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Outdoor Advertising Association Cancels Trade Show

Despite the fact that out-of-home advertising is expected to weather the recession better than some other traditional forms of media, the Outdoor Advertising Association of America has canceled its trade show scheduled for May.

The association polled members to gauge support for the show and decided to hack it from the schedule, as members seemed to want to “get back to basics and focus on the core business,” Stephen Freitas, CMO for the OAAA, said (via Mediaweek). “This just wasn’t the time to be away from the office.”

Traditional out-of-home advertising companies have suffered hits, with the three largest in the country - Lamar, Clear Channel and CBS Outdoor - showing declines in revenue in the third quarter of 2008.

Lamar is expected to show a 9% drop in Q4 revenue and expects a 13% drop in Q1 09.

Forecasts vary for the coming year. BMO Capital Markets is predicting a 1.5% increase in 2009 with 4.2% growth to follow in 2010. PQ Media expects 3% growth next year. The Outdoor Advertising Association of America, after looking at trends for the past 30 years and noting that the industry tends to bounce back from decline in the third year of an economic slowdown, says a turnaround will come in 2010.