Watch 2021

2021 was when advertisers re-engaged the core strengths of the Outdoor channel to build their brands through the medium’s potent combination of high impact classic panels, digital innovation at scale and attention-grabbing special builds. OOH got its swagger back, and in this report we look at the brands and categories that had the biggest presence on OOH in the year gone by. Figures are drawn from our Watch market intelligence service, based on our monitoring of OOH panels all over the country, and are based on display value at rate card.

Four supermarkets feature among the top twenty advertisers for the year, driving Retail to top spot among categories of advertisers. Display value in the Retail sector grew by 46% compared to 2020 and by 10% compared to 2019, the last full year unaffected by the pandemic. Share of voice on the medium for Retail in 2021 was almost 17%, nearly double that of the second most active category – Beers & Ciders. Although the Beers sector was up 27% versus 2020, it was down by 15% when set against 2019 figures. The vast majority of categories showed large increases year on year (Media +21%, Soft Drinks +15%) with a few notable exceptions – Finance down 31% and Tourism & Travel down 17%.

Turning to advertisers now, and drinks giant Diageo maintained their position as the country’s largest OOH advertiser in 2021, with brands including Guinness, Rockshore and Smirnoff giving the group an 8.5% share of voice and a display value increase of 37% v 2020. Sky finished slightly ahead of Mondeléz in second spot with Musgrave Group jumping into the top five, thanks to an increase in their display value for SuperValu and Centra of more than 200%.

Out of Home perennial Coca Cola rounded out the top five, followed by McDonald’s and Disney. Digital accounted for more than 30% of display value on OOH for the first time as expanded networks and new launches such as Digital Bridges and Digital Kiosks made their presence known on the streets.