As the UK continues to hit its vaccination targets and the government’s roadmap out of lockdown has given rise to newfound optimism, Talon Outdoor reports that its Ada tool has highlighted an increase in holiday bookings and an all-time high in morale since the pandemic began, creating the ideal environment for businesses to look toward Out of Home [OOH] advertising.
Talon Outdoor has used its Ada tool to create a Covid audience dashboard in response to the health crisis, which has proven to be both effective and valuable. The dashboard has given Talon a unique view on UK audience mobility across key OOH environments, producing intelligent, data-led recommendations for its clients based on real and recent behaviours, which have been in a constant cycle of change since the pandemic began in early 2020.
Using the data that the Ada Covid audience dashboard has presented, Talon has given its predictions for what can be expected for OOH media in 2021, with a strong and fast bounce back likely for OOH exposure in the spring.
Ada expects roadside OOH media to reach +25 per cent exposure vs the baseline by April, while small format and large format OOH are expected to reach baselines of +11 per cent and plus six per cent, respectively, within the same window.
Shopping centres and restaurants are set to see an influx of visitors due to the excitement of new opportunities when restrictions are eased, Talon adds, and are highlighted as places of interest for OOH media usage.
With no clarity on when offices can reopen and home-working likely to proceed for some time, Talon predicts that rail and underground OOH media will see a slower return to normal exposure levels.
Although less time is being spent outdoors where individuals are most exposed to OOH media, Talon reports that its reach remains largely the same. On average, people are spending around 12 hours at home, according to Ada’s Home Dwell model.
Of course, OOH exposure and audience do differ depending on location. Based on Ada’s examination of three areas, namely Greater London, Walthamstow and Lincoln, the top places of interest categories visited when restrictions were partially lifted in the summer of 2020 including clothing shops and supermarkets, with Boots and Sainsbury’s among the leading brands visited, and are areas of interest for businesses looking to invest in OOH advertising.
