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Ooh Media set for growing focus from embattled rivals for ad revenue

Ooh Media could drive its reliance on digital to as high as 60% or more after hitting its target of 45% nearly two years ahead of schedule, said CEO Brendon Cook.

Ooh’s split between digital and traditional could top 60% CEO Brendon Cook has speculated.

And the boss of the outdoor company, which is currently in the process of merging with rival APN Outdoor, has said the short term nature of digital coupled with the longer term nature of traditional outdoor was spreading the revenue load for the company compared to rivals for revenue such as TV and print.

Last week Seven Network said there had been some encouraging signs of advertisers taking a longer view, but this was followed a day later by a profit warning from Ten which said ad bookings were “extremely short”.

Ooh has been forging ahead with the rollout of digital signage around the country and reported a rise on profits of more than 30% for 2016.

Cook noted that Ooh had beaten its target of 45% of revenue through digital nearly two years ahead of schedule, however, he said he did not know what the ultimate balance between digital and traditional should be.

“It’s a good question, I wish we knew the answer,” he said.

“From our point of view we’re just sitting back and saying what is tactically right, where should we add more digital and we are continuing to develop that and if that takes us from 45% to 60% then so be it.

“We haven’t set a benchmark on the future we are just continuing to work on the right site for digital. If it is right for being digitalised and if it is then we will digitalise it and that’s the way we will approach it.”

The acquisition of Junkee Media, and the ability to drive content though digital signage as well as through mobile has also been a positive point.

“Obviously it was a very strategic acquisition from our point of view for the business and we are really happy with the way that the business is operating,” Cook said.

“One of our jobs is to actually help showcase how you can do things like that better. The connection between out-of-home and mobile is broader than Junkee Media and sometimes you have got to show the world how they can do it so you can drive results out of people with other products.

“We are doing a lot more content management with our property owners and that will continue to accelerate both on screen an off and we are very happy with the engagement we are getting there. From a strategic point of view looking at where out of home and its future is, we’re very happy with the development, that is why we bought the (Junkee) capability.”

He said that the company would continue to see its major competition for revenue as coming from outside the sector as competing media platforms such as TV and print sought to counter losses in advertising share even as the outdoor sector continued to grow.

“You are right in the comment that out-of-home is a very competitive market,” he said.

“In terms of the other media my comment is based on the fact that if we were dropping down in market share we would work out how we could be better and how we could be competitive.

“We expect to be consistently competitive and the very fortunate thing about the out-of-home industry at the moment is our audience isn’t declining. We do have that advantage, we are a bit of a safe bet.”

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