Current developments within the OoH Market

City in Blur Motion

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected the entire media landscape. With the majority of employees working from home, schools, facilities, and leisure activities being closed – what does this mean for the Out-of-Home (OoH) market?

Current reactions by individual providers

AWK and DEGESTA

For all new bookings received by April 30, 2020, and decades 15 through 23 or CW 22 through 35, we will be offering additional volume based on the campaign value in addition to the agreed conditions.

For all new bookings up to decade 23 or CW 35, the cancellation periods are reset from 60 to 30 days.

Pool One – Giant Poster

Giant posters are unobtrusive yet unmistakable, bringing color and life to the cityscape. For all new bookings in 2020, there is an extraordinary right to cancel 100% up to 14 days prior to the planned posting. If curfews are imposed during the booked period, a free postponement within the calendar year is possible.

ECN

For booked and implemented campaigns in April and May, ECN will be offering very high additional services that can be claimed until the end of 2020.

Provider reactions

  • Tenants and providers are also responding to market developments. We have summarized the most important information for you:
  • Generally, cancellation deadlines apply. If the cancellation deadline has already passed, the decision on cancellations will be made individually for each customer. There is more chance of a cancellation for campaigns that promote an event, which is no longer taking place or a product/service that is no longer available. Most of the currently requested cancellations, which were outside the cancellation deadline, are being canceled by the providers.
  • The preferred option: A campaign can be postponed after negotiation, but this will also be individually reviewed and decided by the providers. If a postponement occurs, additional special costs may apply.
  • In the digital sector, there may be cases where providers increase frequencies to achieve the agreed-upon services.

Assessment of Reach and Contact Development

The current restrictions in Germany due to the pandemic are posing limitations for media usage. Outdoor advertising has been experiencing restrictions due to the fact that people are only leaving their homes to go shopping in supermarkets, pharmacies, or commuting to work for their protection.

We wanted to take a closer look at this reduction and used an approach to illustrate the reduction of contact points and contact frequency with outdoor advertising. The graphic below precisely illustrates the influence of the current movement restriction on the spaces. For this purpose, an example of a large-scale planning was used, and the gradual reduction of the population spending time outdoors was put into perspective.

If outdoor advertising spaces are seen by 33% less people, the actual net reach decreases by only 3.5%. The OTS drops from 22.1 to 15.6 but is still in an effective range. With a 50% reduction in the population’s mobility, the net reach decreases by an additional 3%.
If no more than 25% of the population is outdoors for errands, we assume a strong reduction in net reach of 16.3% from the normal state. This also corresponds to personal perception. Almost everyone has to leave the house at least once throughout the duration to do their shopping, and many employees continue to leave the house to get to work.

Conclusion: Out-of-Home still reaches people, and performance values do not decrease significantly due to the mobility restriction. Outdoor advertising is still seen and noticed.

DOoH in times of a pandemic

Digital Out-of-Home (DOoH) allows for short-term campaign implementation. By increasing frequencies, campaigns achieve enough advertising pressure to effectively reach target groups. Programmatic booking logic also allows for short-term content adaptations or planning adjustments.

The following examples show how DOoH can create added value for the population in times of crisis:

  • Ströer expands journalistic expertise. An exclusive interview with Federal President Steinmeier will now not only appear online but also simultaneously on Ströer’s Public Video Screens nationwide.
  • Using infrared technology, Tyalux’s display solution recognizes faces and simultaneously measures body temperature – all in under a second. The sensors even recognize people wearing face masks.
  • Linked to the KATWARN warning system, warnings from the WallDecaux system are processed automatically and displayed on digital advertising spaces at the exact locations that are affected or endangered.

Nevertheless, the relevance of In-Home media such as (Addressable) TV, audio, and mobile will increase, creating new campaign opportunities to reach target groups along their altered mobile customer journey.