JCDecaux’s Gary Rosewarne sits down with Veridooh to talk about the market’s post-COVID recovery and growth plans for 2023.
The out-of-home industry is constantly evolving. From programmatic DOOH to 3D billboards, there is always innovation making it a more powerful advertising channel for brands. Keeping up with the sector can be difficult, so each month Veridooh is speaking to experts in the field for their insights and predictions.
This week we speak to Gary Rosewarne, JCD NZ sales director.
How has New Zealand’s OOH sector recovered post-COVID?
Covid showed us first-hand the importance of moving freely outside of our homes and how imperative it is to be amongst each other in public spaces, not only for the health of our economy but also our own mental health. After almost three years of a pandemic that was debilitating for the sector, it was inevitable our audience would return. Now, audiences have once again reached pre-covid levels and outdoor media in New Zealand is making a strong recovery.
We all need to be outside and we want to share our time with each other, this is the core strength of our channel in a world where other broadcast channels continue to fragment. Add to this the power of scale, impact, evolving data and technology and we find out-of-home is once again a force to be reckoned with.
What opportunities for growth are there for JCDecaux in NZ over the next two years?
The opportunities for JCDecaux exist in the expansion of our plant and the education of our people and customers. We will continue to acquire, build, and develop our asset portfolio with a focus on even greater audience penetration but without compromising on the quality metrics for which we lead the market. With so many new out-of-home suppliers and others expanding their inventory, digital out-of-home is quickly becoming a commodity. Where advertisers now have so much choice our view is quality will always prevail and that is where our core strengths lie.
Additionally, we believe strongly in understanding our audience more deeply alongside the role and effects of our channel as part of the broader media mix. A robust programme of intelligence and the ability to communicate this effectively in market ensures we pave the way on thought leadership and how our formats can be applied in new innovative ways.
How has JCDecaux’s programmatic offering been growing?
We are proud to see the growth in our programmatic platform in such a short space of time. Our global experience in this space, and more directly the learnings from our cousins in Australia positioned us well for a successful launch. We are seeing two main approaches to use case, those being a tactical layer to a traditional broadcast campaign as well as the need for specific focus on audiences and environments.
Programmatic out-of-home will continue to broaden opportunities for advertisers. The role for JCDecaux as part of this will be to inspire our customers on the merits of an extended screen strategy and to educate them on the nuance of out-of-home in a programmatic world.
Do you have any predictions for OOH in 2023?
In what will likely be a challenging year economically, I think out-of-home will play a more significant role for advertisers looking for better bang for buck. This will be amplified by broader unification in audience measurement and with the expansion of data capabilities.
Greater unification in audience measurement will likely lead to an evolution of how our channel is evaluated and traded. I also expect we will see some consolidation across the sector.
What opportunities are there for growth in NZ’s OOH sector more broadly?
Unified audience measurement and standardisation will be the main driver for industry growth in 2023. We know anecdotally and at a supplier level (via Calibre) that our channel delivers a strong reach proposition. However, the ability to understand and measure audience cross-platform and cross-supplier will provide greater evidence for compelling ROI’s vs other channels.
There is an opportunity for out-of-home players to connect more deeply on the role of the channel as part of a connected screen strategy, particularly in regard to a multichannel programmatic approach. Greater audience targeting and a robust understating on how each channel is consumed will lead to deeper engagement and improved efficiencies.
Consultation and cooperation among the sectors main players when considering evolving technologies and platforms will be vital to ensuring strong industry transparency and credibility.
Want to be part of our ‘Five Minutes with’ series? Reach out to mariam@veridooh.com.