Bubble: 7 OOH Advertising Stats You Need To Know

The internet is awash with data on almost every aspect of Out-of-Home (OOH) advertising, and one could spend days trawling through the noise trying to make sense of it all.

Whilst we recommend you read widely on all aspects of OOH, we always strive to bring you the essential knowledge that can be of immediate, practical benefit to your brand.

Here we take a look at 7 crucial OOH stats you need to know.

1. Consumers spend 70% of their time outside of their homes

Think about how little waking time we spend in our homes these days. Between work, school, and leisure activities, consumers spend a lot of time on the go.

One of the problems with at-home advertising is the sheer amount of information coming at us from all different angles; from our TVs, the magazines and papers we read, from our phones and tablets, from in-app messages and straight-to-the-bin mailshots.

It’s too easy to experience overload from all these competing messages. Ad blockers, direct media downloads, and streaming sites like Netflix, also offer consumers ways to avoid the ad onslaught.

OOH is different. OOH is essentially a physical medium, mediated by consumer attention.

It’s not that the outdoor audience is a captive one. Not only is that a rather cynical approach to OOH advertising, it misses some crucial points.

The fact is that consumers do take guidance and influence from adverts. The trick is to place adverts to catch people at optimum points of influence.

Relaxing on the sofa may not necessarily be the best time to influence consumer behaviour when there are plenty of ad-free distractions on offer.

However, when waiting at the bus stop, or walking the high street, people are looking for stimulation and visual interest. They’re also, consciously or unconsciously, looking for consumer guidance.

2. 98% of people see an OOH ad each week

With many traditional advertising mediums on the wane, OOH shows continued signs of going from strength to strength.

In the Outdoor arena, messages can reach all demographics; commuters and students, friendship groups and families, millennials and the elderly. You can target commuters by placing ads in transport hubs. Appeal to students at nightclubs, target aspirational shoppers at malls, reach families on the high street.

It’s a big world out there, so make sure you check out our guides on how to advertise outdoors, OOH tips for retailers, and five rules of street panel ads.

3. Bus shelter adds reach 92% of the population every week

With billions of individual bus journeys in Britain each year, and 6.5 million bus commuters served in London everyday, the constant exposure bus shelter ads afford offer powerful marketing potential for your brand.

Bus stops are fairly deeply integrated into the fabric of urban society, and are a great way of targeting local areas. Use the Bubble booking map to target your ads today.

Bus shelter ads offer distractions to passengers at key dwell points in their day. This includes not only the extended exposure that even a medium bus stop wait can provide, but also the “down time” passengers experience whilst in transit… time in which they can engage with your brand via mobile.

4. People are 17% more likely to respond to an OOH campaign on their mobile

A 2015 study found that the most effective OOH ads were capable of driving a 38% increase in mobile engagements with brands. In general, 17% more people engaged with a brand after exposure to an OOH ad than those who had no exposure to the ad. The research also showed that 66% of smartphone engagements were direct to the brand, and 57% of all actions took place within two days of exposure to the ad.

Although more online purchases are made via desktop than mobile, what’s known as “m-commerce” is becoming increasingly popular, especially as advances are being made in streamlining the mobile shopping experience.

The cutting edge of OOH advertising is surely in connecting the dots between Outdoor messaging, the facilitation of mobile engagement, and the triggering of online purchasing decisions, as part of an integrated campaign.

5. Half of mall shoppers make spontaneous purchasing decisions

When it comes to shopping, nothing can fully replace the real-world consumer experience for millions of people. Shopping centres are modern temples for the aspirationally inclined, and provide essential “retail therapy” for many.

What’s more, half of purchasing choices are spontaneous. A majority of these impulse decisions (92%) are motivated by special offers and discounts, but nearly three-quarters (64%) are motivated by persuasive displays.

Combine creative messaging with the competitive advantages of your brand to forge high impact OOH ads.

6. Nearly half of consumers see OOH ads an hour before shopping online

A study found that OOH media reached consumers in the hour preceding 43% of mobile shopping activity, and before 32% of mobile search activity.

A 2015 snapshot of American consumer habits showed that 59% of time spent online took place via mobile, and yet 85% of money spent online was via desktop computer.

It’s not hard to see why. Mobile is so ubiquitous; practically everyone has a smartphone these days, and we have them on our person for most of our waking life, whether at home, in the office, at school or college, or even hidden under the desk at work.

But mobile shopping can be a frustrating experience. This data implies that people are gaining exposure to a brand predominantly via mobile, and are engaging with brands via mobile, but saving their purchasing decisions until they are at the comfort of their desktops.

OOH is also more likely to reach smartphone users in the hour before Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) visits and mall visits and crucially reaches them in the half hour before making purchasing decisions in the apparel, fashion, and fast food sectors.

7. Integrating mobile data into OOH planning boosts unprompted ad awareness by 200%

We are entering an era of “smart cities” driven by rapid developments in communication technology and increasingly interconnected data systems.

By using anonymised mobile user data, EE mobile found they could accurately track which users of particular sites and apps had been exposed to specific OOH ads. Not only did unprompted ad awareness double, online searches were also boosted by 150%.

We may just be at the beginning of utilising data-crunching to boost ad impact, but many advertisers are already embracing the kind of ad technologies and innovations of tomorrow today.

Stay tuned to the Bubble blog for the latest data and insights on all things Out-of-Home.