The year 2020 is not one of the fondest years for the outdoor advertising industry. With several months passed by in lockdown and closure, the OOH channels mainly streets, cinemas, retail, and other transit ads resulted in almost null revenue during the period. The implications were widely visible in the OOH ad spending which saw a decline of 28.5 percent as compared to 2019 till September. However, outdoor advertising would rebound stronger with sophisticated tools and technology showing the light.
In the aftermath of the pandemic, small-medium businesses saw a plunge in revenue, many businesses laying off or going shutdown, and numerous filing for bankruptcies.
According to a stat, small business revenue across all sectors declined by 19.1 percent as compared to January 2020.
The decline in business revenue, challenging operating conditions, and limited funds would certainly prompt advertisers to slash their marketing budget. And, even if the businesses or industry as a whole adapt to survive the sudden shock, outdoor advertising would need to evolve to radically address the rising concerns in the lights of the pandemic.
Outdoor Advertising During and After the Pandemic
Leveraging the power of outdoor advertising, many successful and popular campaigns were accomplished amidst the pandemic. Among them was Trump’s death clock in New York, Salute the heroes, Sending love, and several others that demonstrated the incredible reach and sheer brilliance of OOH ads in sparking engagement and generating awareness.
Even after the crisis, when restrictions finally lifted, it would be wise to follow a reopening guide for businesses keeping health and safety in mind. Here traditional and advanced digital signage, posters, and informational Kiosks are already playing their role to make the road hassle-free for businesses. But, the time now signals the start of a new era where outdoor advertising would take a refined digital form.
Outdoor Advertising in 2021 Will be All about Embracing Digital
No doubt as tech continues to impregnate in every segment of our life, Outdoor advertising would also not remain uninfluenced. Going forward, Outdoor advertising will evolve to be more competitive with ads digitally driven by data, programming, and IoT technology. In fact, we are likely to witness a 360-degree pivot from what it was a few years ago. And, it has started to show up at a rapid pace in which Digital Out-of-Home advertising mediums are growing.
According to a stat, the number of digital billboards in the U.S. has reached a staggering number of 9,600 in 2020 first half from being just 6700 in 2016. Look at the graph from eMarketer.
The whopping 42 percent growth in numbers is certainly incredible news for advertisers looking to tap the DOOH ads to respond to the changing avenues of connecting and communicating with customers.
On top of it, the impressive numbers highlight the effectiveness and the trust of marketers to constantly achieve significant results from the DOOH—even when the world is shifting its focus to digital marketing and social media platforms. And, the facts are surely backed by a report published on business insider.
According to the report, “This year, digital out-of-home (DOOH) ad spending will increase by 1.6 percent, and in 2021 it will rise by 19.2 percent. We expect DOOH ad spending to increase from $2.72 billion in 2020 to $3.84 billion in 2023”.
Future of Outdoor Advertising
The pandemic has undisputedly made advertisers rethink and reimagine Outdoor advertising as a whole. Although the pandemic has subsided there could be a future crisis anywhere sooner. Plus, consumer behavior and consumption pattern are taking an unpredictable leap which is another serious concern for advertisers. Hence, the future of Outdoor advertising would be all about investing, implementing, and transforming the marketing channel. Here is what would fuel the growth of Digital in the outdoor advertising world.
Digital Displays
Despite the fact that digital displays are rapidly adopted by marketers, the future will be all about introducing smart, intuitive, and responsive displays.
Not only these displays would provide a TV-like experience, but also would connect with viewers better by immediately responding to dynamic variables such as temperature, weather, customer mood, and other things. And, there is no question about their effectiveness and reliability as well with a significant share of people retaining those ads.
According to research stats, digital billboards which are the most common digital displays are highly impactful with 34 percent of respondents taking action and 32 percent visiting a store, mall, or restaurant advertised.
Although it has already started to happen backed by techs such as IoT, facial and thermal scanners, and sensors, the future would be all about making it even more precise and real-time.
Programmatic Ads
The road to the years ads would witness programmatic DOOH ads redefining the outdoor marketing landscape. According to statistics, the spending on programmatic Digital Out-of-the home is valued to grow to $0.53 billion US till 2023 from $0.18 billion US in 2020.
So the programmatic DOOH would surely be the key for existing businesses ailing with declining revenue in order to use the marketing budget more effectively.
With complete control and fluidity on—where, when, and to whom—the ads are advertised, marketers can churn-out a better return-on-investment from every impression. The possibilities are endless with additional options of contextual and real-time triggers encompassing weather, demographic, geography, and pin-point time in the picture ready to be explored.
Data and Technology
Since data is the new currency of the modern world, the industry will see a sudden shift to data-driven outdoor advertising using unusual technological capabilities and innovation in DOOH. Learning from the crisis backed by data, Digital ads would be able to shape, act, and respond based on the market, economy, and health crisis.
Customer Insights
Customers are the lifeline for the industry. With restricted movements and behavior changes induced by pandemic, the traffic, and visitors would slowly and steadily decline and would be limited. With more customers’ insights at hand, the industry has to redevelop ways to improve the cost-effectiveness and relevance by restructuring buying and planning methodology with more and more information about the customers in hand.
The Next is Yet to Come
While many predict the year 2020 as a death of traditional advertising, the time to come would definitely revolutionize outdoor advertising to ultimately mutate into a more potent DOOH advertising form. However it would be extremely crucial for the industry to think out-of-the-box to incorporate and digitize solutions that are way more efficient, productive, and reliable than the former ones.
—Lily Travis
Lily Travis is a content writer at Front Signs who loves to share insights and expertise about the advertising and marketing industry.
The post Outdoor Advertising Awakens in 2021 appeared first on Sign Builder Illustrated, The How-To Sign Industry Magazine.
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