JCDecaux UK 2023 organic growth exceeds 2019 level
JCDecaux’s UK business has reported 12.5% organic growth for full-year 2023 — above 2019 pre-pandemic levels.
This was driven by strong digital revenue (including the rise of programmatic), double-digit organic growth in transport revenue and high single-digit growth in street furniture.
This followed strong results in Q4 2023, which saw record revenue for the UK.
“These results show the strength of OOH — transport audiences are back and there are new digital capabilities including programmatic driving our growth across environments,” Dallas Wiles, co-CEO of JCDecaux UK, told The Media Leader.
“When you look at our highly diversified client base and the double-digit growth of our two biggest categories globally (fashion and luxury up 20%) and retail (up 16%), it shows the continuing importance of OOH as the big-reach medium that brands need as linear TV continues to decline.”
He added that the focus in the UK continues to be on cities and providing clients with “the highest-quality digital opportunities” in roadside, retail, rail and airport environments. This is alongside its contribution to the company’s global goal to be net zero carbon by 2050.
As a group, JCDecaux reported 8.7% adjusted organic revenue growth to €3,57bn for 2023 — higher than in 2019, which recorded 2% adjusted organic growth.
This was down to “continued growth” of street furniture and “ongoing recovery of our transport activities”, according to Jean-François Decaux, chairman of the executive board and co-CEO of JCDecaux.
By format, transport reported the highest organic growth of 18.4%, followed by street furniture with 5.1% and billboard with 0.7%.
The results follow JCDecaux’s launch of the first global programmatic digital OOH (DOOH) offering last month.
DOOH revenue was up 22.7% on an organic basis compared with 2022, making up a new record of over a third, or 35.3%, of total group revenue.
Decaux said there was “strong programmatic revenue growth” and analogue advertising revenue also grew in 2023, “despite the conversion of some premium analogue sites to digital”.
By region, three regions reported double-digit growth in 2023, including rest of the world with 14.1%, Asia-Pacific with 13% and the UK with 12.5%.
Looking forward
Decaux said the company expected Q1’s organic revenue growth to be around 9%.
He added: “We are confident that OOH will continue to grow its market share in a fragmented media landscape, with DOOH being the fastest-growing media segment. JCDecaux, as the industry leader and the most digitised global OOH media company, is well-positioned to benefit from this digital transformation.”