Page 23 - AdNews Mar-Apr 2021

atoning for the huge discounts used to stimulate spend in 2020, so while inventory is moving this year, it’s well under market. But this will shift as we continue to regain normalcy in our daily media habits and they prove the audiences to justify a shift on rates.
“We’d have to say BVOD and digital audio, including podcasts, are the big winners from 2020 and while the significant upswings in audiences have eased during December and January, these channels are now firmly on the radar for clients who may not have even considered them 12 months ago.”
Out-of-home’s struggles during 2020 was the most unexpected given it was one of the strongest performing sectors before the pan- demic hit. But in May last year, the sector fell 71.1 per cent in media agency bookings. In July, it was revealed that the industry lost 65 per cent of its net media revenue for the second quarter of 2020, reaching $82.1 million, down from $234.6 million the same time the year prior.
By December, there were signs of recovery as the nation started moving around again and therefore being exposed to more billboards. Media agency bookings were down 38.4 per cent in December but most industry insiders don’t expect a return to pre-pandemic levels until next year.
“Out-of-home is another outlier,” says The Media Store head of invest- ment Paul Wilkinson. “There are a number of factors that will remain a challenge in this space: use of public transport, retail visitation, CBD foot- fall, etc. I believe the outdoor market will have strong demand for specific ad formats, however others may continue to remain a challenge.”
The outdoor sector is largely dependent on restrictions easing throughout the year, but another key factor in its growth will be its ability to instil confidence in transparency.
“2021 should see year-on-year growth but it’s unlikely to be con- sistent with 2019 levels,” says Cooper. “While mobility is slowly returning, a key factor holding back growth for the OOH industry is the current audience measurement (MOVE) not able to take into account Digital OOH reach, due to share of voice, with advertisers being 1 in 6, or 1 in 10, rotations.
“This has resulted in inaccurate OOH reporting due to growth of digital transformation and while a refreshed measurement system is in progress, it will not be released till at least 2023.”
Third-party verification business Veridooh says the shift to digital will help boost confidence in the medium. The business works with agencies such as Omnicom Media Group to measure metrics such as length, share of voice and exposure time for their campaigns.
“With the absence of overseas travel and people returning to normal ways of moving about their cities, the OOH industry is ideally placed to bounce back in 2021,” says Areef Vohra, Veridooh commercial and partnerships director.
“This is spearheaded by the continued trend of increased investment in Digital OOH and innovative creative executions. Never before have insights and measurement been so important to planning and proving delivery. Tighter budgets will mean more emphasis on ROI and with that a greater focus on accountability and transparency, which DOOH can now deliver through products such as independent verification.
“These new levels of intelligence will garner greater client trust in the medium. And with this trust advertisers will become more willing to divert investment to DOOH from other channels where ad fraud, brand safety and lack of measurement is an issue. This will also deliver better collaboration from demand side, supply side and verification businesses.”
James Sparkes at Sandbox Media says that outdoor players have had to rapidly adapt during the pandemic to be more flexible.
“The outdoor industry in general, they obviously have one of the biggest deficits to claw back but have been the most proactive medium post-pandemic, spruiking their wares and shiny new toys,” he says. “The retail space has been a great one to watch during the pandemic
“Marketing dollars tend to shift into environments where consumers are spending the most time.”
James Sparkes, Sandbox Media head of strategy and digital.
with shopping being an essential service, SMI data shows the entire outdoor category declined by 44 per cent, Shopper Media Group, being entirely retail focused, only saw declines of 3.4 per cent.
“Shopper Media Group, VMO, Cartology and Ooh!Media have all been very vocal in showcas- ing their relevance during the pandemic and with clients see- ing results from these channels they will continue to support throughout 2021.”
Publishers, particularly Nine and News Corp Australia, made headlines over the government’s news media bargaining code which recently passed parliament and will see Facebook and Google pay publishers for their content.
Analysts at Goldman Sachs expect the code will bring in tens of millions of dollars for publish- ers. The payments from Google and Facebook will be a reprieve as media buyers expect publishing to
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