As Nine today joined its compatriots Ten and Seven in announcing “disappointing” half yearly results, the man in charge of the purse strings of many of Australia’s biggest media spenders says Facebook and Google have been unfairly painted as the villains responsible.

IPG Mediabrands Australian CEO Danny Bass says while the digital giants have played a role, its been the out of home industry which has not so quietly stolen the bulk of the branding dollars from TV.

“Facebook and Google have been blamed for a lot of the woes affecting traditional media in terms of ad spend. But where do they think the rise in outdoor has come from? It ain’t come from print because there’s nothing left.

“Where’s outdoor’s growth come from? It’s come from TV,” Bass told B&T.

“I don’t think Facebook and Google are growing at anywhere near the rate that people think it is from a display perspective; a brand perspective.”

While Bass said TV was “still considered as the preeminent media channel to build a brand”, he said out of home advertising had done a really good job of talking about its medium and has done so for many years.

“Why’s that? Outdoor has done a really good. It’s a less complex sale, you’re not talking about audience fluctuations you’re not talking about audience guarantees as such. It’s an easy concept for agency people to get their head around.”

He also said out of home has “aggressive sales teams” and as an industry has been incredibly disciplined insomuch its key protagonists never criticise each other. “The brand dollars, that’s where they’re heading.”

However as any fan of Spiderman knows, with great power becomes great responsibility.

“The interesting thing about outdoor now is as they move more and more towards digital boards, the issues around accountability, viewability, the currency of it are growing. They’ve gone from a static board that sat there to a display which might have five pieces of creative on it and you’re paying more for it.

“Outdoor used to account for 5%-10% of a clients media spend, it’s now creeping up to 30%-40%, even higher in some cases. With that share comes greater accountability. It’s interesting now what the outdoor industry is going to do with that and the role agencies are going to play.”