"The pace of consolidation is accelerating fast," says Goddard. 

Goddard also draws from WOO's soon-to-be-released Worldwide Expenditure Survey, that global Out-of-Home (OOH) revenue in 2024 had reached USD$46-billion, a ten percent increase on 2023, a performance well ahead of other so-called "legacy media". Revenue in 2025 is expected to reach over USD$49-billion, says Goddard.

Goddard lists a number of recent progressive steps for the OOH industry worldwide:

North America

In North America, T-Mobile has acquired Vistar, bringing a large telco into the industry. The United States OOH revenue has exceeded USD$9-billion for the first time. The Canadian trade body, Canadian Out of Home Marketing and Measurement Bureau (COMMB), has launched a new reach and frequency tool in its Roadmap platform.

LATAM

In LATAM Entertainment, media giant Globo has acquired Brazil's largest OOH player, Eletro Media, followed by Eletro buying Clear Channel's Brazil assets. Argentina's Global has acquired the three remaining Clear Channel National assets in Mexico, Peru and Argentina. JCDecaux has bought Publigrafic in Guatemala and Costa Rica, as well as Integrated Marketing Communication (IMC), also in Costa Rica.

Europe

In Europe, the standout move has been the acquisition of the remaining Clear Channel assets in Northern Europe by Bauer Media, the Germany-based radio, catapulting Bauer into a second position in Europe. In Germany, revenue has grown by a market-beating twenty-five percent, and in Sweden OOH growth has surpassed all other media. A major upgrade of the Route Measurement Platform has been commissioned in the United Kingdom.

The Middle East 

In the Middle East, The Multiply Group, now with sixty percent of the United Arab Emirates market, has entered into a Joint Venture agreement to collaborate on international expansion with Al Arabia, with seventy percent of the Saudi Market. They are also collaborating on an AdTech initiative, aimed at creating a large trading platform in the Gulf Region and beyond.

Africa

Africa has started to invest in digital transformation and has begun measuring its inventory.

APAC

In China, digital OOH revenue has risen to sixty-six percent of all OOH despite the tariff-driven trade wars. In the rest of the Asia Pacific (APAC), India has taken positive steps towards creating a unified audience measurement platform.

In Korea, further expansion of adZones in Seoul is setting the standard for the rest of the world, while in Australia, the Outdoor Media Association (OMA) has launched its 'MOVE2' measurement platform. 

In Japan, the first ground-breaking one-day OOH conference was held in February in association with WOO, adding to WOO's busy agenda of global meetings which, over the past few years have included Bali, Milan, Kuala Lumpur, the UAE and Cape Town, as well as the Global Congress held last year in Hong Kong.

Goddard concludes, "The theme for this Congress is a world of opportunities, and these developments and others to come, demonstrate clearly that the industry is confounding global economic worries by a relentless focus on growth, innovation and consolidation. We journey into the remainder of 2025 and beyond in good heart."

For more information, visit www.worldooh.org. You can also follow The World Out Of Home Organisation on LinkedIn, X, or on Instagram. 

*Image courtesy of contributor