Trust is key for out-of-home media in today’s conflicted media world

In a world awash with fake news and with hitherto all-conquering social media now coming under attack from all directions, out-of-home advertising’s status as the most trusted medium is key to expanding the sector, World Out of Home Organization President Tom Goddard told delegates at the recent Central Europe Forum in Warsaw, Poland. 

While OOH is growing in double digits, driven by the success of digital OOH, its growth remains below online media in the worldwide marketplace. But Goddard predicts that will change over the next five years and beyond, thanks in part to a major shift in marketers’ views of social media platforms. 

Regulators, he said, seem to be catching up with what he called “big tech’s reckless disregard for their customer base, particularly younger users”.  

Social media’s ‘tobacco moment’ 

He told the Warsaw gathering: “Numerous countries are seriously considering adopting the much-publicised ban for under-16s in Australia. This is not surprising when you see the elevated instances of clinical depression, body image distortion, cyber bullying and online predators. We’ve also seen huge fines on Meta in what has been described as ‘social media’s tobacco moment’.” 

Commercially, Goddard said, ad fraud continues to cost brands billions of dollars. “Advertising systems generating fake impressions, clicks or conversions [is] undermining the legitimacy of social media as an advertising tool, while AI slop is increasingly undermining the medium and at the same time redefining the way search works as an advertising model.” 

He told delegates he believes this creates an opportunity for out-of-home advertising, which is rating highly in consumer trust studies and for building brands in real life (IRL), as opposed to online. 

“As Stephan Loerke, Head of the World Federation of Advertisers puts it, trust is and shall remain marketers’ North Star,” Goddard told delegates.