Out-of-home the Second-Fastest Growing Medium Behind Internet, with Digital Billboards Leading the Expansion

September 24th, 2007 Nurlan Urazbaev

Adweek’s article today pictures a bright future for Out-of-home advertising, and especially for the digital billboard technology. “Next year,” Laureen Miles writes, “total spending on out-of-home will skyrocket 12.8 percent to $8.94 billion versus this year, per Veronis Suhler Stevenson. PricewaterhouseCoopers predicts more conservative but still outstanding growth of 9 percent to $8.12 billion in 2008, on top of this year’s 8.9 percent surge. Out-of-home is the second-fastest growing ad medium behind Internet, with projected 8.2 percent compound annual growth in the 2007-2011 period, according to PwC.”

Lamar Advertising digital billboardLamar Advertising currently has the largest electronic billboard network in the United States with at least 150 billboards deployed at this time. Photo credit: Lamar Advertising

Although static billboards are growing as well, digital billboards are leading the expansion of Out-of-home: “Billboards, both digital and static, constitute 65 percent of the out-of-home market, per PwC. The double-digit gains billboard have enjoyed since 2005 are projected to continue into 2008, mostly due to the growth in digital boards, which can generate 10 times the revenue of a static board,” said Stefani Kane, partner in PricewaterhouseCoopers’ Media and Entertainment Practice.

While digital billboard inventory has exploded, demand has stayed high, and so have rates. The targetability and changeability of digital boards and better measurement have kept prices aloft, experts say. “All this gives added value, so we’re not seeing a high slippage in dollars,” Kane explained.

Entry Filed under: Digital Signage Evolution, The Big Picture, Uncategorized