eMarketer – US Out-of-home Ad Spending, 2023

The out-of-home (OOH) advertising industry is facing challenges in siphoning more budgets, despite being a natural alternative for brands seeking awareness and consideration. OOH's share of total ad spending is still down from pre-pandemic levels due to factors such as fewer people working at the office, reduced cinema attendance, and the struggle to regain in-store traffic by retailers. However, there are emerging digital opportunities within OOH advertising. Physical retail locations are digitizing the in-store experience, automation is slowly gaining momentum, and Google's marketplace now offers OOH inventory that can be seamlessly added to multimedia campaigns. Digital out-of-home (DOOH) is projected to regain its pre-pandemic share of total outdoor ad dollars at 31.4%. Billboards continue to account for a significant portion of OOH revenues, indicating their continued value to advertisers. While OOH advertising has experienced a considerable rebound from the decline during the pandemic, it has not expanded as quickly as the overall US ad market. Despite OOH's recovery, its share of total media ad spend is expected to be about 1 percentage point lower in 2023 than in 2019. OOH's share erosion accelerated in 2020 due to the impact of the pandemic, and it will likely hover between 2% and 3% of total media budgets through 2027. US advertisers are projected to spend $9.15 billion on OOH in 2023, aligning with the forecast prior to the pandemic. Although OOH's digital transformation is progressing slower than expected, US DOOH ad spend is expected to grow annually through 2027. Traditional OOH ad spend will increase around 3% in 2023 and 2024, with about two-thirds of OOH ad dollars going toward traditional placements. The relevance of static billboards remains strong, especially outside of metro areas where the audience size does not justify the investment needed for digital signage.