Digital outdoor advertising revenues are on the up in the UK despite an overall decline in the market, the Outdoor Media Centre says.
Although outdoor revenues slipped 1.2% in the second quarter of 2011 the digital portion of the market was up 10%, accounting for 14.3% of outdoor revenue.
The market fell to £208.9 million, representing the first dip after five consecutive quarters of growth.
“This quarter, outdoor has faced challenging circumstances, in the same way as other display media have, but revenues held up comparatively well”, said Mike Baker, CEO of the Outdoor Media Centre. “We were pleased to record only a small loss, and in fact more than half our 35 members enjoyed growth. With revenues for the first half of 2011 only minimally down, my hunch is that outdoor has outperformed the media market as a whole.”
The ten biggest outdoor advertisers in the quarter were Glaxosmithkline, Marks & Spencer, British Sky Broadcasting, Coca Cola, Unilever, Everything Everywhere, Anheuser Busch Inbev, 20th Century Fox, Microsoft and Paramount Pictures. Categories spending more on Outdoor in the second quarter than in the previous year included entertainment and leisure, drink, computers, retail, clothing, cosmetics and personal care.
Of the three main environments (roadside, transport and retail/leisure), transport performed best. Six sheets outperformed in both the transport and the roadside environments. Other strong sectors included airports, railcards, taxis and targeted digital networks.
Overall digital revenues were up 10% year on year to £29.8m for the quarter. Digital now makes up 14.3% of all UK outdoor revenue. Of this, transport made up 50%, roadside (typically large format LED billboards and spectaculars) 29%, and the retail and leisure sector 21%.