OOH Expenditure Overview: Key Trends in Q1 2022

The latest spend figures released for Q1 depict a positive story for the Out of Home Industry in Ireland, according to OMA/Nielsen.

Q1 2022 saw an increase of 109% on the same period last year. The OMA/Nielsen figures, which report rate card less discount to reflect market conditions reported an increase of 11.1m compared to 2021, with 7 of the top 10 advertisers increasing their spend on the same period last year. The numbers are re-assuring, providing evidence that the OOH sector is undergoing a strong period of growth after a steep decline as a result of the Covid19 pandemic.

OOH Expenditure Overview: Key Trends and Insights from Q1 2022

Category Trends

The top category was retail with an overall spend of 5.3m, up 25% on same period last year.  Retail as a sector has seen a challenging few months, with supermarket groups increasing spend promoting price stability on the back of inflation worries.  Home grocery shopping has been an upward trend too with almost all supermarket groups now offering home delivery and promoting same message.  For example, Tesco increased spend in quarter 1 (+118%) to 948k, as it invested heavily in Price Comparison, Grocery Home Services and Good Grub campaigns.  The figures reflect trends seen in our own consumer research studies in Jan- Mar with so many consumers opting for healthy options and home cooking, lending to increased grocery spends.

Drink & Food categories also fell within the top 3 spenders.  Diageo are leading the charge within the drinks category as the overall top spender in Q1 at 1.6M, no change to its position last year, but we’ve also seen numerous new zero alcohol products come on stream too and use the OOH medium effectively to communicate with target audiences.

Similarly, food spend on OOH saw an increase of 12% on previous year.   Mondelez took 4th place as top spender @ 649K, coupled with various other food advertisers investing heavily in the medium.  The pandemic reinforced that there is a desire for quality food produce, that consumers are prepared to spend more on luxury and premium food items, which lends to the increase in this category too.

2 categories that have emerged as strong contenders in the Q1 figures are household services and entertainment and media.  Rising inflation has led to a demand for price reductions and switching of household utilities, a trend set to continue.  Both Sky and Virgin Media demonstrated strong spend results for Q1.

Similarly, with entertainment & media Disney Plus featured in the top 10 advertisers, with numerous other entertainment platforms using OOH also.

Similarly, entertainment & leisure saw a big increase v Q1 2021.  Advertisers such as McDonalds, JD Sports and Paddy Power used the power of OOH to drive key messaging of their brands across this category.

Film releases within the entertainment category also saw an increase which is no surprise given the backlog of movies released once cinemas and theatres re opened.

Summary:

It is fair to say that OOH is on an upward trajectory.  The spend figures reflect investment in our medium, not just by brands and advertisers that use the medium regularly but newcomers who recognise the inherent benefits of using OOH to reach key audiences.  Audiences are spending more time out of home too, putting reach and frequency front and centre for advertisers.