Outdoor industry gives digital a boost

The outdoor advertising industry is ramping its support for digital screens in an industry-wide push, with the Outdoor Advertising Association and Posterscope launching separate campaigns to promote the new sites.

Posterscope is kicking off the campaign with two websites to promote digital advertising to its clients.

An online library called Screengallery will contain photography and videos of all available screen sites. An accompanying blog, Electric Avenue, will combine imagery from new campaigns with new developments in the market.

Meanwhile, the Outdoor Advertising Association (OAA) is considering launching its own website to promote digital.

OAA operations director Bill Wilson says: “It is imperative to add digital content, and it is our intent to make it an industry-wide product.”

It is understood the OAA already has a proposal in place, which it says would be an “extension to what Posterscope is doing”.

James Davies, director of Hyperspace, the new technology division at Posterscope, says the sites aim to educate advertisers in the digital medium.

He adds: “The diversity of screens available and constantly-evolving technology is one of the sector’s greatest assets, but inevitably it can be confusing.”

The latest OAA figures for the first quarter, ending March 31, show digital-screen revenue has grown by 74%, compared to the same quarter last year (MW May 29).

The figures – which saw a 6.7% drop in outdoor revenue – were understood to have been hit by a decline in six-sheets. There are more than 230,000 digital out-of-home screens in the UK.