Unsurprisingly, the second quarter of 2020 was not a good time for out-of-home (OOH) advertising. With cinemas, retail shops, large venues, restaurants and bars closed – and consumers told to stay at home due to the coronavirus pandemic – revenues from OOH advertising plunged 45% year-over-year, per recent data from the Out of Home Advertising Association of America (OAAA).
This severe dip in advertising revenue in Q2 comes after years of consecutive quarters of year-over-year (y-o-y) growth, ranging from about 1% to as high as 7.7%. Nonetheless, OOH advertising brought in $1.48 billion in revenues in Q2 this year.
The pandemic didn’t discourage all advertisers from OOH. Indeed, big brands like McDonald’s, Geico, Apple, HBO and Comcast were the top OOH advertisers in Q2, followed by Cracker Barrel, American Express, the US Census Bureau, Google and Netflix. Not only that, but OAAA reports that 31 of the top 100 OOH advertisers increased their spend in Q2 over the same quarter in 2019.
The top OOH advertising category for the quarter was Miscellaneous Services & Amusements, which accounted for slightly more than one-quarter (26%) of total revenues. Retail followed at #2, accounting for 10.3% of total spending. Rounding out the top 5 advertising categories for the quarter were Restaurants, Insurance & Real Estate and Media & Advertising, accounting for 7.6%, 7.5% and 7.3% of total revenue, respectively.
Although Media & Advertising ranked in the top 5, it saw one of the biggest y-o-y decreases, with spending dropping 51% over Q2 2019. However, it was Public Transport, Hotels & Resorts (#8) that saw the largest dip in investment. Accounting for 5.4% of total revenues, the category’s $79.8 million in revenue represented a 57% y-o-y decrease.
About the Data: OAAA notes that it “issues full industry pro forma revenue estimates that include, but are not limited to, Miller Kaplan and Kantar Media (which is not adjusted to reflect changes in data sources), and member company affidavits. Revenue estimates include both printed and digital formats of billboard, street furniture, transit, and place-based, which includes cinema advertising.”
