In an exclusive Australian partnership, JCDecaux has worked with mobile-first global data partner Adsquare since February 2020 to deploy a robust ‘Audience Mobility Impact Monitor’ to understand the movements of three point six million smartphone users around Australia.

With Melbourne coming out of its snap lockdown on Wednesday night, Out-of-Home advertisers can take comfort that audiences across Australia are bouncing back.

By geofencing all JCDecaux’s sign locations, Adsquare generates a weekly audience mobility update to understand exactly what is going on across its network, and the numbers show that Australians are getting back to business.

The latest audience figures are now at the highest levels reported since pre-COVID*.

• ROADSIDE LARGE FORMAT audiences are now at eighty-two per cent (minus eighteen per cent pre-COVID levels)
• SUBURBAN STREET FURNITURE audiences are now at eighty per cent (minus twenty percent pre-COVID levels)
• RAIL ENVIRONMENT audiences are now at sixty-four per cent (minus thirty-six per cent pre-COVID levels)

The Adsquare audience data is reported for all JCDecaux signs across Australia, with the exclusion of airport signs. Importantly, the data identifies unique device counts to present an accurate, unduplicated view of audiences within a sixty-metre geofence of all JCDecaux assets.

This produces a level of sensitivity in audience mobility that allows JCDecaux to understand audience behaviours and local events such a lockdowns, school holidays, return to work or even warm weather and their impact on audience numbers.

For example, when governments introduce short, localised lockdowns, the trend for JCDecaux audiences is a sharp “v” where numbers tend to bounce back within a matter of weeks, as seen during and after recent lockdowns in Adelaide and Perth.

Adelaide’s snap lockdown (from 19 – 24 November 2020) saw ninety-six per cent of audiences return to the level of the week prior once lifted; and one hundred per cent by the following week.¹

Perth’s snap lockdown (from 31 January – 5 February 2021) saw ninety-two per cent of audiences return to the level of the week prior once lifted.² JCDecaux anticipates that its next data release will show an almost one hundred per cent return, based on the Adelaide precedent.

“For JCDecaux, understanding the city-shaping impacts of the pandemic and temporarily displaced audience behaviours has been critical to ensuring we continue delivering advertisers the highest levels of quality audience impact for their Out-of-Home campaigns,” JCDecaux Chief Marketing Officer, Essie Wake, said.

“How and where we travel, shop, spend our leisure time and access services have all adjusted. The infrastructure we use and rely on may have temporarily shifted too, but the numbers show that JCDecaux’s audiences are strengthening by the day – Australians are back on the roads and returning to workplaces too.”

In addition to JCDecaux’s deep understanding of audience mobility, NSW state government data is indicating a strong return to workplaces with The Sydney Morning Herald’s reporting that Sydney public transport patronage is approaching seventy per cent of pre-pandemic levels.

The government is predicting double-digit increases across the transport network in the coming weeks.

JCDecaux is committed to leveraging audience intelligence to deliver meaningful results for its advertiser partners.

JCDecaux General Manager of Sales, Oliver Newton, said, “through speed to market and greater flexibility, our products and offerings have been enhanced and adapted to meet today’s circumstances and we know JCDecaux remains the highest quality platform to reach audiences at scale.”

“Our advertiser partners recognise the role JCDecaux plays in supporting Australia’s ongoing economic recovery. We are fortunately better placed than most markets around the world and this is definitely reflected in Australian Out-of-Home advertiser confidence returning.”

*Total National audience volume as at w/c 06 February 2021, compared to pre-lockdown levels (22 Feb – 13 Mar 2020)

¹ w/c 28 Nov and 5 Dec 2020 Adsquare data

² w/c 06 Feb 2021 Adsquare data