NEW YORK – Digital out-of-home campaigns that fail to utilize the unique features offered by the medium represent a lost opportunity to the global advertising sector valued at up to $2.3 billion a year, according to a newly released study from Clear Channel Outdoor (NYSE: CCO). Clear Channel Outdoor, a leader in digital out-of-home, operates some 4,700 digital screens in 18 global markets, including in the U.S. 49 of the top 50 designated market areas. The company is warning that 3 out of 4 campaigns run on digital screens are not using digital features and capabilities to their full potential, with advertisers losing billions in potential revenue as a result.
Clear Channel Outdoor sampled activity across its global network of digital screens, calculating that just 1 in 4 campaigns were maximizing the benefits offered by digital technology. With the worldwide digital out-of-home sector valued by Kinetic at $3 billion*, this equates to $2.3 billion worth of ‘digital asset wastage.’
The issue of digital asset wastage is just one topic of CCO’s ScreenPlay study, which identifies the unique features and benefits of digital panels to advertisers and brands. The study includes research with consumers in shopping mall and rail station environments, including over 1000 shoppers and rail commuters in four French malls and in Belgium’s Brussels Centraal rail station. CCO found that consumers have very high expectations of digital out-of-home, but brands are failing to make the most of the unique opportunities for creative richness, relevance, immediacy and engagement that digital screens offer over static panels.
The ScreenPlay study found that by a clear majority, digital out of home advertising is considered modern (79%) and innovative (69%), appealing (67%) and entertaining (63%), and as standing out from other forms of outdoor advertising (70%).
The research also identifies five ways in which digital creative content can unlock the full and unique potential of digital out-of-home advertising. CCO has found that the most powerful digital ads:
| 1) | Play with people and spaces | |||
| 2) | Use movement | |||
| 3) | Tailor executions or messages to reflect relevant consumer needs | |||
| 4) | Deliver real-time information and live messages | |||
| 5) | Build strong brand narratives |
The study found that brands which successfully incorporate one or more of these features into their digital campaigns connect more powerfully with people, build a stronger brand identity and ultimately have greater impact.
David Boyd, Digital Director at Clear Channel International, said:
“The message found in our ScreenPlay study is that digital out-of-home has the potential to be transformational for our industry and that the best is still yet to come. At Clear Channel Outdoor, we look forward to working in collaboration with brands across the world to build creatively rich and effective digital campaigns which engage the consumer and allow the medium to reach its full potential. Our survey proves that consumers see digital out-of-home advertising as innovative, modern and engaging and in an increasingly competitive world, it’s a message we will be taking to all of our customers.”
Parveen Bdesha, Research & Insight Director at Clear Channel International, added:
“The ScreenPlay research has provided us with invaluable insight into the mindset of consumers and their response to digital out-of-home media. This will enable our teams across Clear Channel Outdoor’s global business to work in close collaboration with advertisers and agencies to help them to utilize the unique features of the medium more effectively, and ultimately allow them to enjoy the benefits this will bring to their brands.”
ScreenPlay methodology: The study used a mixture of qualitative and quantitative research techniques, with the majority of fieldwork taking place on location in mall and railway station environments.
The quantitative portion of the study focused on understanding the performance of, and peoples’ attitudes towards, the live digital campaigns running in malls and the rail station at the time of the research. The qualitative portion also sought to understand attitudes toward the live campaigns, but in addition, broader responses to digital out-of-home, to outdoor advertising and to advertising as a whole were explored in depth. A wide range of qualitative techniques were used to do this, including ethnographic observation, filmed intercept interviews and ‘walk and talk’ sessions.
Fieldwork for the study took place in Belgium in April 2012 and in France in September 2012 at Belgium’s Brussels Centraal station and in four shopping malls in Paris and Lyon.
For further information regarding Screen Play, please contact Parveen Bdesha at [email protected].
About Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings (CCO)
Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings, Inc., (NYSE: CCO) is one of the world’s largest outdoor advertising companies, with more than 750,000 displays in over 40 countries across five continents, including 48 of the 50 largest markets in the United States. Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings offers many types of displays across its global platform to meet the advertising needs of its customers. This includes a growing digital platform that now offers over 1000 digital billboards across 37 U.S. markets. Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings’ International segment operates in nearly 30 countries across Asia, Australia, Europe and Latin America in a wide variety of formats.
