Six out of home media experts give their opinions on what’s on the radar for out of home, digital and traditional, in 2017. On bylaws and billboards. Location based data gives true value. The year of OOH. The year of the monkey – a turbulent year for OOH. OOH currency on the ROAD, while urbanisation emerges as key trend. Merging traditional OOH with innovative technologies. Compiled by Glenda Nevill.
On bylaws and billboards
In terms of challenges, the issue of inconsistency in the enforcement of bylaws within the various municipalities across South Africa remains problematic. The OOH environment remains a tough one to navigate as it is linked to rights, without which we cannot operate. The OOH industry needs clear rules and regulations that protect a company’s media assets. If enforcement does not take place, it hugely undervalues available OOH media opportunities. We have also seen a dramatic change in empowerment and BBBEE requirements from parastatals and municipalities and predict that this will increase in importance.
Adding to this state of flux is the consolidation of OOH media ownership in South Africa. The competitor landscape is changing with the consolidation that is currently taking place in the industry.
On the positive side is the significant growth in digital OOH, with the result that a greater percentage of budgets are flowing into these mediums. While television continues to dominate advertising spend, OOH maintained its share with DOOH growing quite significantly.
With the launch of OMC (Out Of Home Measurement Council) and billboard measurement data now available, we predict that OOH will attract more revenue in the near future. This is a result of the efficacy and return on investment that OOH provides that will be showcased through effective measurement research and this will benefit everyone involved in the OOH industry.
We predict the following key trends for 2017: Consolidation of OOH media ownership will continue. The value of OOH media in areas like JHB will increase as certain municipal councils are now being better administrated and managed, resulting in less clutter. We expect an aggressive roll out of more Digital OOH, which will attract more advertising revenue; Infrastructure development, which includes BRT project development, Gautrain extension and the PRASA modification programme, will naturally grow share for OOH; and we also predict a significant move towards “value exchange relationships” between OOH media owners and landlords, municipalities and parastatals.
Jacques du Preez is CEO and founder of Provantage Media Group.
Location based data gives true value
It has been a great year for Primedia Outdoor, and for OOH globally. Digitisation has served as a key driver of OOH growth, and we foresee even more in this space as digital OOH reaches maturity in media schedules.
The launch in May of the Outdoor Measurement Council’s first audience measurement for South Africa marked a milestone for the industry. For the first time, agencies and advertisers can effectively plan for OOH, and can directly compare OOH’s reach against other media channels. For all countries that have introduced effective audience measurement tools the track record of subsequent exponential OOH growth is clear – so with the OMC bringing comparable media metrics to South Africa, the future of local OOH is looking bright.
Big data sciences and advanced technology science are also finding their place in the OOH media landscape, driven by OOH’s strength as a location medium and its synergy with mobile and hyper-local marketing. Location and time are powerful tools for understanding interest and intent. As such, the true value of location based data extends to strategic planning, audience understanding and ad effectiveness – for example, Primedia Outdoor has successfully used wi-fi technology in taxi ranks to measure audiences and audience behaviour within the ranks. We expect further sophistication around beacons, geo-fencing and wi-fi to be implemented in the year to come.
On the downside, the difficulty in obtaining the necessary approvals from the various government entities has led to a proliferation of illegal billboards and is becoming an issue that the industry needs to address, as this has many negative consequences and detracts from the medium as a whole.
Peter Lindstrom is sales and marketing executive at Primedia Outdoor.
2017 – The year of OOH
The excitement for the coming year is palpable, as the last few years have been business as usual for OOH. Targets have been hit and budgets met – but the uptick to started in Q3 of 2016 looks set keep on moving up and up, so I think that 2017 will definitely be the year of OOH!
Two key reasons for this increase has been the inevitable rise of digital out of home, which allows for rapid campaign implementation and low cost creative changes. In addition to this, 2017 will see the implementation of the OMC’s ROAD measurement system which will make OOH far more quantitative, and it will ensure that all registered providers will be using the same standardised metrics to evaluate their portfolios, thereby instilling a much needed sense of accountability in our industry.
In addition to the above, I see integrated OOH innovation playing a much larger role in the media mix than it does now; a well-executed innovative OOH campaign can live on much longer nowadays through social media, so what was once a brief activation in a mall forecourt can now transport itself through the viral nature of our various Facebook/Twitter/Snapchat/Instagram networks to millions of more people and the possibilities here are simply endless.
As the opportunities to reach consumers get more and more fragmented, and while these consumers get more and more jaded.
Simon Wall is managing director of Tractor Outdoor.
The year of the monkey – a turbulent year for OOH
It was Chinese New Year of the Monkey, which claimed, “The status of events will be changing very quickly”. And how true has that been. I have been in this industry for 14 years and in my opinion, the year was a very turbulent one for the OOH sector.
A trending change has been the fact that the duration of advertising is far shorter than it was in the well-loved past. We have found that most OOH campaign bookings are for anything from a one-month booking to an “ever-grateful-for” six-month booking, and that is pushing it! Gone are the days where some clients booked five-year campaigns!
A constant challenge for us is the flighting of sites. There are limited reputable flighting companies in outer regions and other provinces and we are finding that both timeous and quality flighting is hard to come by these days.
Even though it has been a turbulent time, there has been great successes with new OOH media owners popping up all the time. In fact, never a dull moment where this is concerned. It’s great to see young, innovative and enthusiastic entrepreneurs so passionate about the OOH space.
I have truly enjoyed the fact that many clients are running audits on their campaigns. This shows their commitment to the medium and it is wonderful for the industry to know that these audits are available to our clients.
Plans for 2017 – Stay focused, passionate, service orientated, honest and keep abreast of the ever-changing industry would be my suggestion to anyone!
Michele Munro is managing director of MMAP.
OOH currency on the ROAD, while urbanisation emerges as key trend
The biggest success for the OOH industry in South Africa has been the release of the groundbreaking out of home currency, ROAD (Roadside Outdoor Audience Data) produced under the OMC JIC umbrella. It is globally recognised that access to consistent and reliable OOH measurement is key to the growth of the OOH industry, (both in South Africa and Sub-Saharan Africa), and is equally of strategic and planning value to media agencies and marketers to provide integrated planning metrics across all media.
JCDecaux South Africa are one of the key underwriters of the ROAD currency, delivering media metrics such as reach, frequency, GRPs and CPM, and will now position the South African out of home industry alongside that of the many other countries that have already developed currency frameworks like ROUTE in the UK, and Move in Australia.
TV advertising is expected to fragment with the move to DTT, becoming even more expensive per CPP, and resulting in heightered fragmentation that will make it more difficult to reach mass markets.
A key consideration for next year is urbanisation, which represents a key trend spurring growth in the market. Over half of the world’s population now resides in cities and urban locations. The figure is expected to explode further with urban population representing around two-thirds of the global population by the year 2050. Apart from urbanisation, the world’s population is also becoming increasingly mobile, with people spending a greater proportion of their time outside their homes, such as at airports, railway stations, streets, and malls. The combination of urbanisation and mobility trends will provide immense opportunities for the growth of outdoor advertising. Especially poised to benefit under this scenario are transit and digital OOH media.
Lyn Jones is marketing and research manager for JCDecaux Sub-Saharan Africa.
Merging traditional OOH with innovative technologies
In the out of home (OOH) sector, 2016 has seen a merging of traditional media with innovative technologies. Technological advancement in the OOH commuter landscape, targeting the upper socio-economic segments in South Africa, has gone a long way to align itself with international trends. This opportunity has extended to local mass-market commuters, opening up a plethora of opportunities for advertisers and marketers. In addition, it uplifts the mass-market segment by providing connectivity and access to educational and entrepreneurial initiatives.
There is an imperative to hasten the advancement of linking traditional OOH with new technologies, creating multiple touchpoints. This proven track record of efficacy in reaching consumers boosts opportunities for growth – enhancing delivery and return on investment for brands. Technology, paired with creative media planning and relevant content, is recognised by advertisers as a versatile and impactful medium facilitating real-time interaction and engagement from consumers and superior audience targeting.
Next year will see further advances in the integration of traditional OOH with digital, which will lead to more sophisticated data collection, insights and planning tools. This will provide brands with the flexibility to engage digitally with commuters and increase targeted content delivery.
Rochelle Josiah is chairman and founder of Talis Group.
This story was first published in The Media Yearbook 2017. Click on the cover to read the digizine.
