Digital Outdoor Advertising to Grow by 7.7% in 2008
7 Apr 2008
Zenith Optimedia has forecast that outdoor advertising spend will grow by 7.7 per cent per annum in 2008, which makes it the fastest growing medium after online advertising - which is expected to grow by 19.2 per cent.
This fits with a recent report from JC Decaux which says that it expects its business to grow 6 per cent this year (after increasing by 8.8 per cent last year). According to Jeremy Male, CEO of JCDecaux UK & Europe, ‘‘the future of outdoor advertising is extremely rosy globally. Some traditional media have their issues with audiences decreasing or fragmenting, but we see a reverse trend. As society becomes more urban, there are more eyeballs in cities. We see more people eating out, they’re spending more time getting to and from work as well. It’s positive for us.”
Speaking at an industry event in Ireland this week, Mr Male reported that out-of-home advertising in the country attracted €146 million last year, up 9 per cent on the previous year - making it roughly the same size as radio. JCD Decaux operates billboards across Ireland and has the rights to the Dublin Metro.
He noted that not only is digital not suffering from the fragmentation issues on TV, but that digital seems to work in harmony with other media forms - "we have TV companies showing the evening programmes for people on their way home". He maintained that the growth in online advertising is not putting pressure on out-of-home - but more on press and classified advertising.
JC Decaux currently has 600 screens in British airports and shows electronic images in the Hong Kong subway, and last week launched the first 20 fully-digital billboards in London.
AKA COMMENT
Digital out-of-home appears to have nothing to fear from growth in internet and online spending. In fact it would appear that advertisers are actively seeking out new forms of media to reach consumers - and that online mediums actually help to promote the possibilities from digital.
The barrier to faster growth is the lack of digital infrastructure - unlike the internet, digital out of home needs to be built. Expect to see considerable further development of digital out of home infrastructure from the likes of JCDecaux, Clear Channel and CBS during 2008 and beyond.