The latest figures from out of home (OOH) industry body the Outdoor Media Association (OMA) put digital revenue on the cusp of overtaking print, at 49.7 per cent of total net media revenue year-to-date.
The figures represents a 5.3 per cent increase over the recorded 44.4 per cent for the same period last year.
In total, OOH posted an increase of 8.7 per cent on net media revenue year-on-year in the first quarter of 2018, posting $203.1m, up from $186.9m for the first quarter in 2017.
Charmaine Moldrich, CEO, OMA says, “OOH is moving forward into an exciting period of progress and expansion; led by digital and the increasing availability of powerful data sets. This is compelling for advertisers and why we continue to see our revenue grow.”
The industry body also announced that it will be investing up to $10m to rejuvenate its Move program to accurately measure audiences and prove the power and efficacy of its out-of-home digital network.
The rise in figures for the first quarter follows virtually non-stop growth since the turn of the century, save for two quarters that followed the GFC a decade ago. The outdoor media industry ended 2017 with an increase of 6.03 per cent on net media revenue, posting $837.1m, up from $789.5m for the previous year.
Divided by category, the figures for the first quarter of 2018 are:
Roadside Billboards comes to $82.7m, up from $77.3m in the prior corresponding period (pcp); Roadside Other, covering street furniture, bus/tram externals, small format, is at $55m, up from $51.1m; Transport, including airports rose to $35.1 million from $29.5m, while Retail, Lifestyle and Other hit $30.3m, up from $28.9m in the pcp.
Among the major outdoor media companies, QMS has the highest proportion of digital to print, its most recent result recording digital as 66 per cent of its total sales, up by more than 50 per cent from the same period last year when it was 43 per cent.
At oOh!media digital is now 60 per cent of total revenue, while APN is the only ASX-traded outdoor company with print as its main revenue generator, with print accounting for 62 per cent.
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