Digital Billboard Boom

H O P P E R P E D I A ©
-Brian Hammons


June 14, 2010: 6,970 hits



Nationwide, there are an estimated 450,000 billboard faces. In 2010 only a tiny fraction of the overall total is digital. Yet this small subset of billboard inventory offers new remarkable advantages, giving advertisers and communities unmatched versatility and flexibility in reaching wide audiences.

Advertisers can change their messages quickly, including multiple times in one day. For example, a restaurant can feature breakfast specials in the morning and dinner specials in the evening. A Realtor can feature individual houses for sale and change the creative content when the house sells. Print and broadcast news media use digital billboards to deliver headlines, weather updates, and programming information.

A Widely Accepted Medium

Media research firms have surveyed public opinion about digital billboards. Findings; most commuters feel that digital billboards are a cool way to advertise and also provide an important community service.

Highly Effective

Digital billboards are proving to be a boon for advertisers, particularly local advertisers. The vast majority of all advertisers on billboards (77.1%) are locally owned businesses, marketing to their friends and neighbors within a community. Because they can be updated instantaneously via computer, digital billboards give advertisers an unparalleled ability in media to reach a mass audience quickly and cost effectively.

Nearly one in five viewers discussed an ad seen on a digital billboard with other people. Studies have found that 83 percent of all respondents can recall at least one advertisement on a digital billboard. Across the country, media outlets are heavy users of digital billboards as a way to increase brand recognition for newspapers and television stations.