In-Car Study Shows Outdoor Advertising and Out of Home Media on the Rise

A major media company recently released an update to its 2003 national in-car study. Whether you're selling billboards, street furniture, transit or placed-based media, this report contains useful information covering all segments of alternative advertising. If anything, the report can provide some insight as to how the tides in the world of alternative advertising are shifting for media sellers.

Many of the results in this survey reinforce the research findings from the 2003 report. For instance, "mega-milers" (those individuals who drive 150+ miles per week) are still in the higher income bracket. This can dramatically influence the market for buying billboards and other out-of-home assets.

Despite more of the U.S. population working from home and using public transportation, travelers are still spending 2 hours and 52 minutes in their cars every week. This is an astounding thirty-one percent increase in the amount of time people are spending in-car. That's thirty-one percent more time for potential exposure to alternative media.  

The study also reports where consumers stop to shop on their way home from work. It found that Americans stop at a variety of venues, giving advertisers a chance to reach them in grocery stores, restaurants and other retail outlets.

Some of the notable findings in this update are as follows:

- Seventy-one percent (71%) of travelers report that they notice billboards.

- Thirty-seven percent (37%) of travelers report looking at a billboard each or most of the time they pass one.

- More than half of travelers (55%) have noticed a digital billboard in the past month, and almost one-third (32%) have noticed a digital billboard in the past week.

- Thirty-nine percent (39%) of travelers aged 18+ have noticed an advertising message on a bus.

- Almost half (47%) of travelers have noticed an advertising message at a bus stop (including street furniture such as bench ads).

- Thirty-eight percent of travelers aged 18+ have noted seeing taxicab advertisements.

- Nearly three-quarters of billboard viewers shop on their way home from work, and more than two-thirds make a shopping decision while in the car.

- Nearly one-quarter of billboard viewers report they were motivated to visit a particular store that day because of an outdoor advertising message.

- Half of the billboard viewers reported getting directional information from a billboard, and one-quarter said they immediately visited a business because of an outdoor media message.

- New digital video platforms are definitely changing at-home television consumption. Thirty-five percent (35%) of billboard viewers own a digital recorder.

- Americans are still spending a lot of time in their cars. Adults 18+ spend about 18 hours and 31 minutes in their car, driving 224 miles per week.

- Mega-milers are those who travel more than 150 miles per week. Thirty-nine percent (39%) of these drivers have a household income of $75,000+, compared to only 27% of the average American population.


Many of the findings in this survey reinforce what was found in the 2003 survey. However, some of the new information in the survey shows that digital billboards are making progress on a national level and time spent on the road is increasing.