Advertising group Ocean Outdoor has secured a lucrative contract to operate out-of-home media services for Canary Wharf Group.

London-listed Ocean has renewed its deal to run digital screens and billboards in the financial hub, landing a new long-term contract worth £30m.

The agreement means the company will retain exclusive rights to sell 40 full-motion digital screens and one large format full-motion screen.

It replaces a previous sales and marketing arrangement with an agent of Canary Wharf Group awarded in January last year.

Ocean runs major London sites including Piccadilly Lights and has operated the large Reuters screen just outside Canary Wharf Tube station for more than 10 years. The company is also planning to expand its services with the arrival of Crossrail services in 2022.

Out-of-home has been one of the hardest hit digital advertising sectors, with Covid lockdowns decimating footfall in city centres and on public transport.

But Ocean will be hoping to capitalise on the gradual return to the office. Canary Wharf, which boasts 16.5m square feet of prime retail, office, residential and leisure space, is considered one of Europe’s most prestigious outdoor advertising locations.

“This new contract is an important win which reaffirms Ocean’s partnership with a renowned global destination and our ability to offer clients a seamless, premium network right across London,” said chief executive Tim Bleakley.

“Canary Wharf is iconic, unique and its out of home audiences are peerless. Bringing the DOOH channel together under a single operator allows us to expand on the work already underway and double down on those efforts as we move forwards towards recovery and out of the pandemic.”