‘Collaborating with Govt key to our future success’

To what extent has the spread of digital OOH media contributed to the overall growth of OOH business in Australia?

Our quarter two revenue results showed a double digit increase of 14.2% on net media revenue year-on-year, posting $225.7 million, up from $197.5 million for the same period in 2017. Digital Out of Home (OOH) revenue made up almost half of total media revenue, accounting for 49.8%, reflecting that OOH is now firmly embedded in its role to be the ‘always on’ place that people go to, to stay connected. Our digital network provides flexible, time sensitive solutions advertisers require, and traditional inventory will always deliver consistent place-based, broadcast messages.

MOVE has indeed set benchmark standards for OOH audience measurement metrics. Do you see a correlation between the adoption of a common currency for audience measurement and OOH industry growth?

Absolutely. In 2010, when MOVE first launched, we were a $400 million industry. At the close of 2017, we were an $837 million industry – evidence of the impact and value of accurate audience measurement. This is why our industry continues to invest in MOVE as well as other technologies to make it easy to buy and report on OOH campaigns.

Tell us about the initiative by the MOVE Board to build robust audience measurement metrics for digital OOH media.

The MOVE Board’s investment of up to $10 million to rejuvenate the MOVE platform is an exciting step toward the future. We are investigating various international models, as well as investing in data and research, with an aim to create the next generation of dynamic audience measurement. Careful consideration is being given to external data sources such as mobile, and issues of privacy and security are top of mind. Over the next two years we will develop a metric that is fit for purpose, now and into the future.

Do you see OOH increasing its share of the total advertising pie in the coming years? How is OMA leading the Australian OOH industry into the future?

Over the last few years we have seen seismic shifts in advertising dollars between media channels, and in 2017 online and OOH were the only channels which continued to grow in Australia. We are working as an industry to continue our trajectory by providing timely and placed based solutions to advertisers, developing technology and processes to make it easier to buy OOH, and refining our reporting of accurate and transparent data about our growing audiences. In addition, with advancements in augmented reality, beacon technology and facial recognition, we now have new stories to tell about the creative potential of OOH.

Also crucial to our future success, is our ability to collaborate with government: we are part of the way cities deliver smart solutions, from free WiFi to wayfinding and emergency messages through our network of over 80,000 advertising faces around Australia. We are one of the only media channels to give back to cities and the infrastructure we contribute to cities is valued at $352 million.

Ultimately, we are all keenly aware that working together on solutions creates better outcomes and that is what will lead the industry into the future. We are aiming high for 2020, investing, building and maintaining systems that will future proof our industry for continued success.