OOH Uncut Podcast: Tom Goddard
Tom Goddard, President, World Out of Home Organization, joins host Rick Robinson, CEO, PJX Media, on OOH Uncut, the 5-minute podcast featuring leaders in the Out of Home advertising world discussing OOH media industry topics.
November 6, 2023
Out of home media is stuck at a 5% market share, and there is a need for a shift in mentality within the industry to stop competing with itself and instead compete with other media, like online advertising.
Consolidation and the development of larger shared platforms in the ad tech space are essential to improve the speed, precision, and accountability of out of home media, enabling it to compete more effectively with online media and potentially increase its market share to 10% within a few years.
Tom Goddard Discussion on OOH Uncut Podcast with Rick Robinson
Rick Robinson: Hello everybody. Rick Robinson here with PJX Media and another episode of OOH Uncut. Today's guest, who we're extremely honored to have, is Tom Goddard and he's the president of the World Out of Home Organization and also Chairman of OOH Capital. Welcome to the show Tom.
Tom Goddard: It's great to be here, Rick, and greetings from sunny London.
Rick Robinson: From Sunny London, all right? And greetings back to you from Foggy, Los Angeles, right now.
Tom Goddard: Okay.
Rick Robinson: Tom, when we were chatting before I hit record, you had mentioned the Rolling Stones video which everybody's sharing on social media. At least most people all over the world and in particular people in the Out of Home segment. And so this plays into the question, I'm going to ask you perfectly. If we're so visible in other media, if we're such a part of culture, if we have so many positive attributes around storytelling and just proof of the moment, why is out of home media seemingly kind of stalled out, or stuck at 5% market share?
Tom Goddard: yeah, I kind of complained a lot about this at the word Congress in Lisbon that and…
Rick Robinson: Yeah, you did. You did.
Tom Goddard: My 5% syndrome quip has taken on a whole life of its own and it's fair to say that although my concern is that we're flatlining and have been at 5%, there's a lot of great things happening other stuff to celebrate - out of home has maintained it's a share reasonably well versus other legacy media and all. So this year we will see out of home climbing in terms of spends to 40 billion US dollars which is a new record. And my main gripe is I just don't think we're getting what we deserve. I think we're a 10% medium, and the reasons for that, the things that are holding us back and are really just a few things Rick but they're pretty fundamental and strangely, the first one is mentality. I think we're very slow to move on from silo thinking and put more focus on sector and expansion instead. So, for example, currently TV, print and radio accounts for 30% of ADX but to a large extent, we still see them as our main competition sadly alongside other out of home players within our 5% silo. And that means we're not competing hard enough or smart enough with online media. Which is now taking a staggering 65% of global adspend. So, the fact is, we're just two fragmented in terms of multiple sales points, which makes out of home, complex to buy at scale and at speed.
Rick Robinson: Where do you think this mentality comes from This notion where because I would agree with you, I think we compete with ourselves much more than we need to. And we don't have this Common enemy, maybe, this other field that we can dive into. Why do you think we're that way? Why are we so inner focused?
Tom Goddard: A lot of our media owners Rick are, family owned businesses. They've been around for a long time and if you like clans. And, the whole concept of beating your neighbor is sort of in the DNA. so I think it's changing but it's not changing fast enough and certainly, we're not focusing enough on sector growth.
Rick Robinson: mm- are there other challenges in terms of our structure beyond mentality?
Tom Goddard: Of course the area that offers the biggest opportunity to consolidate is a tech and I think that's an area that really could move the needle for us and help us to compete much harder with online. and I'm not talking just in terms of programmatic, but also in terms of broader automation, capabilities, incorporating common standards in measurement and data. But the problem right now is, there are too many independent ad tech platforms out there and if you add to that the larger media, owners being convinced by IT departments that they should build and maintain their own platform. You end up, perpetuating the fragmentation dynamic, which is definitely in my view holding us back. So the answer is to create fewer but bigger share platforms that can deliver relevant audiences at speed with accuracy with common languages and that are fully accountable.
Rick Robinson: So speed and precision right, speed and precision needs to happen in order for us to compete on the bigger stage and enhance a new mentality, a thought for you on that question with the natural order of things, there's always consolidation in business, when you have a new arena, a lot of players come in, and then over time it consolidates, and kind of, a troopers of a feather, right? the commonality start to attract. Do you think we're heading that direction with that tech because that tech is relatively new to out a home media?
Tom Goddard: Yeah, I mean, in terms of consolidation of media owner level, it's accelerating but it's going to take a long time to get to the state of online media in terms of ad tech and, if you take JC Decaux’s ad platform which is view, it's Jason because of them, that's exactly moving in the right direction. That's the right concept. Creating a platform that can be scaled up and deliver a huge audiences and
Tom Goddard: But the problem with that is that because of the ownership structure there, it's not attracting, a third party, other media owners. So, what we need are, platforms to emerge. You who will be able to be shared by a big media owners and common language, common standards and…
Rick Robinson: Yeah.
Tom Goddard: accountability. And that will attract, a lot of the money that's going into online.
Rick Robinson: So when do you think that the big media company? It's not only the big media companies but the big agency, some of them. we'll just learn that they don't need to build it themselves. everybody thinks they can build their own software and I've been there and tried. And let me tell you, it is incredibly difficult, not just to build it but then maintain it. And we run into this at an organization, a Project X without strike, everyone thinks they can build their own that does everyone need to learn that lesson the hard way, or will there be a moment of awakening?
Tom Goddard: I think it's happening Rick, I think they're learning that the amount of sort of a wasted investment that's going into. Reinventing the wheel is staggering, all these capabilities are out there. what we're missing is just a commercial now's to share platforms to get into this area of common standards and one of the things is trust because a lot of media owners,
Tom Goddard: Were looking to share data about their inventory on third-party platforms, but that has to be overcome. And I think we are at a tipping point. You're dead, right? I think it's about to happen. And I do believe if we get into that sort of rhythm and beginning to that new way of thinking, we really will move that 5% syndrome upwards, and I do believe, we can be, knocking on the door of 10% within four or five years.
Rick Robinson: I am with There we are. Definitely a 10% medium or more. And just to the audience out there, you heard it here. What's going to get Past five percent is a new mentality, which I think we're on the brink of. I would agree with you to get away from siled, thinking to stop competing with ourselves and compete with the other media around us, the consolidation of ad tech, and creating more speed and precision of ease and access. And accountability is really what's going to get us there. Tom, thank you so much for your time. We'll definitely have you back again and take care of yourself there and sunny London.
Tom Goddard: Yeah, thanks, Rick. It's always great to see you.
