• by Jack Loechner , Staff Writer @mp_research, September 3, 2012

According to the Outdoor Advertising Association of America (OAAA), OOH advertising revenue rose 4.3% in the second quarter of 2012 compared to the same period in 2011, accounting for more than $2 billion. Revenue for the first half of 2012 has reached nearly $3.5 billion.

OAAA President & CEO Nancy Fletcher says that “... the out of home advertising industry remains on a growth trajectory surpassing most other media... “

The Auto Dealers segment has returned to the top 10 industry categories in OOH expenditures, while the Retail and Insurance & Real Estate segments grew by more than 10%, and Governments, Politics & Organizations by more than 14%.
Additional data reported by Marketing Charts show that, of the top 10 industry categories tracked by the OAAA in Q2, ad spend in Miscellaneous Services and Amusements (mainly local brands), was $373 million, roughly twice as high as expenditures by second-place Media and Advertising, at $186 million.

• Third-place Retail ($176 million) showed the fastest growth of all categories in Q2, at 16.4%
• Government, Politics and Organizations category showed the next-highest year-over-year increase, of 14.3%

The financial category continues to pull back on spending this year, notes the Marketing Charts report. In Q2, the category decreased its spending by 10.6% year-over-year, following a 2% pullback in Q1. For H1 overall, spending by financial advertisers decreased by 6.1% year-over-year.

The communications sector contracted its spending even more. For H1, communications advertisers spent $208.75 million, down 14.4% from $243.8 million a year earlier. Q2’s spending decline of 19.1% was the largest of the top 10 categories.

For additional information from the OAAA, please visit here.