“Roadside billboards could soon be consigned to history after one of the worlds biggest media owners pulled spending on hundreds of giant posters in Britain”, says an inflammatory and inaccurate first sentence of an article last Sunday in London’s  The Times.  The Drum was more modulated: “Clear Channel turns its back on 800 UK billboards as digital screen drive continues.”

The story behind the story is this.  Clear Channel has decided to unwind 800 uneconomical land leases on static billboards in the United Kingdom as part of a continued emphasis on digital advertising which now accounts for more than half of all outdoor advertising in the UK.

Insider’s take:

• The article confuses Clear Channel Outdoor’s push to digital with a permanent decline in the static billboard business.  Insider hears nothing from his own static advertisers or other outdoor operators which suggests demand for static billboards is declining.  The US revenue numbers don’t bear this out either.  Take a look at today’s Insider post on Magna’s forecast for US outdoor revenues.

• The number of static billboards may decline over the next ten years but the decline will be due to takedown ratios which regulatory bodies impose as a condition of issuing new digital sign permits, not based on a lack of demand for static billboards.  Take down 2-4 static as a condition of installing a new digital billboard and the number of static boards will decline.

• If I was a Clear Channel Outdoor creditor I might be upset that Clear Channel didn’t try to sell the leases to raise money to pay down debt.  Hard to believe that there’s no value in 800 outdoor advertising leases.

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