While Covid hit the Out of Home (OOH) industry hard, the sector has bounced back exceptionally well and is in its fifth consecutive quarter of growth. StopPress speaks with Natasha O’Connor, General Manager at the Out of Home Media Association Aotearoa about this remarkable recovery and what’s trending in this space in the near future.
Looking to the future, there are two developments in the New Zealand advertising market that will have a positive impact on the Out of Home world. These are the introduction of a New Zealand Standard and a universal audience measurement system (AMS) via Calibre.
The introduction of a universal AMS and New Zealand Standard will result in Out of Home being more unified and accountable than ever before, something that OOHMAA members and the wider industry are looking forward to.
O’Connor adds that when other international markets have developed an audience measurement system and it is embraced by the majority of the operators, the result is market share and revenue are positively impacted.
“When the Outdoor Media Association introduced MOVE (Measurement of Outdoor Visibility and Exposure – a quantitative audience measurement currency for Out of Home) to the Australian market in 2009 it coincided with Digital Out of Home hitting its stride; these two developments resulted in a significant and continued growth of the Out of Home Market.
“In our market, Calibre has been years in the making and and AMS has been top of the request list by advertising agencies so for project to be reaching its completion it is really exciting and we look forward to agencies embracing it.
“Calibre was originally a JCDecaux proprietary tool however, in the name of unity and growth, JCDecaux invited fellow OOHMAA Members oOh!Media and MediaWorks to join as Shareholders . All OOHMAA members are either onboarded or will be by the end of 2022; representing 85 percent of New Zealand’s Out of Home formats. This means agencies will be able to get one true reach and frequency number regardless of the format or supplier used.”
As for the unified Standard, the OOHMAA has established a dedicated steering committee of members, vendors and agency Partners, who will analyse the final standard to determine its transferability to the New Zealand market. It is hoped that this will be ready for New Zealand’s market in early Q4 2022.
“The unified approach to delivering a Standard will mean it’s a platform where everyone understands what the outcome is. There is a consistency in agreed deliverables and metrics used – all of which will again add a new level of accountability and transparency,” O’Connor says.
Results released by OOHMAA the second quarter of 2022 show the sector is growing by four percent and contributing to H1’s results, delivering an increase of three percent in revenue for the same period in 2021; $60.6 million, up from $58.7 million.
Digital revenue also grew by three percent for the same period in 2021, accounting for $40.4 million, with its share of total revenue for H1 2022 holding at 67 percent, the same share percentage as H1 2021.
“These revenue results for Out of Home reflect the faith agencies and advertisers have in this channel, however there is still capacity for continued growth and we hope that developments like a New Zealand Standard and an AMS will add a layer of transparency and ease of trade for agencies that translates to more engagement with our sector,” says O’Connor.
“Our audience numbers have recovered to pre-Covid levels across most formats; there’s the ongoing development and implementation of pDOOH, the ongoing focus and dedication of OOHMAA members JCDecaux, oOh!media, and MediaWorks for delivering a universal audience measurement system to enhance further the value our industry offers advertisers, and all these tailwinds look set to ensure OOH builds on its H1 success in H2.”
With 67 percent of OOH’s revenue coming from digital OOH, O’Connor says this shows that New Zealand has really embraced this technology and its capabilities.
While programmatic is also set to contribute to the industry’s growth, O’Connor says it shouldn’t be seen as a “silver bullet”.
“In New Zealand, and globally, the uptake of programmatic Out of Home is still in single digits as a percentage of revenue. We know that will increase because pDOOH offers greater flexibility around budgets, timings, and real time optimisation and that is going to appeal to clients to engage with OOH where they haven’t before.”
Anecdotally she is hearing from OOHMAA members and agencies alike that many of those embracing programmatic offerings are new to Out of Home, building on our clients rather than cannibalising existing revenue.
“[Programmatic] will deliver a really nice layer to amplify advertisers’ Out of Home strategy. But we are also very aware that with programmatic we need to build on really solid foundations.
“There is going to be a lot of education needed and upskilling for the agencies and for our sites, as well as testing the various programmes available and developing a set of standards.”
OOHMAA has also been working on establishing the effectiveness Out of Home with ‘An examination of New Zealand’s Media Performance and Out of Home’s role.’ This study is the first step in the association’s journey to illustrate Out of Home’s effectiveness and necessity as a channel.
As 2022 progresses, the association will continue to support the industry through these developments, user education, and the delivery of an New Zealand Standard.
