Clear Media in mainland China buying push for ad rights of failed firms

Outdoor advertising firm Clear Media is looking to aggressively acquire advertising locations as the rates for bus-shelter panels on the mainland drop and small advertising firms go out of business in the economic slowdown.

"If we look at some recent tender results, the bid prices of auctions are 30 per cent cheaper than they used to be," said Mark Thewlis, the executive chairman of Clear Media.

Thewlis said that as prices fell, the firm would continue to acquire advertising rights. "The prices are better for us now, it's a good time to buy."

In the first half of the year, Clear Media more than doubled its capital investment from the same time a year ago.

Li Guangdou, who heads a brand consultancy in Beijing, said in Zhejiang, where the density of outdoor advertising panels is the highest on the mainland, highway billboards were increasingly going blank and that other sectors of the advertising industry also had been affected.

"Outdoor advertising is not the worst hit sector, compared with television and print," Li said.