Roadside contractors enjoyed a booming third quarter fuelled by an
increase in outdoor spend from car manufacturers, food companies and the
dot.com sector.
According to the latest figures from outdoor specialist Concord,
roadside revenues were up an impressive 12.2 per cent year-on-year,
bringing total spend in the quarter up to pounds 86.4 million.
The motor industry was back as the biggest outdoor spender - having been
pushed into second place by media and entertainment in the third quarter
of last year. The spend for the motor sector was up 20.4 per cent
year-on-year with pounds 17.6 million for the third quarter.
But perhaps the most significant change was the increase in the spend
from food companies. The food sector accounted for pounds 12.2 million
of third quarter spend, up 14.1 per cent on 1998. Nestle headed the
rise, spending pounds 7.6 million on posters.
Nigel Mansell, managing director of Concord, said the increase indicated
a movement from TV to outdoor. ’Some of the major food companies’
spending has come as the result of a movement over from broadcast media,
where there has been a lot of fragmentation. Broadcast advertising is
still big but even a couple of points shift is massive in outdoor
terms,’ he added.
The biggest development over the coming 12 months seems likely to come
from dot. com advertising, which is already taking large swathes of the
broadcast market.
’The dot.com sector is growing at a meteoric rate and will be in the
outdoor top ten over the next year,’ said Mansell.
Mansell believes that if tobacco advertising is banned as a result of
the ongoing court case, then the vacuum left will be filled in the
outdoor market by dot.com advertising.
Another potential growth area for outdoor is finance, with the takeover
activity among mobile phone companies dominating over recent months.
Orange topped the roadside spending in Concord’s ’business and
industrial’ category, with pounds 2.4 million.
Vauxhall was the second highest spending advertiser overall, devoting
pounds 4.3 million to roadside, while Peugeot spent pounds 3.5 million.
Procter & Gamble and Mars both spent pounds 2.8 million.
