APN Outdoor is aggressively pushing into digital to grow its customer base since its split with APN News & Media, with a dozen new digital billboards going up this year.
APN Outdoor chief executive Richard Herring says the company is ramping up its digital billboard fleet this year, converting five of its printed sites to digital and adding one new one so far, bringing its total to 23, with another six conversions planned for the year.
Herring says while there are no plans to increase printed billboard numbers, the company is still committed to the static format, which makes up the vast majority of its 600 sites.
“Our digital billboard portfolio will not replace our static billboards, so there isn’t a shift to make all of our billboards digital,” he says.
“Our billboards will always remain a key product offering in market for us, and we will continue to offer the best quality sites in key locations across Australia.”
The out-of-home media company, which was acquired by Quadrant Private Equity in December for $69m, after the private equity firm had already bought a 50 per cent stake for $174.2m in 2012, has launched a series of digital-focused products in 2014 but has no plans to build any more printed billboards.
The company is also working on converting some of its cross track advertising sites at Sydney train stations to digital with full motion video capabilities.
Herring says this is an effort to diversify APN Outdoor’s product portfolio to gain new clients that want different things out of their outdoor advertising, and that demand for the technology is growing.
“It is another outdoor format we are investing in, to provide a new range of opportunities for clients, as well as new revenue opportunities for the business,” he says.
“The creative flexibility and various creative ‘executions’ you can run on a digital billboard – live feeds, instant uploads of photos, day parting, and social media interaction – opens doors to new advertisers using our media.”
APN Outdoor digital billboards boast clients including the Sydney Swans, Dare iced coffee, and Lego.
He says the reason all but one of the sites are conversions is because getting regulatory approval for new sites, especially digital, is ‘difficult’ so there is little choice but to convert existing printed sites.
APN Outdoor is making improvements to its vast printed holdings, however, launching a slate of 150 billboards backlit with white light LED infused technology to make them glow and stand out in the night.
Advertisers can book the ‘LUX’ billboards in two packages of 75 locations strategically located across the country for two-week campaigns.
Herring says while the response has been good, there are no plans to increase LUX numbers because the company believes in having a wide variety of offerings.
“It is important to note all of our outdoor media formats provide the same benefits – huge impact, noticeability, stature, key locations – to an advertiser’s campaigns, just in different ways, capturing various audiences throughout the day and night, outside the home,” he says.
Herring says it is ‘business as usual’ since the quadrant buyout and while staff numbers have not increased he is “pleased with the trading year”.
“There is a positive dynamic within the business. Quadrant have been extremely supportive of the management and staff at APN Outdoor as we work together to achieve organisational objectives,” he says.
“We are really excited about leading the outdoor industry in new developments, including digital, and exploring exciting new executions for advertisers keen to take advantage of greater creative flexibility and immediacy.”
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