Diageo continues to be the highest spending advertiser on out of home (ooh) formats for the first half of 2015, new figures show. The latest Posterwatch report by outdoor specialist PML Group shows the drinks giant – whose brands include Guinness stout and Smirnoff vodka – has increased its ooh investment in 2015 and is ahead of McDonald’s in second place.
The remaining top five is made up of Sky, Mondeléz (Cadbury’s owner) and Vodafone.
Overall, the report indicates a two per cent decrease in the ooh market compared to the same half year in 2014. PML’s marketing director Colum Harmon puts this down to a poor first quarter, relative to last year. Q1 in 2014 was a strong quarter for ooh and as a result when we compared this year’s first six month spend was down by around ten points.
However, Q2 improved hugely on 2014 and was up by about seven points and PML now estimates the market to be down by two points at the halfway point of the year. Harmon is optimistic for the rest of the year, saying the market has already made a strong start to Q3 with many cycles sold out at this point. He is forecasting good overall growth by the end of Q3.
The categories spending most on ooh so far in 2015 are finance, telecoms and confectionery. Sky, UPC (which has just bought TV3), Mondeléz, various banks and insurance companies are among the main players active in these product/service categories. The report also reveals that about two thirds of all ooh ad spend is concentrated in Dublin.
Vodafone and McDonald’s have the largest percentage investment outside the capital.
