Aussie Workers Notice Outdoor Ads Says Roy Morgan

While you may be privy to seeing ducked heads on public transport as people virtually absorb their smartphones, a new study from research firm Roy Morgan has found that the majority of city workers notice the giant billboards, bus shelter ads and everything in between.

Some people are clearly taking a break from the palm-sized screens.

“Out of home media, is a natural fit for communicating with commuters travelling from home to work in the CBD (and back again),” said Tim Martin, general manager of media at Roy Morgan Research.

“It is noteworthy that despite the prevalence of an eyes-on-the-phone approach to travelling, public transport advertising continues to reach a large number of CBD workers.”

However, Martin said there’s great potential for mobile integration.

“That said, we see major opportunities for smart phone advertising to work closely with digital out of home formats, beacons, face/eyeball/image recognition and proximity-based ad targeting services.”

City commuters in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane are more likely to see ads than those in Adelaide and Perth, with Roy Morgan finding 65% of Adelaideans notice ads, and 60% of Perth locals.

It’s another story when it comes to ads on the motorway though. Roy Morgan found Brisbanites are the keen starers on motorways, with 42.2% saying they’ve seen advertising on the fast-paced lanes.

Perth and Adelaide are the least observant though, with 5.7% and 14.4% respectively.

Proportion of CBD workers who noticed types of outdoor advertising in last 7 days:

“The out of home media industry is hotting up and Roy Morgan data on consumers and their engagement with outdoor advertising is a critical part of the new digital out of home industry,” added Martin.