2024 in OOH: Traditional media’s poster child gets a growth spurt

2024 in Review

Out-of-home (OOH) has been one of the strongest-performing channels in 2024, with industry body Outsmart estimating that ad revenue crashed through the £1bn barrier before the year had even ended.

Q3 was also OOH’s strongest Q3 on record, according to Outsmart.

The Advertising Association (AA) and Warc, meanwhile, estimate 2024 full-year adspend in the channel will increase by 12%, driven by 15% growth in digital OOH (DOOH) revenues.

Furthermore, Q4 — the “golden quarter” — should see an excellent performance. The AA and Warc also forecast OOH adspend to increase 8.1% in the final three months of the year, which would make it the third-highest-growing channel behind only online display and search.

Globally, the channel is on strong footing too. The World Out of Home Organization revealed in June that its goal of exceeding 5% of global adspend was finally reached in 2023, with OOH accounting for 5.2%, up from 4.7% in 2022.

TfL up for grabs

In the UK, two of the industry’s most lucrative accounts in the UK were reviewed during the year.

Transport for London reappointed Global and JCDecaux for a further eight years for its Underground and bus shelter ad contracts, respectively, in September.

Global’s contract in particular is the largest in UK OOH. The retention would have been a pleasing parting gift for CEO Stephen Miron, who will leave the post after 16 years to become chairman in March 2025.

In October, Miron chatted to The Media Leader editor-in-chief Omar Oakes about his career, including when Global moved quickly in 2018 to acquire Exterion Media, when “Ocean thought they’d bought the business”.

‘Disrupt yourself before someone disrupts you’: Stephen Miron on 16 years of Global

Climate concerns

But the sector was not without its challenges. As a traditional broadcast channel, and a highly visible one at that, OOH is affected when there is any move to curtail advertising.

In April, Sheffield City Council introduced new restrictions around advertising and sponsorship on its owned outdoor estate.

The council banned advertising from fossil-fuel, gambling, e-cigarette, vaping, airline, airport, car, and HFSS brands across its panels, as well as online media and sponsorship opportunities.

Sheffield has gone further than any other UK council with such a decision. Outsmart director Tim Lumb said the OOH industry was not consulted on the decision and maintained that OOH remains “an important revenue stream” for them.

Edinburgh council followed suit a month later by prohibiting OOH advertising on council-owned estate such as billboards and bus stops from brands in the SUV, cruise, airline, airport, fossil fuel-powered vehicle and arms manufacturing sectors.

Globally, in June UN secretary-general António Guterres became the most high-profile public figure yet to call for a worldwide ban on fossil-fuel advertising.

With issues surrounding climate change — and advertising’s role in “promoting” those considered to be contributing to the crisis — continuing to gain traction, any move by regulators towards this ambition will hugely impact the OOH sector.

Should fossil fuel ads be banned globally?

Banging the drum

For now, the OOH industry continues to successfully bang the drum not just for the media channel but for the wider ad industry generally via thought leadership and research.

All the main players are currently investing in their infrastructure to improve both sales and the experience for the public.

For example, JCDecaux updated its estate at London Bridge station to make its screens more accessible for the visually impaired and wheelchair users.

However, not everyone agrees with OOH’s role at transport hubs: in October, Euston station’s huge digital screens were turned off as the transport department announced a plan to improve the functioning of the station following overcrowding complaints from passengers.

Still, in a world where advertising can be bought quickly and easily on tech platforms, JCDecaux has worked hard to highlight the power of programmatic digital OOH (prDOOH) in a year when trust in media was once again a core concern for brands.

At The Future of Brands event in April, Clear Channel’s Lindsay Rapacchi presented compelling research that explained why the industry needs to better understand the concept of mental availability and how to monitor, track and study it to create better marketing.

Spoiler: it isn’t just about clever usage of OOH.