• by Richard Whitman , Columnist, August 9, 2017

IPG’s MAGNA and sibling out-of-home specialist Rapport issued a new report yesterday that reads like a David Letterman top-10 list about why OOH is so freaking awesome.

I’ll give them credit for one thing—they didn’t get all techno-jargony when they wrote up the findings. No, it’s actually pretty readable. Or at least, the press release is that highlights the report.

And since everyone loves to talk about money, you should know the OOH sector is now a $29 billion ad market that will reach $33 billion by 2021.

In honor of Dave, let’s review the list from the bottom up.

The number 10 reason OOH is so awesome is that it can “go native.” Kind of like this report, which sounds like a native ad for the medium, starting with the title: “Ten Reasons Why Out-of-Home Outperforms.” 

Number 9: OOH can address branding campaigns and point-of-sale purchase. Not much new there.

Number 8: OOH becomes addressable and programmatic. Nice, keeping up with the times just like every other medium out there. Sign me up!

Number 7: OOH is expanding to new environments like gyms, elevators and taxis. Just like it’s been doing for the last 10 or 15 years.

Number 6: Transit and street furniture are still developing. Yep, just like many countries, still developing.

Number 5: OOH inventory becomes more impactful and valuable, because total volume is not expanding and actually shrinking in many markets. Ah, the old TV argument: Our ratings are getting suckier and suckier, therefore, we’re worth more!

Number 4:  Digital OOH is boosting advertising revenues by creating more opportunities for marketers in premium locations, like airports or malls, thus increasing the revenue per panel multiple times. Well, I guess that’s good if you’re Rapport. Why not do an attribution study highlighting OOH ROI for clients? Or better yet, have an objective third party do it. 

Number 3: OOH advertising cannot be skipped or blocked. Watch me. I pass thousands of OOH messages every week walking around New York City and manage to block out 99% of them without much effort. What can I say? I have a mind like a sieve. I knew it would come in handy for something.

Number 2: OOH audience measurement continues to improve. Self-improvement, that’s a good thing. Some day, you’ll amount to something.

And the No. 1 reason that OOH outperforms (outperforms what I’m not sure). Everybody is outside! Right, rushing madly and with singular focus to whatever next appointment they have and totally ignoring whatever OOH messages the industry posts to capture their attention.

Thanks MAGNA and Rapport, this was a fun write-up. Hope you do another top-10 list real soon!