OOH’s share of media spend set to drop slightly: study

Warc's newest global study shows Canada's out-of-home CPMs are predicted to grow below the global average.
By Bree Rody
March 19, 2018

Global intelligence firm Warc’s data shows that although out of home’s share of global ad spend is steadily decreasing, in the long term, the OOH market is still relatively stable.

The data, which was collected from 96 markets including Canada, show that OOH’s share has steadily declined since 2012, when it hit just over 6%. The estimate for 2017 and forecast for 2018 show that trend continues – 2017 is estimated at 5.8% and 2018 is projected to hit 5.6%.

But according to Warc, that proportional spending remains consistent with OOH’s performance since 1990.

For the last 28 years, OOH has accounted for an average of 5.9% of global ad spend, with shares hitting a high of 6.6% (2008-2009). The actual amount of dollars invested in OOH also remains strong; the latest verified data (2016) shows investments hit $31 billion globally, while the investment is expected to rise to $32 billion this year.

When assessing only investment in display formats (which excludes search and classified) within Warc’s 12 key markets (which includes Canada), OOH accounted for an estimated 7.9% of all ad spend in 2017. This share has held “largely steady” over the last decade, according to Warc.

Digital OOH is also rising consistently. Digital took an estimated 34.8% of global OOH revenue in 2017, up from 32.4% in 2016 (and up from 22.7% in 2015). Long-term projections from Warc suggest that by 2021, digital OOH will take 45% of all OOH spend.

In Canada, CPMs for a standard billboard is expected to go up 2% this year (below the average global rise of 3.5%). However, Canada was among the four markets from which Warc was unable to attain a confirmed average CPM. The global average CPM for OOH was $6.41.

Using consensus data from Warc and various other groups and agencies’ ad spend predictions across all media (including Zenith, Magna Global, Dentsu and GroupM), Warc placed the estimated rise in global ad spend at 3.5% for 2017 and predicted a positive change of 4.2% for 2018. But Canada, which came in above the estimated global average for 2017 (at 3.8%), is expected to fall below that average in 2018 (3.6%).