VAST Expands New Zealand OOH Network Through Regional Reach and Programmatic Growth

VAST Billboards (VAST) is strengthening its position in New Zealand’s out-of-home advertising market by focusing on regional cities, suburban corridors and strategically selected locations rather than competing with larger operators purely on scale.

The Christchurch-based, New Zealand-owned company operates a mainly digital network of large-format billboards. Its portfolio covers Auckland and Christchurch as well as regional markets including Tauranga, Hamilton, Napier, Hastings, Taupo, Nelson, Blenheim, Timaru and Invercargill.

Gary Rosewarne, Head of Growth Strategy at VAST, said the company aims to complement existing media plans by reaching audiences that national campaigns may otherwise miss.

“We don’t believe VAST needs to be the whole plan,” Rosewarne said. “In Auckland, we can provide a complementary layer around established networks. In Christchurch, we have significant strength across suburban and arterial environments.”

This strategy influences how VAST selects, prices and packages its inventory. The company says it evaluates potential locations based on their ability to improve geographic coverage and provide advertisers with access to new audiences, rather than simply increasing its screen count.

VAST serves national advertising agencies and major brands while retaining a strong base of local businesses. Its network recorded significant growth during 2025, becoming a larger part of national media plans while continuing to support advertisers seeking local community reach.

The company also uses its own media network to test new campaign ideas. Its “Bill Is Bored” campaign used curiosity-led billboard messages to direct audiences online. A later campaign, “Win A Grand – Your Region, Your Voice,” invited New Zealanders to share the issues that mattered most in their communities.

The responses contributed to “Beyond the Big Three,” a research project examining the economic value, audience scale and advertising potential of New Zealand outside Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch.

VAST’s commercial performance and regional strategy helped it win Sales Team of the Year at the 2026 Beacon Awards, a leading event in New Zealand’s media industry. Rosewarne said the company’s revenue grew five times faster than the broader market in 2025.

“The story was bigger than the numbers,” he said. “We stopped thinking about ourselves as simply selling billboards and became much more focused on solving planning problems.”

Technology has become increasingly important as the network expands. VAST selected the Broadsign Platform to manage its digital inventory and support future programmatic digital out-of-home growth.

According to Rosewarne, Broadsign was chosen for its reliability, specialist OOH experience and connections with major programmatic trading platforms. Programmatic buying gives advertisers another way to access the VAST network and allows brands already purchasing online media through automated systems to add OOH more easily.

The development reflects a wider change across the global OOH industry. Digital screens, audience data and automated trading are making the medium more measurable and flexible. They are also helping OOH work more closely with social media, mobile and connected television campaigns.

VAST plans to continue expanding selectively, with an emphasis on strengthening its regional coverage, protecting its position in Christchurch and adding metropolitan sites that offer clear audience value. Its longer-term challenge will be to combine programmatic capabilities with the traditional strengths of OOH: prominent locations, simple creative messages, local relevance and visibility in the physical world.