BY Kathy Crosett
If you’re selling digital out-of-home (DOOH) ad space, do you know what the future holds? Media buyers believe DOOH delivers impressive results. However, DOOH only makes up about 28% of the OOH category. Here is what recent industry reports and surveys point to for the future of the format.
DOOH Delivers Impressive Results
Because we are all traveling more by private vehicle these days, we are noticing billboards, especially DOOH. And 94% of marketers say the format delivers a better reach than social or digital display. The vast majority, 91%, also indicate that DOOH is effective at both the upper and lower end of the funnel.
In the next 18 months, according to Verizon Media, 59% of media buyers will purchase more of this kind of advertising. Another 27% will maintain their spending on this format. However, the DOOH format is not without detractors. Could one stumbling block be the difficulty of purchasing ad space in this format? 53% of respondents in the Verizon Media survey say it is very or somewhat difficult.
OOH Results Through Q3
The Verizon Media report emerged during a year when many media formats have struggled to maintain sales momentum. At the end of the third quarter, the OAAA reported that OOH demand dropped by 28.5% when compared to the same period in 2019. Total year-to-date spending at that point for 2020 was $4.6 billion. For the third quarter alone, OOH ad sales dropped 36% in comparison to 2019.
One of the bright spots for the industry, the government, politics, and organizations vertical experienced a 120% jump over 2019. This category only amounts to 6% of OOH spending, so the large increase in spending is somewhat muted when considering the total.
In addition, several large advertisers have significantly increased spending this year — Vonage, PayPal and AdventHealth being among them. And tech companies continue to use OOH advertising as a way to connect with key consumer audiences. At least 20% of the top companies advertising via OOH to consumers are tech-oriented. Several of these companies have been familiar names on the list of big OOH advertising in the past few years: Apple, Amazon, and DoorDash.
Year-to-date spending through the end of Q3 for the largest verticals in OOH came in as follows:
- Services and amusements ($1.16 billion)
- Retail ($446.6 million)
- Media and advertising ($363.7 million)
The services and amusements vertical makes up at least 25% of OOH spending. So far in 2020, the vertical has witnessed a 25% drop in sales. A 25% OOH sales decrease also took place in the retail vertical, which comprises nearly 10% of the advertising format.
OOH Client Concerns
The OAAA data shows the breakout of total spending by OOH format through September 30, 2020:
- Billboards $3.513 Billion
- Street Furniture $198 million
- Transit $626.1 million
- Place-based $267 million
Of the total advertising placed in OOH formats, about 26% or $1.058 billion is digital. As you prepare to talk about how DOOH delivers impressive results, keep your clients' specific concerns in mind:
- High costs 50%
- Difficulty finding a good partner 44%
- Management and optimization challenges 36%
Address these topics as you sell your offerings. And run a Digital Audit on your target business. The data in this tool, available at AdMall by SalesFuel, will give you a snapshot of your prospect’s digital presence.