The promoters of the Tom Cruise film Oblivion spent about €100,000 on out-of-home advertising in the first quarter, according to figures from the Outdoor Media Association / Nielsen.

The outlay by Universal Ireland contributed to a 24 per cent rise in spending by the entertainment and media sector on outdoor formats in the first quarter.

Cruise and his co-star Olga Kurylenko visited Dublin for the Irish premiere of the science fiction movie on April 3rd, with the much-hyped promotional trip preceded by a campaign across transport formats, bus shelters and large-format billboards.

Various campaigns by studios Warner Bros and 20th Century Fox also pushed up the movie industry's outdoor spend during the period.

The overall out-of-home advertising market rose approximately 7 per cent in the first quarter, which outdoor media- buyer and planner Kinetic attributes to “a slight rejuvenation” for large formats, Easter and St Patrick’s Day spending by confectioners such as Mondelez (Cadbury) and advertisers choosing to run national rather than Dublin-only campaigns.

Market forecasts
Food, toiletries and household products giant Unilever was the top outdoor advertiser in the first quarter, spending €1.3 million, almost half of which – €600,000 – related to a campaign for HB ice-cream.

The figures are based on published rate card with a 20 per cent discount applied to reflect market conditions.

Out-of-home revenue growth has continued throughout the second quarter, but it hasn’t been quite as strong as the first.

"I would predict that, by the end of the first half, growth will probably still be 5-6 per cent," says Kinetic director Simon Durham.

Shorter lead times for ad bookings have made it more difficult to make market forecasts, however. “If you were asking me now what’s happening in August, I’d be looking at you with a blank face.”