From terminals to touchpoints: How airports can unlock new revenue with digital retail media

For decades, airport media has been defined by its physical presence: billboards, lightboxes, and digital screens illuminating high-traffic terminals. These formats have long delivered brand impact and prestige, offering advertisers access to captive, high-spend audiences in premium environments.

But the media landscape has shifted. Advertisers now demand more than presence, they want precision, performance, and measurable ROI.

While airports have kept pace with digital in passenger services, they’ve fallen behind in one key area: monetising their digital channels as structured, scalable media assets.

In this article, we explore how airports can evolve beyond static placements and unlock a new era of revenue through travel-specific digital retail media.

Airport media still lives “in the terminal”

Most airport media strategies remain heavily focused on physical assets anchored inside the terminal. Meanwhile, digital activations are often treated as bonus value tacked-on placements in an email or an app, with little structure, targeting, or commercial strategy.

This creates two problems:

1. It limits growth. Physical space is finite. Digital reach is not.‍
2. It doesn’t meet advertiser expectations. Brands, from tourism boards to luxury retailers, are shifting budgets toward digital channels that offer performance metrics, targeting, and attribution.

Airports are rich in digital assets, but few are monetising them as media. This gap represents a missed opportunity.

The opportunity: Airports already have the ingredients

Airports sit on one of the most commercially valuable audiences in travel. Their digital ecosystem includes:

• Mobile apps and websites with high repeat visitation
• E-commerce and pre-order platforms
• Wi-Fi portals with authenticated traffic
• Rich first-party data (location, device, flight intent, booking behaviour)
• Existing relationships with travel, retail, and destination brands

What’s missing isn’t audience or access, it’s the infrastructure, strategy, and technology to package and activate this media commercially.

And that audience? It’s one of the most valuable in the world.

An airport audience commands premium value

Travellers represent one of the most commercially attractive consumer groups globally. They’re affluent, brand-aware, and often in an active purchase mindset. Whether it’s a family holiday or a business trip, travel is a strong signal of disposable income.

That’s why global brands, from luxury goods to financial services, have long invested in airport advertising. What’s been missing is a scalable way to reach that same audience digitally, with precision targeting, frequency control, and performance measurement.

Why advertisers want airport digital media

The demand is already there. A growing mix of advertiser segments are actively seeking ways to reach travellers through digital channels:

• Non-endemic brands spending on physical placements want digital extensions for better targeting and attribution
• Tourism boards and travel brands want to reach passengers by route, trip phase, or loyalty tier
• Retailers and duty-free partners want to extend engagement beyond store footprints
• Travel service providers (e.g. insurance, eSIM, tours) want scalable ways to reach high-intent audiences

Airports are perfectly positioned to deliver but they need the right tools, the right infrastructure, and the right mindset.

The solution: Build travel-specific digital retail media

To move from static to scalable, airports need more than isolated ad placements. They need a cohesive digital media business model, built for travel. That means:

• A unified technology stack
• Travel-ready ad formats
• Audience targeting and campaign management tools
• Integrated reporting and revenue tracking

Platforms like Uplift from Platform 195 are purpose-built for travel media. They allow airports to operationalise digital inventory across multiple channels, package it professionally, and monetise it with confidence.

Monetising digital isn’t about selling channel by channel

Some airports have already started monetising digital touchpoints; outsourcing Wi-Fi ad space, email sponsorships, or app banners to third-party vendors. But this piecemeal approach fragments audience data, limits campaign effectiveness, and erodes long-term value.

To unlock the full opportunity, airports need a holistic strategy. By managing digital inventory through a single platform, they gain control over pricing, targeting, and reporting, while offering partners consistent, cross-channel experiences.

What a future-ready airport media model looks like

1. Omnichannel campaign delivery

Airports can deliver targeted brand exposure across the entire traveller journey—not just inside the terminal, but across:

• Sponsored listings on pre-order platforms
• Display and video on apps and websites
• Branded content in email and newsletters
• Paid social and programmatic campaigns
• Digital out-of-home (DOOH), connected TV, and audio

This creates a cohesive, data-led media offering for partners that extends well beyond traditional placements.

2. A centralised operating platform

Tools like Uplift Hub allow airports to manage proposals, inventory, activation, billing, and reporting all in one place. That means faster workflows, less friction, and more commercial value.

3. Travel expertise and operational support

Launching a digital media program takes more than software. It requires deep knowledge of travel partnerships, audience behaviour, and media operations. With managed services from Platform 195, airports can scale quickly—even with lean teams.

4. Fast, low-lift deployment

Modern platforms are lightweight and travel-ready. Server-side integrations, GDPR compliance, brand-aligned styling, and ad-blocker resilience make it possible to launch in as little as 30 days.

Unlocking new revenue, improving partner value

As digital media spend accelerates globally, airports have a rare opportunity to redefine their commercial strategy. A unified retail media program can deliver:

• Incremental revenue: Monetise digital channels without new infrastructure
• Stronger partner value: Offer advertisers measurable, multi-touch campaigns
• Improved traveller experience: Serve relevant, timely, high-quality content
• Strategic flexibility: Future-proof operations beyond fixed terminal space

The audience is there. The demand is there. What’s needed now is activation.

The bottom line

Airports are more than infrastructure. They are media ecosystems in their own right – high-traffic, high-value environments with underutilised digital potential.

By moving beyond the billboard and embracing digital retail media, airports can unlock new growth, deepen partnerships, and deliver what modern advertisers want most: measurable access to high-intent travellers, in the moments that matter.

Ready to explore how Uplift can help your airport build a digital retail media business? Email us at hello@platform195.com to start the conversation.

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