oOh! Media boss predicts ad green shoots, ScoMo to put mojo back into ad market?
Despite a softening advertising market, oOh! Media boss Brendon Cook says the company remains on track to deliver higher earnings – and is investing heavily in automation and tech to weather structural market shifts (ASX). His signals to oOh! Media shareholders of an ad pick-up across all OOH formats is not as definitively supported by media buyers for the entire market, although a Coalition victory has bolstered some.
Key info:
- Preliminary SMI data shows continued drop in agency bookings - April likely to decline circa 10% across market
- oOh! resistant to decline, Cook says forward bookings for post-election up since Easter
- Buyers say market declines have probably stabilised
- Retail stocks jumped on Monday as investors expect $8bn in Coalition tax cuts to flow through to spending this year
- oOh! Media AGM address to shareholders references incoming wave of automation
- oOh! Media will complete ERM system this year, enabling cross-channel buying platform that combines audience data and machine learning for real time delivery
- Claims platform will improve returns for clients and profit for company
Henry Tajer at Dentsu Aegis, Omnicom's Kristiaan Kroon and Ikon's Pat Crowley are broadly aligned about a pick-up in the ad market although they vary in timing.
Tajer says "hopefully ScoMo will put the mojo back into the media" and expects a pick-up although it won't happen quickly. Ikon's Pat Crowley, is more subdued, predicting no real bounce from the election and not much positivity until the June half of 2020.
Omnicom's Kristiaan Kroon says the green shoots argument "feels early" for all media channels but market declines have probably stabilised. "It's a great opportunity for bold advertisers to grab market share," he says.
