Digital OOH Ad Spend Was Up Almost 23% For 2021 (But Keep In Mind What 2020 Was Like)

April 13, 2022 by Dave Haynes

Digital OOH ad spending saw huge bumps up in the past year, up 22.7 for 2021 over 2020 and 49.6% in Q4 versus the same period a year earlier.

The numbers are from new research from the Out of Home Advertising Association of America, highlighted from the organization’s 2021 OOH Facts & Figures report, which I had the impression was pay-walled … but I clicked and got the PPT deck. Yay me!

Those are impressive increases, but it is likely some or more likely a lot of that has to do with 2020 being the start of the pandemic, which put a chill on all kinds of business activity. Overall out of home ad spend (not just digital), the OAAA says, was $8.6B in 2019, plunged to $6.1B in 2020, and came back to $7.1B in 2021. So last year was in the same range as 2014-15, and last year, while not as weird as 2020, was still anything but normal.

Here’s an OAAA slide on ad spend:

The OAAA report also says:

In 2021, all top ten industry product categories increased and eight grew double digits, including Local Services & Amusements, Retail, Media & Advertising, Insurance & Real Estate, Restaurants, Government Politics and Organizations, Financial, and Automotive Dealers and Services.

Reflecting the overall strength of OOH, the largest category, Local Services and Amusements, which represents over 25 percent of total OOH spend, increased by 20.9 percent, second only in growth to the Media and Advertising category increase of 21.3 percent.

Ranked in order of OOH spending, the top 10 advertisers in 2021 were McDonald’s, Apple, Geico, Amazon, American Express, Coca-Cola, Allstate, Google, Walt Disney Pictures, and HBO. 

• 79% of the top 100 OOH advertisers increased their OOH spend from 2020
• 28% of the top 100 OOH advertisers more than doubled their spend including (ranked in order of percentage increase): Credit Karma, Webull, Molson, William Hill, Cartier, Curative, ClickUp, Capital One, Postmates, DoorDash, Chrysler, BetMGM, Boston Beer, Constellation Brands, DuckDuckGo, UnitedHealthcare, Uber, At Home, FanDuel, LVMH, AT&T, Brown-Forman, Audible, Chevron, FX, Walt Disney Pictures, Expensify, and GrubHub
• 28% of the top 100 OOH spenders were technology or direct-to-consumer brands including: Amazon, Apple, AT&T, Audible, BetMGM, ClickUp, Comcast, Cox, Credit Karma, Curative, DoorDash, DraftKings, DuckDuckGo, Expensify, Facebook, FanDuel, Google, GrubHub, Hulu, Netflix, PayPal, Postmates, Samsung, T-Mobile, Uber, Verizon, Webull, and William Hill

MAGNA, a division of IPG, reports OOH was the second fastest growing ad channel in 2021, outperforming all media channels except digital. For 2022, MAGNA projects an 11 percent growth rate for OOH, once again outperforming all traditional media.