Outdoor Holds Its Own in Slowdown
Media Life Magazine

6.13.08

By Diego Vasquez – It's certainly been a bum year for advertising, so much so that even internet advertising has slowed. Yet out-of-home is still tracking decent growth, judging by fresh data in from the first quarter.

It shows outdoor ad spending grew 3.0 percent over the three-month period, to $1.6 billion, according to the Outdoor Advertising Association of America.

That's compared to less than 1 percent growth in overall ad spending for the period, as reported earlier this week by ad trackers TNS Media Intelligence.

“We’re seeing the largest slowdown in the real estate segment, and one would expect that since that’s where the overall U.S. economy has been lagging,” says OAAA chief marketing officer Stephen Freitas.

Indeed, the real estate category was the biggest loser during the first quarter. Though still the No. 3 category, it slipped 11.5 percent, from $161.8 million spent to $143.2 million, according to the OAAA figures, which are based on TNS data and other sources.

Automotive, while down, held up far better as a key outdoor category than it did in other media, falling less than 2 percent. TNS had foreign auto spending down 7.4 percent and domestic off 16.0 percent.

Freitas attributes that to automakers cutting ad budgets across the board.

Financial was the fastest-growing category of the quarter, up 16.1 percent, to $114.9 million. And four categories showed solid growth between about 5 and 6 percent: miscellaneous services and amusements; public transportation, hotels and resorts; retail; and restaurants.