Technology Attracts Billboard Advertisers Back
There are
450,000 traditional billboards across the nation according to the
Outdoor Advertising Association of America. Although there are only
500 digital billboards on U.S. roads, these digital billboards,
resembling ballpark jumbo video displays that scroll through several
static ads each minute, are helping to draw advertisers back to the
outdoor medium.
(The
computer-controlled LED displays, unlike their vinyl predecessors,
allow advertisers to change their message as often as they would
like. The initial cost of these giant screens are $300,000 to
$500,000, as opposed to $80,000 and $100,000 for a typical steel
billboard structure.)
Because digital
billboards offer many new opportunities, including the ability for
firms to use space in a time-share arrangement as well as opening up
high-profile locations to more advertisers, they are the cutting
edge of the future for outdoor media.
For example,
the same billboard could offer a Starbucks ad during the morning
commute, movie listings from the local theater complex during the
ride home, and a late-night entertainment venue after the dinner
hour.
It won�t be
long before interactive billboards will entice commuters to download
information to their cell phones.