According to the latest figures from the Out of Home Advertising Association of America (OAAA), out-of-home (OOH) advertising revenue increased by 16.7 percent in 2021 compared to the year prior. And Magna found OOH was the second-fastest-growing ad channel in 2021, outperforming all media channels except digital.

OAAA’s 2021 OOH ad revenue report shows the surge translated into a total gain of $7.1 billion as digital OOH (DOOH) led overall growth with a 22.7 percent increase. Additionally, total OOH revenue in Q4 2021 experienced a 37.4 percent increase while DOOH grew 49.6 percent when compared to Q4 2020. These figures tell a story of overall growth and recovery the industry is expected to continue seeing into 2022 and beyond, found the report.

Last year, every top 10 industry product category surged as all but two experienced double-digit increases, including Local Services & Amusements, Retail and Media & Advertising, to name a few. Media & Advertising experienced the highest increase among the categories at 21.3 percent, while Local Services & Amusements—OOH’s largest category—represented more than 25 percent of total OOH spend with an increase of 20.9 percent.

The top ten OOH categories spent a total of $5.8 million in 2021—up from just over $5 million the year prior. Miscellaneous Services & Amusements spent 25.7 percent of total revenue in 2021 for a total of over $1.8 million. Retail spent 10.2 percent of total revenue for a total of over $722,000. And Media & Advertising spent 7.8 percent of total revenue for a total of over $552,000.

Ranked in order of OOH spend in 2021, the top three advertisers in 2021 were McDonald’s, Apple and Geico. Of the top 100 OOH advertisers, 79 percent increased their OOH spend from the year prior as 28 percent more than doubled their spend in 2021. Based on percentage increases, the top three companies were Credit Karma, Webull and Molson.

Additionally, of the top 100 OOH spenders in 2021 were technology or direct-to-consumer brands including Amazon, Apple and AT&T.

This progress and momentum in OOH is a welcome respite from reduced spend during and as a result of the pandemic. In 2019, OOH spend reached $8 billion before dropping to $6.7 billion in 2020 for a 16 percent decline, according to the OAAA.