In a world dominated by digital ads, out-of-home (ooh) advertising feels like a breath of fresh air.
And why wouldn’t it be?
The digital landscape is not only becoming saturated by the bombardment of ads but it has also seen a substantial increase in the average cost of ad placements. According to recent reports, since 2022, the cost of paid advertising on platforms like Google and YouTube has risen by more than 100%.
Now as a result of this situation, marketers and brands alike are seeking better alternatives to stand apart from their competitors. It’s like searching to hit two targets with one arrow. They want the most cost-effective solution but also want to maximize their brand’s awareness through these campaigns.
Enter OOH advertising.
It’s like witnessing a magician pulling a rabbit out of a hat, except this time, the rabbit is a larger-than-life digital billboard that literally stops traffic. With a wave of technological innovations taking over OOH billboards, we have seen the advent of digital-out-of-home (DOOH) billboards. Like those flashy 3D billboards that make you do a double-take and question your reality or those bus & truck ads that are jam-packed with creativity and leave us with a lasting impression.
2023 just might prove to be the year for mobile billboards to take over the ooh landscape. At Movia, we have been delighted to collaborate with global brands around the world to create impeccable truck advertising campaigns. With our innovative approach and unwavering dedication, we’ve transformed ordinary trucks into rolling masterpieces that turn heads, capture attention, and inspire awe.
But if you’re seeking to explore other avenues within the realm of OOH advertising, we’ve curated a list of the top 9 largest outdoor advertising companies in 2023, ranked by revenue (as per a Statista report). These industry giants have proven their mettle and demonstrated their prowess in capturing attention and amplifying brand visibility.
Let us which companies have made the list.
Top 9 Outdoor Advertising Companies
- JCDecaux
- Clear Channel Outdoor
- Focus Media
- Ströer
- Lamar
- Outfront Media
- Global
- oOh! Media
- APG | SGA
1. JCDecaux
JCDecaux JCDecaux is a French advertising, brand marketing, and Outdoor advertising company that was founded in 1964. Their headquarters are located in Plaisir, Ile-de-France, France. It’s a family-owned company founded by Jean-Claude Decaux, and now, they are present in over 80 countries around the world with over 1 million advertising panels. They inventer street furniture advertising in 1964, and now they are the global leader in the field. JCDecaux is also the only international Company focused only on outdoor and developing street furniture, transport and billboard advertising. Their portfolio is very impressive and full of digital, traditional, and even ambient work. They installed a giant interactive lipstick last year for Avon in Vilnius, Lithuania. The giant lipstick had a big red Button that audience could press and then get free lipsticks.
Of course, there would be transit as well, and their portfolio is full of it. One example is for the celebration of the carnival in Brazil, for which they partnered with Ambev and Skol to make a decorate four wagons of the metro in São Paulo.
Another example of their great work is in Shangai, where they transformed one of the busiest metro stations into a funky art museum for Veet. It was for the celebration of modern women. To see more, you can visit JCDecaux Instagram account. Their estimated revenue was $4.273 billion in 2018.
2. Clear Channel Outdoor
Clear Channel Outdoor Clear Channel Outdoor is the oldest outdoor advertising company in the US. It was first created in 1901 as Foster and Kleiser in Oregon, then it got sold and changed to Patrick Media in 1986. It was sold again and became Eller Media Company, in 1995, later it became Clean Channel Outdoor in 2001. It also became part of the iHeartMedia group, moving its headquarters to San Antonio, Texas, United States. Clear Channel is into anything that can be considered outdoor advertising, including billboards, bus shelters, subways, transit vehicles, street furniture, posters, and airports. They operate only on the U.S. market, and they are spread across the country, precisely in 44 States. Clean Channel is the leading outdoor advertising company in the US with the fastest growing digital outdoor network worth 1,200 displays at the moment. They made $2.722 billion in revenue in 2018.
They have in their portfolio work for brands like Nike, Audi, and Uber, among others. Their work for Nike was in New York, where they used several billboards with pictures of the women from the US women soccer team.
Four months before their opening, Audi needed some teaser campaign to give the audience a taste of what was coming. The creatives took advantage of billboards and the brand’s logo to make a simple, but creative ad campaign that even won a 2019 OBIE award in the automotive category.
Uber Singapore used Clear Channel’s domination pack to promote its newest product, UberFLASH. UberFLASH is a service which matches riders to the closest available ride. This includes private-hire cars and ComfortDelGro taxis. The campaign’s goal was to show that passengers can get a car faster and at a more affordable price through the new service. It also conveys that the service is beneficial for commuters as much as drivers. It means a decrease in waiting time for riders, and an increase in rider demand for ride-sharing services, unlocking better earning opportunities for the brand.
They partnered with NASA and Soft Signs 3D to make a 3D billboard called “all in one” made of vynil with a 3D rocket on it. The result is rather unique and amazing.
3. Focus Media
Focus Media is a Chinese outdoor advertising company that operates the largest OOH advertising network in its country, consisting mostly of digital signage screens and internet advertising. It was founded in 2003 by Jason Jiang Nanchun and headquartered in Shangai, China. It went public in 2005, starting its trades on the U.S. market, but went back to being private in 2013. They specialize in digital and interactive screens as well as static, and also movie theater advertising. They made $2.201 billion in revenue in 2018. They only operate in China, and their client’s list includes well-known brands such as Canon, Procter & Gamble, Unilever, BMW, Mercedes, Nivea, Clarins Paris, Audi, and KFC among others.
4. Ströer
Ströer is a leading German provider of out-of-home media founded in 1990 and headquartered in Cologne, Germany. They offer services such as individualized advertising and fully integrated, end-to-end solutions along with the entire marketing and sales value chain. Ströer adopted a strategy they call “OOH plus”, that focuses on the strengths of the OOH business, underpinned by the Content and Direct Media segments. They also do a lot of digital work. They opérateur only in Germany, and they did some work for Nike, Esprit, Coca Cola, Adidas, and Netflix. They made $1.869 billion in 2018.
5. Lamar
Lamar is one of the largest outdoor advertising companies in the world, with over 340,000 displays across the United States and Canada. It was founded in 1902 as a partnership between Charles M. Lamar and J. M. Coe and hasn’t stopped growing ever since. They own a large inventory of traditional billboards as well as the largest network of a digital billboard in the U.S. with 3,300 displays. They worked with Pandora, Chevrolet, and Nissan, among others. They made $1.627 billion in 2018.
To draw attention to its new store, Nissan partnered with Lamar to saturate the market with an eye-catching OOH campaign. They focused on specific areas where the HHI would provide sustainability for Grand Blanc Nissan’s product.
Lamar developed for Chevrolet an innovative OOH technology to grab the customer’s attention on its mid-sized vehicle. The billboard was equipped with technology that identified specific competitors car brands at 1,000 ft and delivered personalized messages to its drivers.
6. Outfront Media
Outfront Media was created in 1938 and is headquartered in New York City, New York, United States. They specialize in outdoor advertising and own billboards all over the United States and Canada. They also do street furniture and transit. They make social media campaigns, as well. The list of their clients includes Essentia Water, Honest tea, Ben and Jerry’s, Rockland Trust, Amazon, JetBlue, and more. They made $1.602 billion in 2018.
JetBlue partnered with Outfront Media for their outdoor campaign in the US. They strategically placed ads about their loyalty program across US cities through transit and billboards to raise awareness among customers. They identified where their usual customers and potential customers lived and placed their ads at those locations.
To drive attendance to their Public Sector Summit, Amazon Web Services worked with Outfront Media to make metro station dominations at both Federal Triangle and Pentagon. They also targeted federal buildings with mobile ads, since they also wanted to increase attendees of their specific target demographic.
With the help of Outfront Media, Pepsi put up ads on billboards and transit media all across Atlanta in the week leading up to the Super Bowl. The relevance of this guerilla campaign laid in the fact that it right in Coca-Cola’s hometown of Atlanta.
7. Global
Global is a multi-media company founded in 2007 by Ashley Tabor, in England. It’s headquartered in London, England, UK. They are on several fronts as far as media are concerned: radio, music app and outdoor advertising. The radios they own include 95-106 Capital FM; Heart; Smooth Radia; Classic FM; Capital Xtra; Radio X; LBC and Gold. Their Podcast and music app, Global Player, is available for download and opens the door to their radio stations and an unlimited choice of music. They are also a leading company in outdoor advertising, offering advertisers transit, shopping mall, and theater advertising. They own 235,000 advertising sites all over the UK and Europe. Their total revenue in 2018 was estimated at $621 million.
Global combines outdoor with its radios, digital brands, and its world-leading digital advertising platform, to provide compelling solutions to brands, agencies, and advertisers. Their portfolio includes work for Universal Studios, McDonald’s, Coca Cola, Peugeot, Subway, Renault, Amazon, Audi, Vodafone, Volkswagen, and many more.
8. OOH Media
OOH Media is an Australian media company founded in 1989 by Brendon Cook. They are a leading outdoor advertising company in both Australia and New Zealand, and they have over 30,000 locations across roadside, retail, airports, office towers, bars, universities, and even online. They also do some community work by partnering with Two Good Co, who supports survivors of domestic violence. Their portfolio includes work for brands like Porshe, The Body Shop, Dyson, and more. They earned an estimated revenue of $361 million in 2018.
They were the company behind the execution of the pop-up campaign by Body Shop. They wanted to position themselves as the go-to destination for gift purchasing for Mother’s Day, so OOH created a British Rose VIP experience. It included cocktail nights, makeovers, live artist, and leading Beauty Blogger Rachel Brooke with a social amplification strategy. It was a 5-day campaign that reached close to 200,000 shoppers via Fashion Blogger, drove 815+ Instagram posts, and exceeded engagement and dwell time targets.
OOH worked with Dyson in an airport pop-up to educate the public, especially their female target, about the benefits of their new product. They made an ‘Airport Pathway’ campaign which included digital media and a demonstration blow-dry and sale from Dyson experts in airport and lounges. In two weeks of campaigning, there were more than 6,400 approaches to the Dyson experiential booth, 1,881 conversations and 1,346 product demonstrations by Dyson hair technicians, with each demonstration of the high-tech hairdryer taking more than 10 minutes on average. The technicians had a strong conversion rate from demonstration to sale with the target audience even though the product costs around $700.
9. APG | SGA
APG is an Outdoor advertising company created and headquartered in 1900 in Geneva, Switzerland. They offer services including, but not limited to installation and maintenance of poster panels; Concept, design, production, maintenance, and financing of urban furniture; Management of a national posting organization following the posting cycle system; Collection and analysis of movement and location data. They did some impressive work, too. They made a vehicle advertising for Jodlerfest How, consisting of using the hinges of an articulated bus as accordions. For the launch of the new Sony PlayStation 360, an overarching digital and analog Out of Home advertising campaign were put in place on busy streets and squares in an urban setting. At Zurich’s main station, in particular, the 360° Spiderman scene made a striking impression. These are some examples among others of what they’ve accomplished. Also, note that they made approximately $309 million in revenue in 2018.
