According to the Washington D.C.-based Outdoor Advertising Association of America, 2015 saw out of home advertising account for $7.3 billion in spending, an increase of 4.6 percent from the previous year.
That revenue marks an all-time high and the agency notes there has been 23 straight quarters of growth since the end of the Great Recession.
Among the top revenue categories, those with the greatest growth increase in 2015 included miscellaneous local services and amusements, which were up nine percent; retail, which was up eight percent; government, politics and organizations, up six percent; automotive dealers and services, up six percent; and financial, which was up four percent.
“The new record-high revenue OOH achieved in 2015 proves advertisers recognize the medium’s value, said OAAA president and CEO Nancy Fletcher. “OOH is the only form of traditional media, other than cable TV, posting continuous growth in a fragmented advertising market.”
Of the top 100 OOH advertisers in 2015, 53 had increases in spend equal or greater to the industry-wide increase of 4.6 percent. Ranked in order of OOH spending, the top 10 advertisers in 2015 were: McDonalds, Apple, Verizon,Warner Bros. Pictures, Metro PCS, Coca-Cola, Geico, Universal Pictures, Chase, and Samsung. McDonalds and Apple retained the top two positions for the third consecutive year.
The top 20 parent company advertisers included six from the technology sector: Apple, Deutsche Telekom AG, Verizon, AT&T, Google and Samsung. Among the top 100 OOH advertisers with the greatest spending increase for 2015 were Amazon, Beats Store, Boost Mobile, Draft Kings, Epson, Ford, IBM, Lyft, Microsoft, Netflix, Planet Fitness, Sprint, T-Mobile, Verizon, and Yahoo. New to the top 100 list were Draft Kings, Epson, Lyft, and Yahoo.
Revenue estimates include digital and static billboard, street furniture, transit, and alternative OOH (which includes digital place-based video and cinema advertising).
The previous highest year for revenue was in 2007.