Digital outdoor company QMS has announced a significant expansion of MediaWorks in New Zealand, with the latter securing a new long-term agreement with Auckland Transport for its four prized out of home (OOH) assets: street furniture, vehicular-based (transit) media, transport hubs and billboards.
The agreement, which takes effect from 16 October 2025, sees MediaWorks become the largest OOH company in New Zealand. MediaWorks is also the country’s #1 radio company.
The new partnership gives MediaWorks exclusive rights to represent Auckland Transport’s street furniture network, encompassing an existing asset base of almost 2,000 advertising panels across the greater Auckland region, with plans to add more digital assets to the network.
MediaWorks will also continue to represent Auckland Transport’s transit assets of buses, trains and ferries across Auckland’s busy commuter network; Auckland Transport’s transport hubs including the soon to be opened CRL stations; and Auckland Transport’s billboard portfolio – providing advertisers with a unique and powerful combined audience reach across Auckland.
QMS and MediaWorks chairman, Barclay Nettlefold, said: “We are absolutely thrilled to have been appointed as Auckland Transport’s partner to develop and grow Auckland’s most prestigious and important OOH assets. This win is a game changer and re-shapes the way OOH will be planned and bought by advertisers in New Zealand.
“We are proud to be entrusted to operate the coveted Auckland Transport street furniture concession and are excited about the development plans that we have for the network.
“Renewing our existing Auckland Transport portfolios of transit, transport hubs and billboards enables MediaWorks to build on the past 10 years of partnership with Auckland Transport and firmly establishes us as the #1 OOH operator across New Zealand,” he said.
In developing its strategic approach to address Auckland Transport’s vision for the future, MediaWorks tapped its extensive local knowledge combined with the trans-Tasman experience of QMS, which operates the world-leading City of Sydney digital street furniture network.
John O’Neill, chief executive officer, QMS, said: “This is a great win for MediaWorks and we congratulate the team in New Zealand. With the growing trend towards trans-Tasman trading, our shared expertise between QMS and MediaWorks will provide greater opportunities for our media agency partners and their clients to plan and buy across both markets.
“Combined with the City of Sydney, this win further strengthens QMS as the pre-eminent digital out of home operator, the first in history to hold the two marquee street furniture contracts in the ANZ region simultaneously.”
Auckland Transport’s Media Partnerships and Experience Lead, Simon Soulsby, said the contract award is an exciting step for New Zealand’s largest OOH media portfolio.
“After an incredibly competitive process, we are very pleased with the outcome,” he said. “We look forward to working closely with QMS and MediaWorks to deliver innovative out of home media solutions. This new partnership brings certainty for the industry and great outcomes for Auckland residents.”
The new agreement with Auckland Transport follows the QMS acquisition of 100% of Oaktree Capital Management’s stake in MediaWorks in June this year.
MediaWorks engages with up to 3.5 million Kiwis across radio, digital and OOH, or 85% of the New Zealand population, each week*. Together, the combined QMS and MediaWorks networks represent one of the largest diversified media operators in the Asia Pacific region, providing advertisers with the opportunity to impact a significant trans-Tasman audience at scale.
