Geopath Market Spotlight | Grand Rapids DMA
GeekOUT Fast Fact Friday

For this week’s spotlight, let’s take a look at a market home to one of the Midwest’s fastest-growing cities – the Grand Rapids DMA.

Did you know that Grand Rapids gets its name from the Grand River, which snakes its way through the city and across most of lower Michigan? However, the “rapids” themselves largely disappeared in the early 1900s, when dams and flood walls were installed to help with excess flooding. Efforts are underway to remove the aging dams and restore the rapids to their former glory.

Historically, Grand Rapids was a major center for furniture production, earning it the nickname “Furniture City”. In fact, the Grand River itself used to be a method of transport for logs being used in furniture production. Before the dams and flood walls were put up, logs would be sent down the river, making their way from the lakeshore to Grand Rapids.

According to Geopath Insights, there are more than 3,900 spots measured by Geopath within the Grand Rapids market, which generate over 356 million impressions each week! Additionally, this market has a population of 2.1 million, with 1/4 of all commuting trips within the DMA taking 30 minutes or more.

For more insights on the Grand Rapids DMA, please see our 2021 DMA infographic below.

Next, let’s look at who was spending in OOH within the DMA for January – June of 2021.

Looking at the top OOH Spenders in the Grand Rapids market, multiple casinos/betting groups appear in the list. Along with this, we also see multiple credit unions among those who spend heavily on OOH. Top national brands like McDonald’s and State Farm also appear here.

Geopath has compiled OOH advertising spend data for Q1 and Q2 of 2021 (January-June) sourced from Kantar for the DMA, as well infographics for this and all 200+ DMAs across the country. Both the OOH spending reports, and DMA Infographics can be accessed by Geopath members in our geekOUT Library. If you are not currently a Geopath member, please reach out to us on [email protected] to find out how you can access this information.