The City of Sydney has extended the submission period of its outdoor media review, with submissions staying open until the end of the month.
The open submission period of the Draft Sydney Development Control Plan (DCP) for Signs and Advertisements was meant to close today, but has been extended until 30 April, on account of a number of stakeholders individually requesting extensions.
The review marks the first substantial review into planning for Out of Home (OOH) media since 2004 with a key focus being development standards for large format electronic signs.
In its proposed DCP, The City of Sydney said: “As Australia's most identifiable city, businesses, brand and advertisers target Sydney for international exposure and expansion of their consumer base.”
“Innovation in signage and outdoor advertising introduces a new element for Sydney's public domain. It influences visual character and amenity, while also providing economic opportunities for businesses.”
While the new provisions limit the creation of new advertising structures, it sets out permissions for existing advertising structures to be converted into digital billboards, providing it satisfies a number of requirements.
These include ensuring that the new signs do not have a negative visual, light or traffic safety impact, including the requirement that any electronic sign must be a minimum of 30% smaller in size than the original structure.
It also includes conditions that new signs meet operational management requirements, environmental performance and have “public benefit” which includes a component of the advertising time being allocated free of cost to the city for the use of community messages.
The previous DCP from 2012 included no provisions for the development of large format digital which some members of the industry said may have contributed to the industry being held back from developing.
AdNews understands that The Outdoor Media Association (OMA) are consolidating an industry-wide assessment of the prosed DCP.
MD of OOH specialist agency Posterscope, Joe Copley, said the provisions for electronic signs feeds into demand from both brands and media owners.
“We now have more data, we understand how to use it better to be more relevant and because the cost of the technology is coming down,” Copley said.
“So the demand and the appetite for digital billboards from the media side and from advertisers has grown exponentially in the last two years.”
Have something to say on this? Share your views in the comments section below. Or if you have a news story or tip-off, drop us a line at adnews@yaffa.com.au
Sign up to the AdNews newsletter, like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter for breaking stories and campaigns throughout the day.