OOH Academy Commissions Audience Behaviour Study for Advertising Industry – THISDAYLIVE

Raheem Akingbolu

Nigeria’s Out-of-Home (OOH) advertising industry is set to enter a new era of data-driven planning and investment as OOH Academy Nigeria has officially commissioned an  extensive nationwide audience behaviour and consumer penetration study aimed at providing the sector with credible, independent, and actionable market intelligence.

The initiative, titled the Nigeria OOH Advertising Consumer Penetration and Audience Behaviour Study, was formally unveiled recently at a press conference in Lagos, bringing together leading stakeholders from across the advertising, media, research, and outdoor advertising ecosystem. The study, which is being conducted by Research Brooks Limited in collaboration with TMKG Consulting and supported by key industry stakeholders, is widely seen as one of the most ambitious independent research projects ever undertaken within Nigeria’s Out-of-Home advertising sector.

Speaking during the commissioning ceremony, Founder of OOH Academy Nigeria and Convener of the Location Marketing (LOMA) Conference and Awards, Kingsley Onwukeme, described the project as a transformational intervention designed to address one of the industry’s biggest challenges which is the absence of comprehensive audience measurement and consumer intelligence.

According to him, despite the growing importance of Out-of-Home advertising within Nigeria’s integrated marketing communications landscape, the industry has operated for years without an independent and comprehensive study focused on audience penetration, consumer engagement, movement patterns, media effectiveness, and broader market realities.

“For over a decade, since I personally joined this industry, there has not been any comprehensive independent study of this nature focused on understanding OOH audience penetration, consumer engagement, movement patterns, audience behaviour, and industry market realities in Nigeria,” Onwukeme said.

He noted that an industry as visible and influential as Out-of-Home advertising can no longer depend on assumptions, fragmented information, or broad estimates when making strategic decisions. According to him, the rapid evolution of consumer behaviour, advancements in technology, urbanisation, and the emergence of smarter and more connected cities have made reliable audience intelligence indispensable for the future growth of the sector.

“The media landscape is evolving rapidly. Consumer attention is changing. Technology is transforming audience engagement. Cities are becoming smarter and more connected. Therefore, the OOH industry itself must evolve through knowledge, intelligence, and credible data,” he stated.

The study is expected to generate critical insights into audience mobility patterns, media consumption habits, visibility and effectiveness of outdoor advertising assets, consumer interaction with outdoor campaigns, market intelligence, industry spending trends, and emerging opportunities that will shape the future of location-based marketing in Nigeria.

Beyond the immediate study, Onwukeme revealed that the initiative is designed to become an annual industry benchmark publication under a broader continental platform known as ‘LOMA Outlook: The State of Out-of-Home and Location Marketing in Africa’. He explained that the long-term objective is to create a credible body of knowledge that tracks the growth, challenges, opportunities, and transformation of the OOH industry over time, thereby enabling stakeholders to make informed decisions based on evidence rather than assumptions.

“Our goal is simple: to help build a more transparent, credible, measurable, and trusted OOH industry driven by facts, research, and intelligence,” he said.

Onwukeme also used the occasion to acknowledge the support of several international partners whose involvement reflects growing global confidence in Africa’s outdoor advertising industry. Among them are Singapore-based Moving Walls; Polygon, a South African screen network aggregator and programmatic Digital Out-of-Home (DOOH) specialist; and Absen, one of the world’s leading LED display technology manufacturers.

According to him, the participation of these organisations demonstrates increasing international interest in Africa’s rapidly evolving OOH sector and reinforces the strategic relevance of the LOMA platform as a vehicle for industry advancement.

Providing details on the methodology for the study, Chief Executive Officer and Lead Principal Investigator at Research Brooks Limited, Jonathan Kalu, explained that the research has been carefully designed to meet global standards of credibility, objectivity, and methodological rigour.

 Kalu said  the project will cover 12 strategically selected cities across Nigeria, representing different geopolitical and commercial centres. The cities include Lagos, Ibadan, Benin, Asaba, Onitsha, Enugu, Aba, Port Harcourt, Abuja, Kano, Kaduna, and Sokoto. He noted that the geographical spread was deliberately chosen to ensure national representation and to capture the diversity of consumer experiences, movement patterns, and media interactions across the country. Kalu disclosed that the research will focus on socio-economic classes A to D, using indicators such as household assets, purchasing power, and living standards to ensure balanced representation across demographic groups.

To further guarantee transparency and professional oversight, an independent committee of respected industry experts has been constituted to supervise the research process.The committee is chaired by Emmanuel Adediran, Business Unit Lead at Plus Acuity and a respected media strategist. Other members include Ikechukwu Ogbonna, former Head of Consumer Research at Dentsu Nigeria and former Kantar executive, as well as Felix Ehikhuemen, former Outdoor Advertising Association of Nigeria (OAAN) executive and founding member of the African OOH Congress.

Speaking on behalf of the committee, Adediran described the study as a crucial investment in the future competitiveness of Nigeria’s Out-of-Home sector. He observed that while the industry has demonstrated resilience and sustained growth over the years, the absence of a unified audience measurement framework has limited its ability to attract greater investments from advertisers and agencies.

According to him, the availability of credible audience data will significantly improve confidence among brands, media buyers, investors, and other stakeholders. “Once the report and its insights become available, brands and businesses will be more willing to invest in the sector because measurable data makes investment easier to justify,” Adediran said.

Ehikhuemen echoed similar sentiments, stressing that the future of advertising globally is increasingly dependent on measurable outcomes, audience intelligence, and technology-driven decision-making.He called on stakeholders across the industry to embrace the findings and ensure that the study translates into practical reforms capable of strengthening the sector.

TMKG Consulting, which brings more than two decades of experience in media monitoring, OOH auditing, and market intelligence, also pledged its support by making available relevant datasets that could enrich the research process and enhance the quality of the final report.

The final report is expected to be officially unveiled at the fourth edition of the LOMA Conference and Awards scheduled for September 2026, where copies will be distributed to industry stakeholders to guide planning, policy formulation, media investment decisions, and future market development.