Clear Channel boosts investment in digital OOH

The company, which accounts for 25 percent of the market, currently offers high-definition panels. But the upgraded bus-shelter units promise HD cameras; recognition technology that's capable of spotting colour, gender and objects; beacons; and cameras. The first installations will take place in November, with full availability of 200 by 1 January, according to the company.

“This is a significant commitment for us,” Kelly Khoo, Sinapore CEO at Clear Channel, told Campaign Asia-Pacific. “We’ve already demonstrated the scale of our inventory through non-digital and now we’re replicating the same scale across digital.”

The new 75-inch digital screens are capable of displaying real-time information with updates or feeds sourced from social-media platforms or directed web links. Khoo pointed out that the technology goes beyond audience-triggered content and can create dynamically targeted messages that can be activated based on weather, time, date, news and events.

While Khoo declined to comment on the company’s launch partners, she said the first phase of digital OOH, which launched in 2012, demonstrated success for airlines, automobile companies, beauty and fashion brands, e-commerce players and FMCG firms.

According to Khoo, the new development also helps improve the potential for creative work—making advertisements more effective with high-quality images. Data and intelligence means that creative can also be tailored or changed at the touch of a button while keeping the overall cost of running it considerably lower.

The move is part of the company's global ambitions to grow ahead of the market in using technology. Since 2009, Clear Channel has increased the number of digital screens from 800 in four markets to 6000 across 18 countries including China, Singapore and Australia. 

Asia is significant part of Clear Channel’s US$635 million business. The firm’s double-digit growth in Asia makes it the fastest growing region for the business.

Out-of-home ad spending is growing faster in Asia-Pacific than any other region of the world, according to Global Industry Analysts. By 2020, the firm predicts, annual OOH spending in the region will increase 8.6 per cent to touch $180.2 billion, making the medium bigger in Asia-Pacific than anywhere except the US.