Driving activity up 9%
[3 July 2020] Traffic volumes increased once again, despite no further changes to the recovery pathway from the NI Executive taking effect in the previous 7 days. Today [Friday 3 July] hotels, bars and restaurants will reopen, a key date for the recovery of the hospitality industry in NI and we anticipate further growth in traffic volumes in coming days.
With audiences regularly peaking above the baseline norm, if you haven’t already done so, consider your marketing strategy for the remainder of the year. While we don’t know what lies ahead, having come through lockdown once, there’ll be less fear of the unknown if the worst happens and we go back to that stage. If we remain free to move as we wish, the summer and autumn months will be key times for traders who need to claw back the income they missed during prolonged closure.
Now is the time to lock in the value in a resurgent OOH market. Availabilities are already becoming restricted, and long before Coronavirus was a concern, we saw a reduction in plant with demand frequently outstripping supply of 48 and 96 Sheet posters.
Driving activity up 9%
Until 30th June, we saw driving activity reach 110% of the pre-covid baseline norm, with the weekly average at 109%. This is an increase of 9% on the previous week, further reinforcing our message that audiences are once again, out of their homes and consuming media.
Average pedestrian activity in retail and recreation areas is at 58% of the baseline, a rise of 3% from the previous week. Grocery and pharmacy locations see 90% of their normal footfall, a small decline of 1% from the previous week.
The weekly average footfall in parks and beaches remains high, at 104% of the norm, falling by 6% on last week’s data. The population is increasingly returning to work, combined with slightly unfavourable weather conditions, which may explain the reduction. As the school summer holidays begin in earnest, we would expect footfall to remain high in these locations for coming months.
