• March 25, 2005

Outdoor ad spending totaled $5.8 billion in 2004, an increase of 6.0 percent over 2003, according to final estimates released Thursday by the Outdoor Advertising Association of America. The rate of growth ebbed in the final quarter, which rose only 4.5 percent over the fourth quarter of 2003. Nonetheless, Stephen Freitas, chief marketing officer of the OAAA, said the medium has "reestablished historical growth trends" pulling out of the "low growth anomalies apparent since 2001." Based on the OAAA's final estimates, outdoor outpaced the growth of three other major media during 2004: newspapers (+4.5 percent), local radio (+4.0%) and Yellow Pages (+1.0 percent). Most of the top 10 outdoor ad categories showed healthy gains during the year, especially financial (+37.5 percent) and "media & advertising" (+31.9 percent). -- J.M.