All Is Not Well in Billboard Land!

The outdoor advertising-billboard industry, in the US, has been hit hard right in the wallet where it counts most.

Outdoor-Billboard Owners, operators and more importantly "stockholders" are unhappy. Very, very unhappy. Discontent is mounting.

While many blame the overall "recession" this current market environment could well indicate a deeper and more significant advertising "structural" change. Newspapers, magazines and trade journals have also been decimated by dropping ad revenue.

The reports from the field is that owners and operators face a double hit, as some deep pocket and normally heavy spender national advertisers switch to less expense on-line media marketing and others just trimmed advertising budgets to the bare bone.

Expenses continue to grow with less and less income.

The result is many "vacant" billboards, everywhere,on both major and secondary highways, or with "occupied boards' but with stale advertising copy but no income.

The downturn in the economy has both the big-boys and the mom-and-pop operators more than just nervous. For many it may well be a "make or break time."

Those firms with mega-debt obligations it's another tragic financial disaster story just waiting to written.

Within the past decade some of the national giants" over-paid for their inventory of "assets." Grossly overpaid, that is!

Some billboard industry insiders say that outdoor revenue is down about 15% with another drop of between 15% and 20% is going to hit soon. A vacancy rate of 50% in some markets is very possible.

Outdoor billboard advertising rate-cards are now considered as good fictional reading material.

The parent company of Clear Chanel Communications, the US largest billboard and radio operator ,reported a $3.7 billion dollar loss in just the 2nrd Quarter AFTER writing off $4 billion dollars in billboard permits.

LaMar Advertising of Baton Rouge, the nation's 3rd largest billboard operator said it has closed 1,800 billboard and smaller sings as a cost cutting measure. They reported a $11.8 million dollar loss also in the 2Q.

Expect everything from some bankruptcies and even some acquisitions and mergers begins to play musical chairs.

Those owners and operators without major debt service will probably be OK. Anticipate some cash-rich global outdoor-advertising firms coming on the scene and to "cherry-pick" various markets clean.

The lessons I believe, are similar that of the banking and financial world; veryone needs to go back to square-one, relearn the basics of the business, adjust now to current and prevailing market conditions, know the customers or simply be-gone.

The outdoor-billboard advertising business needs to come down to planet earth and the high flying days are long gone.

Bill McInerney

617 816 3933

Outdoor News and Notes

BIG TOBACCO STRIKES BACK!

Winston-Salem, N.C. It's not surprise that the Big US Tobacco firms don't like the new federal law with its advertising bans imposed on them.

On August 31,. 2009 ,R. J. Reynolds and other tobacco manufactures plus a retailer filed a federal suite that the states the bans on advertising " severely restricts the few remaining channels we have to communicate with the adult tobacco consumers, and in our opinion, cannot be justified on any basis consistent with the demands of the First Amendment."

They state that there are more than 40 million adult American who consume tobacco products.

Tobacco was a "cash-cow" and major buyer of Outdoor-Billboard Advertising for the past 40 years.

With outdoor -billboard US advertising down by 14.9% one can be sure that the major outdoor outdoor-billboards firms( CBS, Clear Chanell etc) will be lobbying Congress hard in the months to come.

SPEAKING OF ADVERTISING.

This year the advertising spending in the US fell by $10.3 billion in the first 6 months.

Internet Advertising. Down 1 %,

Network TV Advertising. Down 7%,

Network Radio Advertising. Down 9%,

Syndicated TV. Down 11.6%,

Local newspapers. , Down 13.2%

Outdoor Advertising. Down 14.9%

National Magazines. Down 21.2%

Local Magazines. Down 25.4%

Automotive advertising remains the top product advertiser but it was down 31.4%

Other top products: Pharmaceuticals. Down 11.3%, Wireless telephone services, motion pictures and local auto dealerships, down 26.2%.

There's a lot of pain and anguish in the entire advertising sector and the next 6 months do not look encouraging.

How much $$$ are retailers going to pump into the next holidays, Thanksgiving and Christmas, is the big question mark.

DIGITAL BILLBOARD TECHNOLOGY.

The new exciting, heavy-duty, buzz-word for the outdoor billboard advertising technology is the digitall large format LED display systems including LED billboards,large-screen video displays and control systems for sports and commercial venues.

One firm "Daktronics," indicates that it alone has installed more than 1,200 digital billboard nationwide in mare than 300 cities.

With a total US billboard inventory of about 450,000 the cost-to-convert is probably holding many firms back plus the uncertainty in obtain local approvals and permits.

Many communities have already banned digital billboard citing "safety issues." Expect many more to follow.

Bill McInerney

WHere is the gold?

Land, rooftops, walls and building "value" and prices vary greatly , from state to state in the US and globally, from country to country, for the use and occupancy of outdoor -billboard-advertisign devices and signs.


Again "limited supply, or inventory, coupled with high population density, and high traffic count tends to increase property values whereas the opposite is true.



The proliferation of billboards anywhere, because of limited, or no land-use controls, rules and regulations simply drive "values" downhill.

For many reasons certain states in the US have a total ban on billboards mainly because of the Highway Beautification Federal Law promoted by Lady Bird Johnson, wife of US President of Johnson.


On the other hand, for example, a US center of outdoor advertising, Times Square. in New York has a specific zoning by law which mandates that any new high rise building, in the Times Sq area, must devote a certain amount of facade space for the use and occupany of Outdoor-Billboard-Advertsing.



New York City is one for the few communites that knows the true economic developemental power of "bight lights," and not just fromBroadway!

Bill McInerney

National & Global Billboard-Outdoor advertsing news

No longer is the Billboard-Outdoor Advertising business a small time "wild-cat" mom-and-pop operation. Gone are the days with sign painters took over billboards because of lack of payment for their services.

The industry has grown in the past 40 years ever since the US banned Big Tobacco from advertising on TV money that business to Outdoor. Now that Big Tobacco is long gone

the industry thrives while magazines and newspaper advertising sinks lower and lower.

(Left: A Paris Billboard)

Today the business is national and global. As an added feature of this blog I'm adding, from time to time, news from across the nation and world.

Dublin Ireland 8-17-09 Reported by Sunday Times Tribune: The French Outdoor firm JC Decaux, the largest in the world outdoor advertising company, just signed a 15 year deal with Dublin's "Rent-A-Bike " initiative and they are furnishing the initiative with 450 bicycles for the agreement.

London, UK. 8-14-09. Reported by Marketing: Primesight acquires Titan's billboards.

Titan's "roadside estate" comprises of 8,600 panels, consisting of 7,800 48 sheet panels and 700 96 sheet panels.

Primesight currently holds 13,000 small six sheet outdoor advertising panels across the UK, plus another 140 large format back light panels in the greater London area.

Titan Outdoor holds the exclusive advertising rights fort 17 Rail Station plus it manages advertising in 90 shopping malls and retail sites at supermarkets.

Los Angles, California US Reported by L.A. Times 8-14-09. The L.A. City Council voted to ban all "digital" billboards, plus multi story "super-graphics, and certain freeway-facing signs in a rat-race effort to beat down any possibility that it's temporary band might be struck down by the counts.

NY, NY. 8-15-09. Media-week: CBS Outdoor Global revenue down 27% in Q@. Internal revenues fell 36%. CBS said revenues from North America for 2Q fell 22%.

CBS swung to a $40 million dollar operating loss.

Abu Dhabi: The National: reported that outdoor advertising prices have held steady in face of the global downturn in advertising revenues. One source reported The National stated that large agencies were seeking discounts up to 40% to 60% but were refused!

Vancouver, BC. 8-12-09 The Vancouver Olympic Committee has $12 Million in unsold outdoor advertising and a revenue short fall of $42 million including a $30 million missing payment from the International Olympic Committee. ( VANOC is seeking to cut costs and is asking for temporary employees on loan from local companies rather than hiring people it self, and getting items pro bono where ever possible and hoping for pricey materials to be donated.)

Bill McInerney

South Africa. Reported by Gill Moore of Splitting Hairs, 11-Aug-09.The Irish Cell Billionaire, Denis O'Brien is throwing his weight around and just blocked the sale of INM, a SOUTH AFRICAN OUTDOOR ADVERTISING BUSINESS THAT WAS MEANT TO FETCH 100 million Euros and which would have helped INM settle its 200 Euros debt to its bondholders.

My Advice Find A Niche.

In my other blog, The Real Estate Professor, I mentioned that in my opinion it's going to take some time for some meager commercial real estate brokerage activity to return.

Commercial sales and leases are at an all time low in Middlesex Country of Massachusetts which contains 51 cities and towns. Suffolk Country( Boston) is no better off.

For many years Ive been engaged in various aspects of "vertical real estate" starting with Cable Television head-end sites and relay towers in the 1980's , then radio and televisions towers led me to the Outdoor Real Estate Business which then pointed me to telecommunication cell towers.

Recently I took a research trip to the mecca of US outdoor advertising and billboards, New York City. I met and talked with a many in the outdoor & billboard business, and many more savvy property owners and some sharp and experienced commercial real estate brokers.

So I've returned and to a former niche - outdoor advertising or billboards, but with a much different twist or rather a different perspective.

Rather then representing big billboard I've decided to assist, consult, represent and negotiate for property owners who license, rent or lease to such firms.

After considerable internet research I ow believe that there is both perhaps a national and even an international need for such specialised services. Only time will tell.

In the meantime I'll keep a toe in the slowly moving currents of commercial brokerage while I pursue a new and exciting business opportunity.

By the way, do you know anyone who leases property to a billboard firm?

BillMcInerney

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