Property management has always been anchored in fundamentals such as occupancy, rental income, and operational efficiency.

These remain the foundation of the sector. Yet within this framework, new technologies are opening up opportunities to improve how buildings engage with tenants, communicate with communities, and generate complementary revenue streams.

The most valuable resource in a building today isn’t energy or square footage, it’s attention. If you can measure what people notice and pay attention to, you unlock engagement, better services, and new revenue. AI makes that possible: it turns attention into actionable data.

That’s why attention isn’t just a media metric, it’s a proxy for tenant engagement. In this context, it becomes the foundation for how properties evolve, shaping communication, improving operations, and opening new paths to monetisation.

This shift is already underway. According to JLL, more than 40% of office tenants now cite digital services as a key factor in whether they renew their leases. At Elevision, we’ve built AI-driven attention metrics into our screen networks.

We know what content cuts through, how long people engage, and when they disengage. That same capability is being applied to property management. AI-powered content nudges have boosted tenant participation in recycling programs, sustainability initiatives, and amenity bookings. The lesson is simple, show clear ROI. Higher tenant satisfaction and additional revenue build long-term buy-in.

Shifting Monetisation Models

Digital screen infrastructure within buildings has generated revenue through advertising for many years now. Programmatic, automation and IOT devices began to enhance these systems and monetization capabilities over the past five years or so.

The introduction of AI takes this further. Instead of traditional fixed loop campaigns, AI allows communications, ad campaigns and thus monetisation, to become dynamic. Attention and occupancy signals feed directly into ad ecosystems, so content and pricing adjust in real time. The result is higher media yield, more precise targeting, and new models such as sponsored communications around wellness, sustainability, or community engagement.

For owners, this isn’t just about more revenue. It’s about more diversified, resilient streams of income. AI doesn’t replace traditional monetisation; it enhances it, making buildings more adaptive, more personalised, and ultimately more valuable.

Privacy as the Baseline

Innovation only matters if residents trust it. Privacy and compliance aren’t side issues, they’re the baseline. That’s why our approach begins with anonymisation. We don’t know who the specific individual is walking through the lobby; but via smart sensors and through aggregated mobile data we are able to ascertain behavioral patterns,  and understand things like age, gender or affinity indexes, but never personal details.

This “anonymise first, personalise second” philosophy ensures that AI can deliver relevance without crossing the line. Trust is the license to operate, and anonymisation is what allows us to unlock value without losing that trust.

The Flywheel Effect

The real promise of AI in the built environment lies in integration. In a truly smart building, systems don’t just operate side by side, they reinforce each other. Imagine digital screens connected with HVAC, waste, and energy systems. AI agents use that combined data to craft targeted nudges, reminders about recycling or energy-saving behaviors, and then measure the response.

As residents adapt, the system learns and fine-tunes its approach, creating a self-reinforcing cycle, more efficiency, more engagement, more insight. Over time, this creates a flywheel effect, once it spins, the building continuously optimises itself.

Looking Ahead

By 2030, nearly half of global office portfolios are expected to integrate AI-enabled tenant experience platforms. Within that context, attention data will be one of the signals that allow buildings to “speak back”, learning continuously from their occupants and optimizing in real time.

Buildings will no longer be passive containers of activity; they will become adaptive systems that learn, respond, and ultimately, deliver better outcomes for both tenants and owners.