Outdoor industry closes the year up 1%, Digital up 28%

Jan 30, 2012. The Outdoor Media Centre today announces that UK outdoor revenues for the period October-December 2011 reached £256.4m, up 1.4% year on year. Revenue for the full year 2011 was £886.3m, with the outdoor industry finishing the year off with 1% growth on 2010.

Mike Baker, CEO of the Outdoor Media Centre said:

"Despite the economic gloom, we have ended the year with some momentum, and seven out of the last eight quarters have shown growth, this past quarter is very close to being the biggest outdoor quarter ever.”

According to Nielsen, the top 10 advertisers in the quarter were Sky, Vodafone, Warner Bros, Tesco, Coca Cola, Universal Pictures, Everything Everywhere, Vauxhall, Paramount Pictures and E1 Entertainment. Categories which spent more this quarter compared to Q4, 2010, included drink, entertainment, telecoms, motors, retail, finance, clothing and cosmetics.

Digital revenues were up 28% to £39.3m for the quarter, a new record. A significant number of new digital sites came on stream during the final quarter of the year, reflecting sustained investment in digital and the ongoing conversion of traditional sites to digital in rail, airport, roadside and retail environments. In the year 2011, digital made up 14.1% of all outdoor revenue (11.4% in 2010), and twenty OMC members now offer digital screens as part of their portfolio. Looking at the major environments, transport (+2% overall for the quarter) and retail/leisure (up 13% overall for the quarter) were the strongest. In roadside, 6 sheets were the strongest format, up 1% October to December.

The growth of the medium underlines the importance of outdoor delivering a strong visual contextual branding element to advertisers whose campaigns are arguably less visible with the transfer of press campaigns to online.

Associated Newpapers has announced today they are intending to increase the price of the Daily Mail’s Monday to Friday editions from 50 – 55p, changes to start on Monday. The weekend editions will remain at the same price. The increase in cover price is an attempt to compensate falling advertising spend which from April to June 2011 has been 7% lower than last year, probably due to the murky future that faces the retail sector. Adding an extra 10% to the cover price is estimated to bring in revenue of 15m a year.

Even though The Daily Mail has outperformed its competitors, the fact remains that the cost of newspaper print continues to be high and something must give to cover it. The price last rose in April 2008.

As for what the future holds the Daily Mail says “Looking ahead, while the outlook remains uncertain, the July to September comparatives are less demanding. The cover price increase will mitigate some of the impact of the recent decline in advertising revenues.”

For more info:

The Independent

This is Money