leagues, and city governments alike will provide content in exchange for the reach Intersection’s networks deliver.
“When we call a creator and say, ‘Look, we can get you in front of every New Yorker and we’re going to give you 50 million impressions. We just need you to make a video.’ People usually show up,” Grosso said.
You’re watching “Dispatches from Cannes Lions 2026: Interviews on Innovation”, a Beet.TV Leadership Series at Cannes Lions 2026, presented by Alliant, Axonet, Clear Channel, DoorDash Ads, Future, GSTV, IAS, Kroger Precision Marketing, Lamar, Mirakl, Nextdoor, OOH Connect, Quan, Shinka, Teads, Tatari, Uber Advertising, Vistar Media, WunderKIND Ads, and Yahoo. For more videos from this series, visit this page. You can find all of our coverage from Cannes Lions 2026 here.
