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Outdoor, transport and cinema are among the fastest-growing advertising media in the UK, according to the latest figures from the Advertising Association.

While the Internet predictably took the biggest leap forward during 2007, with ad spend up 39.5 percent on 2006, the next most successful categories both involved advertising in public places – cinema,  up 10.1 percent, and outdoor and transport, up 4.6 percent.

“Cinema benefited from increased admissions due to a strong film line-up while expenditure on outdoor was boosted by ongoing digitisation of the medium,” said the Advertising Association.

Radio grew 3.4 percent  and TV 2.3 percent , while press was down 1.6 percent. Direct mail lost 6.5 percent, doubtless as a result of advertisers’ shift to the Internet. The Advertising Association figures include creative costs.

Tellingly, the most rapidly-growing media apart from the Internet were the smallest ones in terms of market share. Cinema had just 1.1 percent of the total ad market, radio 2.8 percent and outdoor and transport 5.5 percent.

Press, despite losing ground during the year, remained the single biggest medium with a 39.8 market share. TV accounted for 24.1 percent, Internet 15.6 percent and direct mail 11.2 percent.

Total ad spend in the UK during 2007 was £19.4bn ($37.8bn), up 4.2 percent on 2006 – a strong recovery from a year which had seen nearly flat growth of just 0.7 percent on 2005.

The Advertising Association data is contained in its recently-published Advertising Statistics Yearbook 2008, available exclusively from the World Advertising Research Center (WARC).

Kiosks up 

Separately, new research on the kiosk market from Summit Research Associates shows that Europe has snatched second place from the Asia Pacific region, measured by the number of deployed kiosks. The report anticipates continuing growth in the European kiosk market, although North America remains ahead by a substantial margin.

Overall, world kiosk installations grew by more than 50 percent during 2007, up to 1.1m from 734,000 the previous year.

"Usage is up, hardware and software downtime has been significantly reduced, and customer satisfaction is at an all-time high," the report was quoted as saying.
 
www.adassoc.org.uk
www.summit-res.com
www.warc.com 

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Scarborough, a seaside town on England’s northeast coast, is mulling the installation of a town-wide digital-signage system to advise tourists on parking, key routes, and tourist attractions.

“We’re still at an early stage in the planning process,” said John Riby, Scarborough council’s head of technical services, who is hoping to start formal deployment planning this coming autumn, when the town gets two new park-and-ride bus projects underway.

The driving force behind the digital-signage system, he told Screenmediamag.com, is the need to direct drivers to the nearest available parking facilities during the tourist season, when the population of Scarborough increases dramatically.

“It’s not that we don’t have sufficient parking. Far from it. It’s just that we need to alert car drivers to the fact that there is parking available all over the town, and not just in tourist hotspots,” he said.

The screen-media network will also advise tourists about the best times and routes to leave the town. “If the A64 [the main route in and out of Scarborough] is congested, then the signage system can tell drivers this is the case and perhaps suggest they say a bit longer in the resort before heading home,” said Riby, adding that it’s this informational aspect that he finds the most appealing.

Riby said he is looking at all available technology options, including fluorescent moving-text displays, LCD and plasma panels, and wireless networking.

Councillor David Jeffels, the council’s portfolio holder for tourism, was quoted in the Scarborough Evening News as saying that the digital-signage system will take the town forward for the next 20 years.

The rollout, however, depends on the council’s appeal to the UK’s Highway Agency for funding.

A copy of the council’s plans can be accessed at http://tinyurl.com/6makz8. 

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