DOOH ad spend to triple, and other digital signage news for you

Electrograph has closed.  The one-time largest distributor of business television and AV equipment has shut their doors, thanks mostly to razor-thin margins and a poor economy for being a middleman.  I know that over the past few year more and more tier-1 manufacturers have been willing to work directly with smaller customers and end-users, making Electrograph's position more difficult to justify.

JiWire promises 'net-like' analytics to digital out-of-home folks, according to today's Marketing VOX article. The company's delivers and tracks ad impressions over a network of 25,000 public WiFi hotspots, and claims to offer the same kind of measurability that advertisers are accustomed to online (so that most likely means impressions and clickthroughs). And you thought DOOH only meant digital signage!?

In the face of all the bad economic news, PQ Media decided to announce that the digital out-of-home ad spend is on pace to triple this year, and will comprise nearly 30% of all out-of-home ad spending at $2.43 billion (thanks, Marketing Charts):


More specifics:

• US spending on video ad networks, the largest segment of digital OOH media, is on track to expand 8.1% in 2008 but will decelerate in 2009 before returning to double-digit growth in 2010.
• Digital billboards remains the fastest-growing segment, though it will be slower in 2008, posting growth of 28.2% and remaining in the 20% range through 2012.
• Ambient ad platforms will grow 6.8% in 2008. This growth compares with expected low single-digit growth or outright declines in most ad-based media in 2008 and 2009, including newspapers, radio, broadcast TV and magazines.

As we've noted for a while, mobile is becoming the next hottest way to reach consumers with a message at the right place and time, and this is one of the better approaches that I've seen.  As Marketing VOX notes, "Coupious, a mobile marketing platform that delivers on-demand, location-based coupons to smartphone users, is testing out its service at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana. After downloading Coupious from the Apple App Store or the Android market, smartphone users browse deals in their immediate location (or up to 50 miles away), identified using the phone's GPS technology."