The out-of-home industry has seen its media revenue increase by 16.1% in the first quarter of 2025, despite a cost-of-living crisis that has resulted in muted spend across other sectors.
For the first quarter of the year, net media revenue jumped to $334.1 million, from $287.7 million for the first three months of 2024.
Outdoor Media Association CEO Elizabeth McIntyre told Mumbrella that the sector’s continued growth shows advertisers are starting to shed the traditional view of out-of-home advertising as simple signage.
Elizabeth McIntyre, CEO of OMA.
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“People are starting to understand the power of out of home, and the impact that it has as a broadcast medium,” she said.
McIntyre credited the increased activity and education within the industry — including the OMA’s own Creative Awards, which launched last year — with widening the scope of outdoor advertising in the minds of media buyers and creatives.
“What we’re seeing is that people are looking beyond what they think of as classic out-of-home,” she said. “They’re looking at all the other different formats and they’re seeing that they can make such an impactful campaign using multiple formats.”
The ‘Grand Prix’ winner of the 2024 Creative Awards – from TBWA\Melbourne
This quarter marked a tipping point for digital out-of-home advertising, which now makes up over three-quarters of total net media revenue across the out-of-home sector.
“There’s a real increase in digital,” McIntyre said. “I think people are understanding the impact a little bit more of combining those different formats together.
“What we’re seeing is, with digital, you’ve got live content there. Also, with programmatic [ad scheduling], that can be adjusted for different times of the day, different campaigns, and seasonality. I think people are becoming more familiar with how to use that – and use it in conjunction with other formats.
“As other mediums are fragmenting, we are only getting stronger.”