The Future of TV - TV hits the outdoors

by Suzy Bashford, Media Week 30-Oct-07

With more consumers on the move, out-of-home is an emerging channel for broadcast-style ads. Suzy Bashford reports.

The out-of-home screen media market is growing rapidly, as consumers spend less time at home in front of the TV and more time consuming media on the move.

The broadcast-style screens, with HD, audio or moving elements, are good at reaching the desirable, yet elusive, young professional demographic, thanks to their ability to deliver targeted, relevant messages that can be changed at the click of a button.

The Outdoor Advertising Association valued the digital outdoor industry at £29.7m at the end of 2006 and predicts it will soar in value to £100m by 2010.

Last month, Streetbroadcast launched the UK's first exterior digital six-sheet network. The rotating units, positioned on lampposts, can be viewed from 360 degrees and can broadcast video and moving images, using sound and Bluetooth to strengthen their interactivity.

An early advertiser was Universal Films, which broadcast the entire 30-second television ad for the latest Mr Bean film directly on to StreetLive screens in full sound.

Mungo Knott, managing director, says: "This format gives an extra dimension to clients' out-of-home booking, allowing for greater flexibility and stand-out. Movement and sound also increase the communication value over static OOH."

Outdoor revolution

Another company spearheading the revolution is Titan Outdoor, which operates moving digital screens in train stations in a bid to target commuters. The Transvision franchise comprises a 17-strong network of stations, including Manchester Piccadilly and Glasgow Central, delivering a mix of news and advertising relevant to rail passengers.

Meanwhile, JCDecaux claims to offer the largest range of bus-shelter screens, measuring from 15 to 65 inches. Craig Wills, head of strategy at JCDecaux's strategy division Open, says: "We can tile the screens together, even screens of different sizes, and programme them to work in unison."

In the Nokia N95 "matching pairs" game, consumers could touch the screen to activate a game where they had to match the photos hidden behind the squares, winning points depending on their speed and skill. Other campaigns have enabled consumers to download music and vote for their favourite film via a bus-shelter ad, or have delivered location-specific information, as for Yell.com.

According to Reuters, which operates the largest broadcast digital display system in the world in New York's Times Square, advertisers are increasingly making use of interactive marketing opportunities where consumers can participate in campaigns by submitting photos online, which can then be featured on the sign.

Another player in the out-of-home screen media market is City Gateway Media, with its LED screen in Manchester towering above the city near the main shopping district. Sales director Jason Brown says: "The relationship between media, architecture and the surrounding culture is of paramount importance."

Brown believes advertisers need to think more cleverly about the environment they are delivering their message in, rather than lazily filling the space with their TV campaign. "Supermarkets, casinos and airports are all very different environments with different consumer experiences and requirements," he says.

Chris Frampton, head of sales and marketing at digital signage technology provider Dynamax Technologies, wholeheartedly agrees with Brown that advertisers need to consider content more carefully. He says: "It is crucial to remember that digital signage is not TV, particularly in locations where the dwell time is only seconds rather than minutes. Out-of-home screen media really works when bespoke content uses the technology's potential to create arresting, dynamic, but brief content."

Frampton feels that audiovisual screens are likely to make the biggest difference to the media environment in the retail sector, because of the potential for linking campaigns to point-of-purchase sales tracking systems. He adds: "This sector is finally gathering momentum, after a long period of infancy."

Consumer needs

One of the biggest developments was Tesco handing control of its store screen network to Dunnhumby, which quickly realised that simply airing TV ads does not engage shoppers. Martin Hayward, Dunnhumby's director of consumer strategies and futures, says: "This is why we developed different advertising formats to meet different consumer needs, according to aisle location and product category.

"In the power aisle we use established visual designs from existing in-store material and keep the spots short. In the shopping aisles, shoppers spend more time browsing, so creatives can be longer and more involving."

Tesco Screens (formerly Tesco TV) has already proved successful at driving brand sales, with average sales uplift on "new" and "promo" campaigns of 5-8%, rising to 15-18% for seasonal activity. New brand "stings" have achieved sales lifts of up to 25%.

David Gibbens, communications manager at ScreenFX, which operates screens in shopping centres, believes this ability to influence consumers at point-of-purchase will see retail screens proliferate in future. He claims: "It's the last-chance saloon for advertisers and will soon be the default option for media planners."