Digital Asset Wastage In OOH Represents $2.3 Billion Annual Lost Opportunity
Gail Chiasson, North American Editor
Digital out-of-home campaigns that fail to utilize the unique features offered by the medium represent a lost opportunity to the global advertising sector valued at up to $2.3 billion a year, according to a new study from Clear Channel Outdoor.
Clear Channel Outdoor operates some 4,700 digital screens in 18 global markets, including, in the U.S., 49 of the top 50 designated market areas. The company is warning that three out of four campaigns run on digital screens are not using digital features and capabilities to their full potential, with advertisers losing billions in potential revenue as a result.
Clear Channel Outdoor sampled activity across its global network of digital screens, calculating that just one in four campaigns was maximizing the benefits offered by digital technology. With the worldwide digital out-of-home sector valued by Kinetic at $3 billion, this equates to $2.3 billion worth of ‘digital asset wastage.’
The issue of digital asset wastage is just one topic of CCO’s ScreenPlay study, which identified the unique features and benefits of digital panels to advertisers and brands. The study includes research with consumers in shopping mall and rail station environments, including over 1,000 shoppers and rail commuters in four French malls and in Belgium’s Brussels Central rail station. CCO found that consumers have very high expectations of digital out-of-home, but brands are failing to make the most of the unique opportunities for creative richness, relevance, immediacy and engagement that digital screens offer over static panels.
The ScreenPlay study found that by a clear majority, digital out of home advertising is considered modern (79%) innovative (69%), appealing (67%) entertaining (63%), and as standing out from other forms of outdoor advertising (70%).
The research also identified five ways in which digital creative content can unlock the full and unique potential of digital out-of-home advertising. CCO has found that the most powerful digital ads:
- Play with people and spaces;
- Use movement;
- Tailor executions or messages to reflect relevant consumer needs;
- Deliver real-time information and live messages;
- Build strong brand narratives.
The study found that brands which successfully incorporate one or more of these features into their digital campaigns connect more powerfully with people, build a stronger brand identity and ultimately have greater impact.
“The message found in our ScreenPlay study is that digital out-of-home has the potential to be transformational for our industry and that the best is still yet to come,” says David Boyd, digital director at Clear Channel International. “At Clear Channel Outdoor, we look forward to working in collaboration with brands across the world to build creatively rich and effective digital campaigns which engage the consumer and allow the medium to reach its full potential. Our survey proves that consumers see digital out-of-home advertising as innovative, modern and engaging and in an increasingly competitive world, it’s a message we will be taking to all of our customers.”
Parveen Bdesha, Research & Insight Director at Clear Channel International, says, “The ScreenPlay research has provided us with invaluable insight into the mindset of consumers and their response to digital out-of-home media. This will enable our teams across Clear Channel Outdoor’s global business to work in close collaboration with advertisers and agencies to help them to utilize the unique features of the medium more effectively, and ultimately allow them to enjoy the benefits this will bring to their brands.”
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