• by Joe Mandese  @mp_joemandese, January 10, 2023

After declining precipitously in 2020 due to the disruption of the COVID-19 pandemic, digital out-of-home ad spending rebounded in 2021 and 2022, reaching all-time highs last year in both the U.S. and worldwide, according to new estimates released this morning by PQ Media as part of its Global Digital Out-of-Home Forecast.

Digital out-of-home advertising, which plummeted 39% in the U.S. and 26% worldwide in 2020, expanded at high single-digit and low double-digit rates in both 2021 and 2022 in the U.S. and worldwide, respectively, reaching $3.9 billion in the U.S. and $12.3 billion worldwide in 2022.

Digital out-of-home was hit worse than the overall out-of-home advertising market it is part of during the recession, but has outperformed its rate of growth coming out of it.

In the U.S., digital out-of-home is nearly one third (32.9%) of the total out-of-home advertising marketplace, while it has a 30.5% share of global out-of-home ad spending.

“We expect the digital out-of-home media industry to continue its double-digit growth in 2023, powered by a number of positive developments fueling innovation, creativity and further expansion," says PQ founder and CEO Patrick Quinn, adding that "increased and improved programmatic advertising, smart technology marketing, better ROI measurements, and successful efforts by DOOH industry executives and trade organizations at pitching the convincing story" are accelerating its growth.

Within digital out-of-home, place-based networks are expanding most rapidly, increasing ad revenue 24.9% worldwide and 39.9% in the U.S. in 2022.