The Tremendous Promise and Potential of Urban Media Partnerships
Every day articles are published about what a city should be. At the same time, there is much discussion around the way people’s work habits have changed because of the pandemic and the impact remote working is having on city environments.
Whether it’s a one-minute city or a fifteen-minute city, or some other envisioned city, they will all have one thing in common. Things have changed and, as stated in the latest Global City Report from management consultancy AT Kearney, city planners must ‘re-imagine city planning in a way that makes the lived environment more sustainable, resilient and inclusive’.
One asset that is often overlooked or undervalued in this quest is urban media: communications in and around public spaces. This is also commonly known as out of home media.
Most cities and municipalities around the world already derive valuable revenue from urban media partnerships. And additionally, realize valuable free public messaging through out of home media franchises, with posters and digital screens that are tastefully incorporated in bus shelters, on public land and in public transport networks, providing important civic and safety information, that reach and impact citizens when they are away from home and engaged in the activities of daily life.
And the income can be significant. It is estimated that a large proportion of revenue generated by out of home advertising ends up in city treasuries, through revenue sharing agreements with operators. But can city authorities achieve more, by revving-up their revenue derived from urban media and unlocking the hidden value residing in these often-underexploited partnerships?
Cities have long accessed these benefits through a tangled web of commercial partnerships with out of home operators that offer, through these urban media facilities, a vast spectrum of civic amenities and other essential community services.
They range from bus shelters, public toilets and way-finding signage to providing a medium for public messaging, a service that has been utilized significantly by authorities during the Covid pandemic.
And these urban media operators offer services that maximize incremental income potential while providing next-generation amenities that enable convenience and promote community pride.
However, many of these commercial partnerships have been negotiated at different times over many years and were codified before the introduction of today’s cutting-edge technologies, which means cities may not be fully aligned with the needs of 21st century communities and their citizens.
It’s time for cities to optimize their existing and future urban media programs by rationalizing and streamlining commercial relationships and investigating the financial and community benefits that the latest technologies afford. This will allow cities to leverage the potential of innovation and digital transformation.
By reviewing and improving how they manage their urban media contracts, cities and municipalities can introduce new revenue streams, enhanced civic communications, improve the carbon footprint, all the while building better municipal services including data integration, security solutions and maintenance assistance.
And urban media, with its financial contributions and innovative ways of providing public amenities, can contribute to the process of financing new ideas that make public spaces more useful, attractive and friendlier environments.
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OOH Capital is the complete consultancy for a time when technology is transforming urban media. OOH Capital helps clients, ranging from cities and municipalities to brands and businesses, realize value from the limitless potential urban media provides. The partners at OOH Capital have a combine experience covering more than 75 countries and are well-equipped to advise on a global scale. OOH Capital provides expert knowledge from assessment and evaluation, through to strategy, deployment and finally delivery. More information is available at www.oohcapital.com.