Out of home giant, oOh!media, has recorded a 23 per cent revenue lift to $251.6 million in its half year 2021 results with underlying EBITDA more than tripling to $33.3 million.
Road, retail and the street furniture categories experienced the most growth in the half in both Australia and New Zealand.
The road category, which includes billboards printed by Cactus Imaging, a subsidiary of oOh!media, was the strongest performer with revenue increasing by 44 per cent to $78.6 million, up 19 per cent on the pre-COVID period with revenue up 16 per cent compared to the first half of 2019.
oOh!media CEO Cathy O’Connor says the strength of the half year results demonstrate the scale and diversity of the company’s assets and leverage to audience recovery across its key formats.
“We have seen strong audience growth post lockdowns which has led to a significant turnaround in revenue for the half, particularly in our key formats of Road, Retail and Street Furniture in Australia and New Zealand,” O’Connor said.
“That has also been a function of our strong suburban and regional network where we continue to provide unrivalled reach and frequency for advertisers.
“In Australia audience levels were consistent up to May 2021 before declining as a result of the Melbourne lockdown in June. Overall revenue has held consistently at 80% of 2019 levels with revenue in Road performing particularly strongly at 116% of the first half of 2019. New Zealand also performed at or slightly above 2019 levels.
“As conditions have become more fluid during the pandemic, we are seeing advertisers capitalising on the flexibility of digital out of home (DOOH). With the largest quality digital network across the region, oOh! is well positioned to respond.”
In other categories, commute – which includes rail assets – increased by 26% to $91.9 million as audiences began to return. Street furniture was up 36%, partially offset by rail revenue which was down 18% as passenger numbers declined in key Sydney and Melbourne train stations.
Retail revenue increased by 40% to $57.3 million as audiences returned to the segment, the company said.
As anticipated, the fly category declined by 56% to $8m as travel restrictions continued.
The locate category was affected by actual or perceived closure of office buildings and employees working from home. Revenue in this category declined by 33% to $7.5m.
In terms of the outlook, oOh!media said Q3 revenue is currently pacing 83% higher than the corresponding period in 2020.
“Forward visibility remains uncertain given the ongoing effects of COVID-19 lockdowns and associated movement restrictions, however we expect that when the current lockdowns end there will be a strong recovery in audiences and associated revenues as has been the case previously,” oOh!media said.
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