February 20, 2018 - written by Jennifer

NIELSEN: OOH MOST EFFECTIVE IN DRIVING ONLINE ACTIVITY

Out of home (OOH) advertising is the most effective offline medium in driving online activity, according to a new study released by Nielsen. The study found OOH delivers more online activity per ad dollar spent compared to television, radio, and print.

According to the OOH Online Activation Survey, online activations including search, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram activity generated by OOH indexes at about four times the expected rate given its relative ad spend. For example, OOH media accounts for 26 percent of gross search activations generated by television, radio, print and OOH, combined but it only accounts for 7 percent of the total combined advertising spend.

“OOH’s connection to digital media is undeniable,” said OAAA’s Nancy Fletcher. “OOH campaigns boost online engagement more than other traditional media can. As digital ad spend increases, so does OOH’s, because it drives people in the real world online.”

Nearly five in 10 US adults (46%) have used Google, Bing, Yahoo, or another Internet search engine to look up information after seeing or hearing something advertised on a billboard, bus shelter, or other OOH format in the past six months. Nearly 40 percent have visited a Facebook page or posted a message on Facebook after seeing an OOH ad.

MAGNA and the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) report digital advertising replaced TV as the top medium in 2016, driven most strongly by mobile, and with search fueling mobile’s growth. The IAB states mobile advertising accounted for roughly 51 percent, or about $36.6 billion, of all digital ad revenue reported in 2016. Of that, 47 percent, or $17.2 billion, came from mobile search, according to the report.

Mobile search is of out-sized importance, and note in the chart below OOH dwarfs other offline media in its ability to drive search because consumers are highly engaged with search, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram when outside the home.

This Nielsen survey provides critical data supporting the value of OOH in digital marketing plans. Source: “Nielsen: OOH Most Effective in Driving Online Activity” via OAAA