Digital out-of-home has unique power to interest consumers

Boring old out-of-home is a surprisingly promising medium for engaging consumers. This can be seen in its recent growth. Due in large part to the advent of digital billboards, spending for out-of-home advertising has grown by 8% for the last three years (surpassed in growth only by online advertising).

Digital Billboards Are “Interesting”

The ability to vary and customize digital billboards has yet to be fully explored. But even with relatively “dumb” billboards, consumers are paying attention. Research conducted by SeeSaw Networks (June 2007/July 2008), and reported in MediaPost recently (registration required), highlights the power of today’s digital billboards to generate consumer interest. Here’s one of the findings in that research:

Advertising On The Media Is Interesting

Medium Percentage of Base
Digital Signage

53%

TV

51%

Magazine

51%

Billboard

37%

Internet

34%

Radio

33%

Newspaper

33%

Mobile Phone

27%

Base: Among those who have seen ads in the media in the past 12 months

As media options continue to explode — and consumer attention progressively splinters — reaching people where they work and play will be even more important to marketers. I’m excited to see how innovations in out-of-home step in to fill that need.