Airtasker joins forces with oOh!media in $6m media partnership

Airtasker is moving ahead with a $6m media partnership with oOh!media to ramp up investment and brand awareness across Australia.

The terms of the partnership provide Airtasker with $6m in oOh!media inventory in exchange for a 2-year $5m convertible note with a 5.8% coupon rate – listed as the Note.

At maturity, Airtasker has the option to convert the outstanding Note and coupon into ordinary shares at a 10% discount to Airtasker’s 30-trading day volume-weighted average share price or repay the outstanding Note and coupon in cash.

The partnership will enable Airtasker to scale in a capital-efficient way through access to oOh!media's over 35,000 sites across Australia including billboards, street furniture, airports, office towers and retail centres.

Commenting on the partnership, oOh!media’s chief strategy and transformation officer, Andrew Every said: “We’re thrilled to be partnering with Airtasker. This collaboration allows Airtasker to leverage the strength of our unrivalled network and sophisticated data techniques to support its mission of driving growth in their trusted community platform.”

In the quarter ending 31 March 2024, Airtasker reported positive free cash flow of $2.5m and $19.7m in cash and term deposits on the balance sheet with zero debt.

Airtasker CEO Tim Fung said the company was excited to be partnering with oOh!media in Australia and building on the momentum of their media partnership strategy.

"We believe outdoor media is incredibly impactful because of its unmissable nature in a media landscape which is becoming increasingly crowded," he said.

"Outdoor media also presents some incredibly exciting innovation opportunities for Airtasker with new digital formats and contextually relevant locations enabling us to reach Airtasker customers at the right time and place for when they need something done - like offering furniture assembly or tech installation services in key retail locations.

"We’ve already seen some incredible results with our $6.7m Channel 4 media partnership in the UK delivering 49% growth in posted tasks in the third quarter of FY24, after launching a little over 6 months ago - so we’re super excited to be building on that momentum with oOh!media in Australia!”

Off the back of the Airtasker partnership, oOh!media announced today it is launching a trial to assess the impact of reduced energy consumption across its large-format digital network.

oOh!media say the trial is part of an ongoing commitment to lead the Out of Home industry to a more sustainable future.

Beginning on 2 July, the first phase will see a blackout of 70 large format LED sites across Australia between 1am to 4am each day for a period of six months. It follows an initial month-long test at one of oOh!’s sites in Sydney’s inner west, which showed an estimated energy saving of 6% if the site was blacked out during these hours.

While oOh! is accelerating its move towards renewable energy, the company is also reducing power consumption by investing in LED technology, which enables sites to consume less power when blacked out.

oOh! will bring additional sites into the program over time, and money saved on electricity will be ploughed back into oOh!’s transition to renewable energy across the network.

MOVE 1.5 data shows a minimal audience reach of 1% to 2% between the hours of 1am and 4am and oOh! clients will be unable to book these trial sites during the power down hours.

Sarah Young, group director of environmental, social and governance (ESG) at oOh! said: “We are continually exploring ways to advance our sustainability agenda through innovation. This large format digital trial, the first of its scale for oOh!, will provide valuable insights and learnings on how we can transition the digital network to reduced and renewable power sources.

“This initiative is a key part of our broader ESG strategy and reinforces our commitment to creating a more sustainable business. We are excited to see the outcomes of this trial and its potential impacts.”