Outdoor hits £213.2m in Q1 2013: 0.1% growth year on year
Digital up 21% year on year
The Outdoor Media Centre today announces that outdoor revenues grew 0.1% year on year in the first quarter, to £213.2m (£213.0m in Q1, 2012). Although essentially flat, on the back of the Olympic year 2012, this marks the seventh quarter of consecutive growth in the outdoor medium.
Revenues in the digital sector grew to £43.1m, up 21% year on year. Advertisers across many categories explored new ways to use digital advertising, and media owners continued to invest, transforming sites in the best locations to digital. Digital made up 20.2% of the total outdoor revenue in Q1, up from 16.7% in Q1, 2012.
“We are pleased to see growth continuing following a long run of success all the way back to mid 2011. It’s very small growth, admittedly, but we are following an Olympic year and we are now running into some very tough comps,” says OMC’s chief executive Mike Baker. “We are realistic that it will be well-nigh impossible to match Q3 especially and we know that will also impact on the full year number. But the digital growth continues apace, with 21% growth to £43m in the quarter – a fifth of the total spend in outdoor. That’s where the most impressive growth story lies.”
The much awaited Warc/Ad Association figures out in early May 2013 will confirm whether outdoor has passed the threshold of 10% share of display advertising – a long held goal for the medium and, if achieved, a huge result. The continued growth of outdoor confirms that advertisers see a convergent role for outdoor alongside mobile, online and social media.
