The AdNews end of year Perspectives, looking back at 2024 and forward to next year.
Kirsty Dollisson, CEO, TorchMedia
Significant growth within our sector and across our networks
It has been another stellar year of growth for the Out of Home (OOH) industry, and an especially exciting year for us at TorchMedia. This year our transit specialism was truly solidified with the renewal of the Sydney Light Rail contract and the addition of the iconic Adelaide Tram network to our portfolio. We are proud to now offer tram and light rail advertising opportunities across 3 capital cities nationally: Sydney, Adelaide, and Canberra.
Recent industry expenditure figures confirm OOH revenue in Q3 grew 8.75% year-on-year (YOY), allowing us to expect a strong finish to the 2024 calendar year. Most impressively, the Transport category has experienced the largest increase of all OOH categories, recorded at +23% year-on-year growth in the Outdoor Media Association’s Half Year Results.
As specialists in this space, we have had a “front row seat” to the action this year, working with a plethora of new advertisers in addition to our valued existing clients. In the current media landscape with ever-fragmenting audiences, we’ve seen more clients effectively utilise our premium transit solutions across multiple markets and modes to deliver on their marketing objectives.
There has been incredible growth in the public transport sector throughout 2024 – both in terms of patronage milestones and increased revenue into the category. Commuter patronage in NSW, for example, has grown by almost 20% YOY, driven largely by new infrastructure projects (FY23 vs FY24, Transport for NSW Media release, 2 Nov 24). The recent opening of the Sydney Metro extension from Chatswood to Sydenham saw trips taken on the Sydney Metro soar – with more than twelve million trips in the first 10 weeks of operation.
We also know that weekend travel across (NSW) public transport is up 17% year-on-year, with weekend trips on Ferries and Light Rail now outpacing weekday growth and exceeding pre-COVID levels. This supports our own research, which shows that public transport is now just as popular for leisure travel as it is for the daily commute. Commuters frequently choose public transport for their social and recreational travel as they move around our cities and enjoy world-class events and festivals.
We’ve seen a real shift in commuter behaviour this year. Commuter audiences aren’t just growing – they are also reflective of public transport becoming a more desirable experience. Sydney Light Rail, Sydney Metro and Sydney Ferries all achieve over 90% customer satisfaction ratings across a range of factors, including cleanliness, customer service, safety and security.
Delivering more meaningful engagement and real results
This time last year, I predicted that more clients would look to trial new transit formats and start paying closer attention to their creative executions. We have seen this come to fruition in 2024, with more clients hoping to stand out from the crowd by utilising tailored messaging and bespoke creative based on their selected transit format and environment. This is a trend which we believe will continue into 2025 as advertisers are wanting to engage more meaningfully with their target audience. We predict clients will not only continue to consider and invest in premium transit solutions, but will focus more on best practice outcomes to achieve their goals.
In 2025, we will be increasing our focus on education, helping clients to improve engagement through our Creative Best Practice Series, which was first introduced this year for our Light Rail and Tram networks. We are already seeing great results come from this consultative process, with more advertisers adopting recommendations, tailoring their creative and trialing new executions.
We’ve seen an influx of advertisers wanting to explore innovative transit solutions incorporating impactful ambient media options and direct engagement opportunities with commuters. The Sydney Metro Train Interior Domination, launched earlier this year, has been especially popular for the high impact nature of the execution and the exclusivity offered with 100% share of voice achieved within this high dwell environment. The most recent Xbox campaign from Microsoft is a fantastic example of how this new format can be utilised effectively.
Another recent example would be Ryde, who recently launched a contextually relevant digital media campaign on My Fast Ferry vessels in Sydney, and paired this with a market first on-board sampling activation. Ferry commuters enjoyed Ryde wellness shots on their trips between Circular Quay and Manly during their morning and evening commutes. In 2025, we believe more advertisers will be looking to connect with their customers in these unique and exciting ways and look forward to helping them achieve their goals.
Programmatic Out of Home has been game-changing for the industry and we’re proud this year to have made our digital networks in Sydney and Adelaide available for purchase programmatically via partnerships with Vistar and Hivestack. In addition, TorchMedia has continued to invest in proprietary research to prove the effectiveness of our premium transit media solutions. This year, we have completed several brand uplift studies that have demonstrated the ways transit media performs against key metrics including awareness, consideration and brand resonance. In 2025, we will be working with even more clients to continue building case studies around real results.
We look forward to the continued growth of the Out of Home industry, as well as implementing our plans to ensure advertisers can activate engaging and effective transit media campaigns with us in 2025 and beyond.
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