Out of home advertising

Text B

Out-of-Home Advertising

------- Billboard Boom

The future of out-of -home advertising is rosy, and digital ROADSIDE billboards, posters on

buses and subway escalators, ads in airport terminals--a type of publicity known as out-of-home

advertising

used

to

be

the

dull

end

of

the

industry.

No

more.

The

falling

price

and

improving

quality

of

flat

screen

displays

mean

that

static

posters

printed

on

paper

are

being

replaced

by

snazzy digital commercials

with

moving pictures, sound and sometimes

interactive features. As

some advertising media, especially newspapers see their audiences fade, streets, airports and other

public spaces are becoming crowded with

more potential viewers than ever, as people continue

moving to cities and travel more.

Magna

Global,

a

media

researcher,

predicts

that

worldwide

spending

on

out- of-

home

advertising will expand by 8.3% in 2011 to about $$26.4 billion, faster growth than that seen for

other non-internet forms of advertising. Spending on digital billboards and posters is expected to

double

in

the

next

five

years,

to

$$5-2

billion.

William

Eccleshare,

who

runs

the

international

operations

of

Clear

Channel

,

an

American

firm

which

is

one

of

the

largest

out-of-home

ad

companies,

thinks

that

in

some

countries

more

than

90%

of

its

business

will

be

digital

by

the

decade's

end.

His

archrival,

Jean-Charles

Decaux,

the

boss

of

France's

JC

Decaux,

agrees

that

there will be a significant switch to digital, but mainly inside airports, railway stations, shopping

malls and other controlled environments.

Ads in bus shelters and other outdoor spots at risk of vandalism will take a lot longer to move

away from paper, Mr Decaux thinks. Digital displays already account for about one- quarter of his

company's sales in transport hubs, but for less than 6% in street furniture and billboards. The pace

of the switch to digital is but the least of several areas of disagreement between the two men. JC

Decaux boasted in February that it had overtaken Clear Channel to become the world's largest out-

of-home

ad

company,

with

revenues

of

2-4

billion

($$3.2

billion)

last

year.

is

rare

that

a

European media company is bigger than an American one,

less indebted than the others, Mr Decaux says it could consider buying the American operations of

CBS Outdoor, the world number three, or indeed those of Clear Channel itself, if the opportunity

arose.

Mr

Eccleshare

dismisses

such

provocative

talk,

noting

that

Mr

Decaux

has

repeatedly

talked

of

big

acquisitions

in

America

where

it

is

a

weak

number

four

in

the

market

without

anything happening. He acknowledges that there will be consolidation in the highly fragmented

industry;

though

he

expects

it

to

take

place

within,

rather

than

across,

national

borders.

For

instance, China has 6o,ooo out-of-home advertising firms,

many of them

micro-businesses with

one or two signs, and is clearly ripe for rationalization. Clear Channel is so optimistic about digital

posters

because

it

believes

they

offer

enormous

potential

for

making

advertisements

more

effective.

Advertisers can tailor their pitch to the time of day: McDonald's can advertise its sausage and

egg McMuffin at breakfast time change to its regular. Big Mac fare at lunch and follow that with

ads for apple pie and ice cream during teatime. They can also react to events as they happen: when

Spain

won

the

football

World

Cup

last

year,

digital

billboards

in

Madrid,

sponsored

by

Nike,

showed

the

result

within

seconds.

Advertisers

constantly

talk

about

wanting

to

with

consumers, so they are taking great interest in the potential for interactivity that digital technology

will bring. JC Decaux, for example, is offering a free iPhone application called

a snap: when a

consumer sees a poster (paper or digital) for something that attracts his interest and takes a photo

of it on his phone, the app recognizes it, gives him product information and discount vouchers and

directs him to the nearest retailer.

Then

there

is

and

a

rather

sinister-sounding

idea

in

which

billboards

with

embedded

cameras,

linked

to

face- tracking

software,

detect

the

mood

of

each

consumer who passes by, and change the advertising on display to suit it. The technology matches

movements of the eyes and mouth to six expression patterns corresponding to happiness, anger,

sadness, fear, surprise and disgust. An unhappy-looking person might be rewarded with ads for a

sun-drenched beach or a luscious chocolate bar, while those wearing an anxious frown might be

reassured

(some

might

say

exploited)

with

an

ad

for

insurance.

Such

Big

Brotherish

software

would

no

doubt

detect

a

satisfied

grin

on

the

faces

of

out-of-home

advertising

bosses

as

they

contemplate

the

next

18

months,

in

which

a

string

of

big

events

will

boost

their

business:

the

Rugby World Cup, the American presidential election, the Euro 2012 football championship and

the London Olympics. Wherever you go the street, the subway, the airport or the bus station there

will be no escape from ads linked to these events, and the out-of-home advertising firms will be

raking it in.

New Words and Expressions

rosy

potential

significant

vandalism

overtaken

revenue

indebted

provocative

acquisition

boost

be crowded with

at risk of

account for

CBS Outdoor

be rewarded with

adj.

adj./n.

adj.

n.

v.

n.

adj.

adj.

n.

v.

前景美好的；充满希望的

潜在的，有可能的

/

潜力，潜能

重要的；有重大意义的

(

)

故意破坏，捣毁

赶上，超越

收入，收益

负债的

煽动性的，刺激行的，挑衅的

收购，并购

促进，推动

挤满

,

满是

有

……

风险

占据；解释，说明

户外广告

得到……的奖赏

Special Terms

digital roadside billboard

airport terminal

Micro- business

路边数字广告牌

机场候机室

小型企业