OOH in Nigeria has come a long way since the days of traders painting rocks and walls on routes leading to trade centres. These days, we see about 11,443 standing billboard structures in the country, with 4% of our sites as Digital Out of Home (DOOH).
This reflects a whopping growth of over 600% in DOOH penetration in the last decade, commanding about 50% of the total Nigerian OOH media spend. Lagos, the nation’s nerve commercial centre, boasts more than 60% of Nigeria’s entire spend in OOH.
This growth can be attributed to increasing urbanisation, which over the last 10 years has resulted in: a boom in the number of shopping malls across the country (and as a result, more consumer touch points); a change in media consumption and the adoption of social media and mobile phones; the market becoming more regulated with the entrance of more international players; population growth; longer commutes and travel times; and the entrance of OOH auditing firms.
These developments left Nigerian advertisers asking, “How best do we connect with our audience?” and paved the way for the acceptance of DOOH, thanks to the clear need to move to a more dynamic form of advertising.
Getting smart
It’s early days for smart OOH in Nigeria. With the increase of new and agile players entering the market and the growing need to justify every kobo, especially during the economic recession of 2018, there has been a surge in the demand for data-based OOH planning, which is expected to generate measurable and targetable returns on campaign objectives and overall ROI.
Our level of investment in ECOS (our ecosystem of proprietary tools used for location mapping and planning) has placed Posterscope in a position to succinctly plan and implement digital OOH campaigns that deliver mileage. ECOS helps unlock the most valuable smart screen for each brand and campaign based on campaign objectives. It allows us to aggregate socio-economic information, traffic patterns, points of interests and public utilities (like malls and bus stops) as heat maps, which are then overlaid on the available digital screens in the location, so as to find inventory that will deliver the most impact.
The sky’s the limit
Advertisers are now beginning to explore and enjoy the potential of DOOH, which includes features like dynamic scheduling and content, remote and automated deployment, programmatic buying, data triggers, live updates, measurability and contextualised messaging or targeting. It is increasingly becoming the channel that offers brands the greatest opportunity to reach a mass or targeted audience consistently and creatively, and has indeed changed the game by disrupting the way OOH is understood and consumed in Nigeria.
In very recent times, advertisers have been further pushing the boundaries of data integration, not just in planning but also in creative executions to deliver contextual content. This is done by integrating mobile and DOOH to deliver more than just commercial advantages, as these campaigns offer personalised interactivity and a more memorable and useful brand experience.
DOOH has become a primary driver of new investment in the OOH business, as it is shaped by potentially higher revenue for practitioners and a perception of better results by advertisers. With its vast potential, the creative opportunity offered by DOOH is endless.
