The OMA and the state governments have been working together to hammer out a deal around dwell time – the amount of time a digital billboard image can stay before it is allowed to change – with the agreement needing to satisfy the needs of advertisers and of road safety authorities.
The international standard is eight seconds, which is what the local industry would like, however the Roads and Maritime Services agency is believed to favour 30 seconds. Charmaine Moldrich, CEO of the OMA says, “We are close to agreement. Following our last round of discussions the RMS has put a position down that it is comfortable with, and which is currently being discussed by our members. I am confident we will reach resolution soon.” According to Moldrich research shows that in-car distraction is a much bigger issue than roadside, she says, “In terms of distraction studies show that drivers are trained to focus on external drive factors – traffic lights, movements and the like, and they spend an average of two seconds looking at digital billboards. However in-car distractions from phones, kids, putting on make-up and the like is a much bigger distraction issue.”
Australia lags behind the US, Canada,western Europe, Japan and Korea in the uptake of digital billboards, with this dwell time the main sticking point. Once it is resolved drivers can expect a significant upswing in the amount of digital billboards on the roads here.
For wide format printers the uptake of digital billboards will prove a challenge in the $500m a year out of home business. Moldrich says, “There are three compelling reasons why digital billboards are attractive. First for the advertiser they allow rapid change in the advertisement – dayparting – a fast food chain for instance can advertise its breakfast, lunch and dinner offers at the appropriate times of the day. Second for the space provider they offer the opportunity to sell space to multiple clients, rather than just one. And third from an OH&S perspective they are clear winner, as changing an image is a matter of pressing a button, there is no need for road closures, for abseiling or any of the other difficult practicalities of erecting and changing billboards.” There have been two fatalties in recent years connected with billboards in Australia.
Moldrich also says that environmental factors will come into play in favour of digital billboards, with no need to print on vinyl and then having to dispose of it. and she believes that they will be powered in large part by on-site solar power solutions.
She says, “There will always be a place for print, because just as there is an argument for multiple adverts in one location there is also an argument for one company having one advert on a billboard for a month to give maximum exposure, but there is no doubt that digital will play a growing and major part in outdoor advertising.”
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