TLDR
The South Australian Government is tendering 40 billboard sites on rail corridors, road reserves and other state land, and wants most of them digital. The winner will fund new screens, guarantee the state a minimum revenue share and hand the screens to the government when the contract ends, AdNews reports.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
What is on offer
South Australia's Department for Infrastructure and Transport (DIT) is looking for one or more out-of-home operators to run 40 billboard sites on rail corridors, road reserves and other state infrastructure, and wants most of them to be digital, AdNews reported from industry briefing slides.[1]
The portfolio has 53 display faces: 16 existing static sites with 24 faces, five existing digital sites, 12 large-format sites with 17 faces that are yet to be built, and seven digital portrait sites. The five digital sites, at Keswick, Lonsdale, Millswood, Oaklands Park and Port Adelaide, went live in 2018 and 2019. The contract is due to start in March 2027 and run for nine years, including a year for approvals and construction, with a two-year extension option.[1]
The state keeps the screens
DIT's stated aim is to "extract maximum revenue value for the State while ensuring transport safety". Bidders must forecast annual advertising sales for each site, offer DIT a percentage of them and guarantee a minimum payment of at least 70% of that share, paying whichever is greater. Operators fund screen replacements during the first nine years, but ownership passes to the government when the contract ends.[1]
Price carries 45% of the evaluation, methodology 25%, experience 15% and delivery risk and value 15%. A recent addendum dropped an industry participation plan that had been worth 15%. The winner must also commission structural reviews every two years, meet revised road safety rules on dwell times and brightness, and give free screen time for Reconciliation Week, NAIDOC Week and other First Nations events.[1]
The incumbent
oOh!media won a South Australian Government tender for 40 large-format billboards across metropolitan Adelaide in 2017.[2] "This is the biggest single contract of large format billboards in Adelaide," oOh!'s Noel Cook said when it retained the contract.[3] AdNews did not say whether the new tender covers the same sites.
SOURCES & CITATIONS
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James Dore is founder and editor of Prompt the Market and Strategy Director at Bushnote, a Sydney strategy, SEO and AI search agency. He has a background in strategy, media and financial services, and led consumer product marketing at MONEYME. He writes on AI search, answer engines, technology policy and media economics.
