The days of static adverts on billboards are coming to an end, with one business chief suggesting that the UAE needs to make a change in its outdoor advertising opportunities if it wants to keep up.

Speaking to Gulf News, Martin Sabbagh, CEO of Middle East operations at JCDecaux, explained that the country’s outdoor advertising industry needs to start introducing more digital signage if it is to continue to win a share of companies’ advertising spend.

“The ad spend is all one pie and all of us are targeting the same channels and the same clientele but with a different angle,” he explained. That means that as consumers become more and more enamoured with digital advertising, the amount spent in places like Facebook and Google could climb at the expense of other, more conventional advertising areas.

That means the outdoor ad companies need to have a digital transition strategy for Dubai and the other emirates to ensure they’re not left behind.

Mr Sabbagh stressed that the key is to innovate and start taking out of home (OOH) advertising more seriously.

“The outdoor ad industry in this country needs to start thinking digital. Or it will end up jeopardising their current market share,” he concluded.

Last month, Jen Smith, global creative director at Maxus, told The Drum about some of the top trends in OOH advertising, suggesting that the use of data to inform campaigns is one of the big ones to watch.

She explained that those working in the industry are “excited” about how data can feed into their OOH posters.