INTERNATIONAL. Total media advertising sales in the US in Q4 2018 showed the strongest quarterly growth for 18 years, according to new figures from the Out of Home Advertising Association of America (OAAA). They were up almost 12% year-on-year in the period, with the out-of-home (OOH) segment leading the way.
The study revealed that OOH was the only linear media type to experience consistent organic revenue growth and it had its best quarter in more than a decade, up 7.2%. OAAA partly attributed this to the significant increase of advertising spend from the technology sector.
OOH was up 4.5% to US$8 billion in 2018 and paid search advertisement sales rose 23% to reach US$54 billion.
OOH saw increases in all four primary formats: billboards, street furniture, transit, and place-based. Among the top revenue categories, those with the greatest growth increase in 2018 included government, politics and organisations, up 14.6%; insurance and real estate, up 14.6%; schools, camps and seminars, up 13.2%; miscellaneous local services and amusements, up 8.2%; retail, up 6.6%; and financial, up 6.2%.
According to global advertising forecaster MAGNA, OOH will continue to be the only traditional media format to show growth in 2019, and MAGNA expects it to rise by 2.6% during the year.
Digitisation is leading the growth for total OOH, and digital OOH represented 29% of the total in 2018. MAGNA projects an 8.8% increase for digital OOH in 2019, or more than triple their projected increase of 2.6% for total OOH.
Of the top 100 OOH advertisers in 2018, a quarter were from the technology sector and include the FAANG businesses – Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Netflix, and Google. Apple took the top position for the first time.
OOH net advertising revenue grew by an average 4% in the last five years, while all other non-digital media categories were flat in the case of TV and radio or declining in the case of print. OOH is forecast to grow an average of 2.5% annually over the next five years.
The success of OOH is largely due to innovation in technology such as digital units and audience measurement, in addition to sales and marketing efforts. OOH has also been largely unaffected by the decline in reach and consumption that affects television, print, radio, especially among younger audiences.
Note: JCDecaux Chairman of the Executive Board and Co-CEO Jean-Charles Decaux was interviewed by Martin Moodie as the cover story for the inaugural issue of The Moodie Davitt Report’s new bi-monthly eZine, Sight Lines – The Amazing World of Airport Advertising. The title profiles advertising and communications initiatives across the airport world. For details contact Irene Revilla at Irene@MoodieDavittReport.com. See the first issue here. Keep your eyes peeled for issue 2, which is scheduled for June.
