WOO Annual Congress – Lisbon 2023
The World Out of Home Organisation's Annual Congress in Lisbon brought together over 195 member organisations from more than 100 countries, with the highest-ever attendance in excess of 500 delegates. This is almost a doubling of membership across international media owners, agencies, tech and data partners and associations who gathered to discuss key industry issues, to share insights from their markets and generate ideas.
There were three key themes discussed as vital to the development of Out of Home.
1. How OOH can overcome its ‘5% syndrome’
Pre-Covid, globally Out of Home was a 5.8% medium. However, with audiences recovering to pre pandemic levels, it’s disappointing our share of the media mix now stands at 5.1% despite global audiences spending more time out of home, OOH’s innovation and progress, and it undeniably being the medium that amplifies all other channels.
Meanwhile, despite ad blocking and a lack of trust, Online has crept up to 59% of global market share, and is as high as 80% in local markets like China, trumping the former traditional favourite TV in just 10-15 years.
Tom Goddard, President of WOO, challenged the industry to drive market share to 10%. He argued the lack of consolidation, irregular audience measurement, lack of common standards and language and too many fragmented markets has made it easy for advertisers to see OOH as a complicated buy.
There is no doubt we can collectively make this a 10% medium and all delegates in the room were challenged to make it happen. The key route to success is collaboration and consolidation: driving growth in the sector through shared knowledge and collaboration, and more investment in audience measurement. Simplicity is key.
2. Sustainability
Operators in the out of home space that are not thinking about sustainability credentials as an agency, media owner, tech or data partner, should be. We heard from Unilever at the MENA Congress in February 2023 that global brands have ambitious targets to be net zero within the next 7-15 years. This includes the supply chain, so any specialist, agency, media owner and data partner will need to be operating to the same standard.
ESG has been a hot topic for the last few years but developing markets are further ahead in applying the measures which will propel us into a sustainable space and will ensure OOH’s survival when sustainability is a major factor determining media investment.
We heard from Mark Boidam of Soloman and Partners that the 1-2-1 vs 1-2-many argument puts OOH and DOOH in a great position; not only being the most trusted advertising medium, but also one of the most sustainable and energy efficient. There is a great opportunity, therefore, to educate the media industry and consumers on the eco-efficiency of our channel.
3. Automation and AdTech
The growing use of automation was much discussed. Advertisers can make smarter decisions and run more successful campaigns by using automation, data and machine learning to make processes more efficient. Simultaneously, curbing AdTech proliferation, which needlessly complicates factors like automation and adds middle men, was debated.
The conference was concluded by Dino Burbidge (Sky), who presented on technical innovation and its potential application to OOH. Such evolution includes a tool which can hack into digital screens, and an AI which can create content without human participation.
As the advertising landscape advances, events like the WOO Annual Congress contribute to driving OOH transformation and sharing its compelling future.
Written by Victoria Nikishina International Investment Director
