Wide format printers took a hit pre-Christmas as the Australian Out Of Home (OOH) sector shrank in the final quarter of 2012, its first drop since the onset of the GFC three years ago.
However for the year as a whole the OOH sector saw revenue increase over the previous year by 1.8 per cent, breaking through the half a billion dollar marker to $503.3m, up from the $494.6m in 2011.
Net revenue for the three months October to December was down by 4.2 per cent to $145.7m, compared with $152.1m in the final quarter of 2011.
The final quarter bucked the upoward trajectory that OOH had been on for the previous eleven quarters, in 2012 it grew by 4 per cent in Q1, 2 per cent in Q2, and a whopping 6.5 per cent in Q3.
Charmaine Moldrich, ceo of the Outdoor Media Association says, “Despite a comparatively small drop in revenue in quarter four, we mustn’t forget that this follows eleven consecutive quarters of strong growth for the OOH industry – a solid performance unmatched by any other traditional media.”
During the year other achievements included new updated figures for Move (Measurement of Outdoor Visibility and Exposure), which saw an increase of 13 per cent in total daily contacts taking contacts to 338 million, up from 299 million in 2011. The OMA also launched Open, a book that explores creativity through a variety of OOH campaigns from home and abroad, which also includes essays on creativity, culture and the role of OOH in the community.
Figures for all categories total for 2012:
• Roadside Billboards (over and under 25sqm) $181m
• Roadside Other (street furniture, taxis, bus/tram externals, small format) $180.3m
• Transport (including airports) $78m
• Retail $64m
Figures for all categories for quarter four:
• Roadside Billboards (over and under 25sqm) $49.8m
• Roadside Other (street furniture, taxis, bus/tram externals, small format) $52m
• Transport (including airports) $23.3m
• Retail $20.6m
Andrew Tribute
