• by Dana Blankenhorn , March 19, 2003

The billboard industry has made it through the recession unscathed. Its trade group now hopes to turn the medium into something measurable and exciting.

Outdoor advertising revenue was up 0.8% last year, to $5.2 billion, said Stephen Freitas, chief marketing officer for the Outdoor Advertising Association of America (OAAA). That doesn’t sound very good, but revenues fell only 1% in 2001 from 2000, while other media were hurting.

While national advertising revenues fell, revenue from local advertising made up the slack. And while the industry was down 4.6% at mid-year from 2001, it made up the entire gap, and more, in the second half of the year.

In other words the outdoor industry has made it through the recession, and "Our large members say they’re having a great first quarter" in 2003.

Soon, however, technology will transform both the display and measurement of outdoor advertising, Freitas added.

Arbitron has finished a test of outdoor ratings in Atlanta, based on a panel of 1,000 diary users and 50 people with "people meters." The test cost $300,000, and it may cost $30 million to extend the system nationwide. Freitas said that would be money well spent.

"It might cost $1 million to survey a market like LA or NY. But it’s traditional to spend about 1% of revenue on audience measurement data," he said. "Radio does it. TV does it." Based on industry revenues OAAA could spend $50 million on measurement tools and call it a bargain.

The industry plans to identify all ads using a Global Positioning Satellite (GPS) system, evolve the meters into devices that are "totally passive," then offer not just raw numbers on viewers, but demographic data as well.

Buyers will be able to see how many men and women see an ad, in various day parts, and what their average income is.

"The personal people meter technology is radio-based," Freitas added. "If you put a transponder on each location, then outdoor can be measured just like TV, radio and cable. You can collect those signals in the same device, in the same database, and see how the media work off each other."

When the United Kingdom went to an outdoor ratings system a few years ago, "the share of ad dollars for outdoor shot up from 5% to 8%," Freitas said. Detailed results from Arbitron’s Atlanta study will be released April 1.

Even more exciting news is coming on the display side, where "Lamar Advertising is converting their key boards to LED units" whose messages can be changed at-will "and sold in day parts," by the hour or even the minute.

"Clear Channel’s panels on subway stairwells are backlit" and being converted to LED as well, he said. "They will sell 10-second spots on the sidewalks of Manhattan, linked to a complete network of LED locations."

Freitas said the OAAA has also been studying the "scrolling" units on some roads, which change their messages every few seconds. "That kind of movement does heighten peoples’ awareness and attention" but "it’s not yet reflected in pricing."

A scrolling ad may cost one-third the price of a full board, but deliver far more bang for the buck, he said. "It’s a bargain."

So while OAAA is pleased with a flat 2002, and a flat 2001, it’s expecting better numbers, and a bigger share of ad budgets going forward.