Print's share of the out of home (OOH) industry is going backwards, even as overall spend in the sector continues to increase, with digital out of home now in the ascendancy.

The out of home industry saw an increase of 5.2 per cent on net media revenue year-on-year in the second quarter of 2019, posting $237.3m, up from $225.6m for the second quarter in 2018. 

Digital revenue is now clearly in the ascendancy over print, sitting at 55.5 per cent of total net media revenue year-to-date, an increase over the recorded 49.8 per cent for the same period last year. Seven years ago digital's share was seven per cent.

Cash spent on outdoor print, or classic, or static, dropped from $113m in the same quarter last year to $105m this time around.

Charmaine Moldrich, CEO of the Outdoor Media Association (OMA) said, “Our industry continues to evolve and grow with the media landscape, offering advertisers a variety of solutions from location-based broadcast campaigns to flexible, time-sensitive solutions on our members’ digital networks. Our strength continues to be our place in the community as the ‘always on’ channel that connects advertisers with people.

“In 2018 we saw the industry’s market share grow to 6.2 per cent – we were only one of two media channels to grow last year. We credit this growth to investment in technology and research coupled with our ability to reach large audiences. We continue to build a modern, dynamic channel with scale, now reaching 93 per cent of Australians where they live, work and play,” Moldrich concluded. 

The revenue announcement for the quarter comes on the heels of the release of the OMA’s 2018 annual report, which reported double digit growth for the industry in 2018 with an increase of 10.8 per cent on net media revenue, posting $927m, up from $837m for the previous year.