• by David Kaplan , December 13, 2004

While weather in most of the country might be getting a bit too chilly for thinking about the outdoors, the out-of-home ad industry is surely warmed by news that revenues exceeded previous expectations, though.

So far, outdoor advertising revenues saw a 6.5 percent increase for the first nine months, and a 3.6 percent increase for the third quarter, according to the industry trade group Outdoor Advertising Association of America.

"The industry's growth is accelerating and we expect that trend to continue through the end of 2004," said Stephen Freitas, chief marketing officer for the OAAA.

However, as the OAAA's numbers point out, much like the tremendous rise in TV ad revenues, the unprecedented spending of more than $1 billion in national and local political races pushed out-of-home advertising revenues through the roof.

For instance, outdoor media performance was up in seven of the top ten advertising categories for the first nine months of the year. And as the association notes, the most significant growth came in the "Government, Politics and Organizations" category with a substantial 42 percent rise due to political spending for the November elections.

The rise moved Government, Politics and Organizations onto the top ten advertising categories list for the first time, knocking the Beer & Wine category off the list.

Nevertheless, Freitas said that other categories proved successful in their own right, providing further growth this year for the industry. Most notably, the Insurance and Real Estate category continued its strong growth with a 27 percent increase due to additional advertising of low-interest mortgage rates, Freitas said. The Media and Advertising category was up almost 14 percent as television stations promoted their fall line-ups. The Automotive Dealer & Services category was up 11 percent as a result of the fall launch of new car designs.

The largest spending was in the Local Services & Amusement category, which grew 9 percent.