Static OOH adspend outperformed DOOH in Malaysia in 2020

The overall adex for Malaysia dipped from RM13.5 billion to RM11.5 billion in 2020 as a result the COVID-19 pandemic. Out of the RM11.5 billion, approximately RM1.3 billion came from OOH (8.7%) and DOOH (2.5%), according to AIMS Research. This represented a drop from RM1.4 billion in 2019. AIMS Research found that static OOH outperformed digital billboards last year, with the latter recording a drop in market share from 3% in 2019 to 2.5% in 2020.

On the static OOH front, rental for OOH dropped from RM1.1 billion in 2019 to RM999.3 million last year. According to AIMS Research, the value of billboards shrank to 37% while unipoles made up almost equivalent in value, with almost eight times less panels. In terms of industries, real estate continued to be the biggest advertiser in 2020 with about RM159 million in adspend, despite this being 12% lesser than 2019.

According to AIMS Research, the retail industry overtook communication with a 4% increase in spending. The food industry also performed relatively well in terms of static OOH spend, with Jasmine, Bernas Era, and Mamee leading the pack. Meanwhile, the automotive industry ranked fifth with RM76.6 million in adspend, mainly contributed by Honda, Yokohama, Perodua, Toyota, and Nissan. On the telco and tech front, Huawei, Samsung, TM, U Mobile, and Apple were ranked among the top 10 in their industry.

Meanwhile for DOOH, AIMS Research found that the total panels increased by only 4% to 835 in Klang Valley during the fourth quarter of last year, and the total year-on-year adspend witnessed a sizeable decrease of 13%. Rental for DOOH dipped from RM338.2 million in 2019 to RM292.9 million last year. The service industry was the biggest advertiser, with a 31% increase in adspend compared to 2019. The increase was mainly contributed by foodpanda, Asia Pacific Economic Corporation, Grabfood, Lalamove, and Boost. According to AIMS Research, foodpanda spent about RM14 million last year, a year-on-year increase of 105%.

Brickfields Asia College was the lead advertiser in the education industry with RM7.9 million spend, followed by Veritas University College with RM4.3 million. At the same time, Astro was listed as the top advertiser in the media industry, with 46% of share of voice. Other brands that made it to the top 10 for DOOH were TM, Digi, and Celcom.

According to AIMS Research, data is collected manually and independently, with teams going onto the road every quarter and month to snap images of static and digital OOH activations respectively. Its static data covers Peninsular Malaysia, Kuching, Sibu, Bintulu, Kota Kinabalu, Sandakan, and Tawau. The data, that is collected on a panel to panel basis shows there are over 14,000 out of home advertising panels.

Among the list of outdoor formats covered include unipole, monorail station sponsorships, overhead bridge panels, pillars, rooftops, glass panels, giant gantries, and billboards. Meanwhile for digital OOH, data is derived from the video recordings recorded, per loop. The data gives industry stakeholders a way to analyse adex data by products, brands, locations, categories and sections.

In a phone conversation with A+M, AIMS Research's executive director Edgar Lim said that the adex data which are based on rate card, do not account for discounts, and in the case of the COVID-19 period, cancellations or deferments. "For existing campaigns last year that were running until the Movement Control Order was called, it was considered fair practice to have compensated existing clients for the sudden traffic downtime. This is not reflected in the adex numbers," he said. This applies mostly to static OOH adex figures due to the nature of ad campaigns being run longer on static sites.

Lim explains that digital OOH adex took a nosedive during the MCO period, as campaigns on digital OOH tend to be booked on a shorter-term basis, and traffic was at an all-time low.
“As soon as traffic was back and commute restarted, so did digital OOH campaigns, albeit at a slower rate," he added.

Lim also explained that digital campaigns were often booked on a shorter term such as a week or a month. Also, the request to pull down a digital OOH ad could be done a lot more quickly, hence, there was a lot of value lost during last year's MCO for digital. However, when businesses reopened, digital bounced back much quicker and harder, compared to static OOH which Lim said is much steady in the long term.

Photo courtesy: 123RF

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