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Outdoor advertising revenue grows, APN Outdoor aims to cash in with new offering – UPDATED

Quarterly statistics released by the Outdoor Media Association of New Zealand (OMANZ) indicate strong revenue growth figures for the out-of-home advertising category. 

According to Adam McGregor, the general manager for OMANZ, the third quarter results for 2013 showed accumulated revenue growth of 18 percent for the year to post an overall amount of $47.8 million, the highest since the global financial crisis (GFC) hit (excluding the Rugby World Cup year).

This is a promising result, given the residual effects of the 2008 meltdown in the years that followed it. In 2006, outdoor advertising brought in $79 million and contributed 3.3 percent of the total industry turnover in New Zealand. By 2009, in the aftermath of the GFC, this figure had dropped to $68 million, the lowest recorded since 2004. During 2010 (a FIFA World Cup year), the figure climbed slightly to $70 million, before ballooning to $83 million for the 2011 Rugby World Cup. The party was however short-lived, with 2012 figures showing revenue of only $67 million, even lower than those recorded post-GFC.

Wayne Chapman, the chairman of OMANZ, said that the 2013 results were a step in the right direction and that all members of the association were focused on the “overarching objective of increasing New Zealand OOH market share to five percent.”

This team objective has not stood in the way of free-market competition, with APN Outdoor recently launching a new portrait offering that, it seems, is designed to compete with Adshel’s smaller format offering.         

APN Outdoor’s ‘Portrait 10 Pack’, which is set to go live on 27 January 2014, will feature ten portrait billboards (each of which are seven times larger than those used by Adshel) at ten hand-selected sites close to retail precincts and on main roads.

Phil Clemas, the APN Outdoor general manager, explains, “Three things were important to us when choosing the sites: we wanted quality positioning that had good visibility; we wanted it to be on roadways with high traffic; and the positioning had to be close to major shopping precincts.” 

The real point of difference with this offering is that it moves away from the traditional one-month block to offer the ad space for two weeks, during which, APN Outdoor claims, the billboards will deliver a contact frequency of 4.3 million views.  

The billboards, which feature a frameless wrap-install system and LED backlighting, have been targeted at premium brands that would like to maximise their outdoor exposure over a short period of time. “The two-week cycle offers more flexibility in the sense that companies that might not have the budget to pay for a full month can now also afford large-format outdoor advertising,” says Clemas.

The 14-day blocks will be sold at $29,500 throughout the year, and this price includes blowing up ad graphics to fit onto the much larger billboards.           

APN Outdoor has already sold two blocks for 2014, and Clemas is optimistic about the project saying, “We know the ‘Portrait 10 Pack’ will be extremely attractive to advertisers because of the fortnightly booking schedule, the premium locations of the sites and the high level of audience numbers it delivers.” 

According to Nielsen, outdoor billboards were the second most widely viewed location for out-of-home advertising. 

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