• by Wayne Friedman , August 21, 2019

Out-of-home advertising grew nearly 8% in the second quarter — the best quarterly growth since 2007, according to the Out of Home Advertising Association of America.

The 7.7% hike over the same period a year ago totaled $2.69 billion. Over the first six months of 2019, OOH advertising is 7% higher than the same period a year ago.

The trade group says digital OOH media grew 31% — the highest among any OOH formats. Also there was also “strong quarterly growth” in billboards, street furniture, transit and place-based media.

Six advertising categories outperformed national gross domestic product (GDP) gains in the second quarter -- retail; media and advertising; public transportation; hotels/resorts; insurance/real estate; automotive dealers/services; and miscellaneous local services/amusements.

Top advertisers in the period were McDonald’s, Geico, Apple, State Farm, Chevrolet, Amazon, Facebook, Anheuser-Busch, AT&T and HBO.

The group says 70% of the top 100 OOH advertisers increased spend over the second quarter a year ago — with one-quarter of marketers more than doubling their media investment.

In addition, over one quarter of the top 100 OOH advertisers were tech brands, including Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Netflix and Google.