Members of the Outdoor Media Association (OMA) reported combined net revenue of $503.3 million for the 2012 calendar year, a 1.8% rise on 2011. The association represents about 90% of the industry.

Roadside billboards generated 36% of the revenue, transport 15% and retail 13%. The remaining 36% came from other roadside advertising such as bus shelters and street furniture.

The association said the only sour note in the "positive" results was a 4.2% contraction in Q4 due to "a slow retail market in the lead-up to Christmas". That marked the end of 11 consecutive quarters of growth.

OMA chief executive Charmaine Moldrich told ProPrint that outdoor would be the only traditional media channel to grow in 2013.

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"We're probably the only totally relevant broadcast channel left. Our strength is that technology is our friend," she said.

"That growth is fuelled by the fact that everyone else is finding it difficult to find their audience and get their audience to pay for content, whereas our audience is growing, because people are still spending time outdoors – in fact, they're spending more time outdoors."

Moldrich said the deepening interactivity between advertising and smartphones had already started to fuel "the next phase of rapid growth" for outdoor. It will become commonplace for people to see ads and then tap them with their phones, she added.

Outdoor advertisers like the fact that consumers can now react immediately to their ads, whereas in the past they would have needed to go home to dial a number or do an internet search, she said.

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