To help provide a picture of people's return to the broader OOH space, Posterscope has collaborated with our mobile data partner Three UK, to analyse every postcode sector up and down the country. Last week’s mobility index was 66.9 up from 65.7 the previous week, versus the pre-Covid baseline of 100
1. Last Week’s UK Mobility Index (w/c 25th
May 2020)
Last week’s (w/e 25th May) Mobility Index was 66.9, up from 65.7 the previous week, versus the
pre-Covid baseline of 100, according to data from our mobile partner Three UK. So overall UK
mobility is just under 67% of 'normal' and increasing. Warm weather and people taking longer trips
outside of their neighbourhood seem to have been the underlying causes of the continued increase
in movement. Over the last few weeks, we have seen people increasingly gravitating to areas with
open, green space outside of city-centres due to the weather but we have also seen trips taken
longer than 2km steadily creep up from an index of 69 in April to 85 last week. People had been very
centred on their local neighbourhood but are increasingly venturing further than their home locale.
Overall, in the UK hardly any postal sector saw a decrease in terms of movement last week.
Movement in city centre areas focussed on retail & leisure (Bullring in Birmingham, London's West
End etc.) or area of industry (Canary Wharf etc.) have remained understandably low. However, some
increases in movement have even been seen in the last week in these areas e.g. the Central Retail
District in Manchester was up around 3% week on week) albeit at around 30% of normal movement.
This could however be further evidence of people travelling further, seeking alternatives to laps of
the park, rather than them seeking lockdown retail therapy.
Where city centre movement has remained subdued, we have seen steady gains boost some areas
to near normal amounts of movement. Within Greater London, Wood Green, Croydon, Colindale
and Neasden have some pockets at above normal levels which seem to concentrate around green
spaces. Elsewhere, Bristol seems the most 'normal' major city, in terms of movement overall scoring
just shy of 59% of normal movement. Whilst many more OOH impacts would usually be available in
more central urban areas, we estimate a less central London area, like Wood Green, still offered
2. almost 2 million DOOH impacts on roadside Digital 6 sheets alone last week. Similar could be said for
impacts in Bristol as a whole. Moreover, there is a unique context to each of those impacts as people
enjoyed the sun away from climbing up the walls at home, putting them in a more receptive mood
for comms.
Population movement has shifted from its normal; people are still OOH but not always in the areas
we were used to them frequenting. We are using the best and most recent data and tools to
understand where audiences can be found and why, as we adapt to shifting patterns of movement.
In doing so we hope to reveal valuable opportunities for advertisers to reach their target audiences
via OOH.
With schools and other parts of the UK opening from this week we expect more significant shifts in
the mobility index to be revealed in next week's data and as a result, more opportunities to open up
for advertisers.
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