Category: Outdoor Advertising

Outdoor advertising refers to the advertisements we see outside our home, hence the term ‘Out-of-home’ or ‘OOH’ for short.

The most obvious examples of this form of advertising are the large digital and physical billboards that we see by roadsides or in busy places. However, there are many other examples wherever we go; on the bus stop, on the subway platform, on shop signs and even on the trees in the form of a poster at your local park. You can’t miss it!

The pandemic lead to a 28 percent decrease in revenue for the US outdoor advertising industry in 2020, however, since then it’s bounced back remarkably. In 2021 US companies spent over $6.9 billion on outdoor ads and this number is rising every year. Despite the fast rise in digital ads, physical remains king, making up almost 70% of available ad space.

What are the advantages of outdoor advertising?

• Audience Size: The amount and variety of people that are going to see your advertisement.

• View Frequency: The frequency that ads are seen by the same people. Note that in the UK, people spend an average of 28 minutes commuting to work.

• Brand Awareness: High view frequencies more often you’re more like to remember the product

• Targeting: Pinpointing your target audience. For example if you’re a active wear company putting your ad near a gym

• Immediate impact.

What are the disadvantages of outdoor advertising?

• It can be extremely expensive – especially for digital ads.

• There is no guarantee your campaign will be successful.

• Physical billboards can be vandalised.

• Customers may forget your contact details.

• It can be extremely difficult to assess effectiveness due to volatility in audience sizes and limited methods of tracking attribution. This is particularly the case when compared to digital advertising.

How much does outdoor advertising cost?

Outdoor advertising can get quite costly especially for advertisers opting for physical billboards. The main drivers of costings are location, location, location! A billboard in a rural area could cost an advertiser $1500 per month whereas a busy area of Las Vegas could cost over $10,000 per month. Along with location, physical billboard costs can vary by setup costs – vinyl, printing, installation along with any maintenance or repairs if the boards are damaged.

How to measure the impact of Outdoor Advertising.

The easiest and quickest way to measure the impact of outdoor advertisements is to take note of sales before, during and after the campaign. Another way is looking at impressions. Impressions are calculated by the amount of people that may see your advertisement. This can be calculated by using traffic statistics (for example, road traffic, or audience data for a public event).

Pros

• High population locations
• Exclusivity 
• Cheaper than digital
• Spaces in town centres – heart of the community
• An audience with a wide range of demographics
• Helps build brand awareness
• Energy Efficient

Cons

• Cannot be edited or changed during the campaign
• The cost may change drastically depending on the location
• Initial set up costs are needed
• Reprints if the boards are vandalised or damaged

Despite the onset of digital advertising screens, physical or static billboards remain popular largely due to their lower cost (physical billboards can cost as little as £20 or $26 per day). Advertisers will need to pay the initial set up costs in terms of printing the ad but after that it’s just upkeep and a monthly rental fee.

It’s worth noting that whilst the setup fees are higher than digital screens, it does usually mean that the adverts stay up for longer and are exclusively owned by one advertiser, making them a great way to build awareness within a community.

Having exclusivity and a longer display time enables advertisers to be extremely granular with this form of advertising – for example, a sportswear advertiser may opt for physical locations close to major sports stadiums or gymnasiums.

Another big win for static ads is energy efficiency – they require almost no energy to run and as a result have a much lower carbon footprint. This leads to cost savings and could be appealing to eco-aware brands looking to show consumers their green credentials.

On the negative side, static billboards are prone to damage from weather or vandalism. A tatty advertisement does no favours for a brand and could even render the ad unreadable. All of this means more downtime and extra costs to repair the damage.