Why are businesses betting so big on billboards? In a world where Instagram invents new ad formats seemingly every other week, you might expect billboard ads -- pieces of ad inventory that were during the Coolidge administration -- to be on the decline. But, in 2019 the billboard biz is the only major non-digital ad category that’s growing. That’s right: Billboards are BACK Tech companies such as Google, Netflix, and Alibaba are all investing in billboards. Over the next few years, the billboard industry is expected to shoot up from a $29B market to a $33B market. So... what led to this billboard renaissance? Highways are the only place consumers slow down It’s a paradox of the digital age: Digital devices are so pervasive that driving a car is one of the few times modern consumers aren’t looking at several screens simultaneously -- making billboards more attention-grabbing than most types of advertising. Plus, billboards give advertisers a lot of bang for their buck: Billboards cost an average of $5.22 for 1k impressions -- compared to $7.91 on Instagram or $17.67 on TV. But modern billboards don’t just feature the same Oldsmobile ads that used to target your Grandpa Joe -- they’re “smart” billboards that harness millions of mobile data points to target specific people based on real-time conditions like weather and traffic
It seems advertisers are off their game when measuring their metrics on electronic billboards: Flashing a message for a brief time before showing another one as a driver goes by reduces the quality of the impression. It takes time for the motorist to process the new message. Further, there is a considerable difference in time it takes a motorist to process information according to their age, with of course the younger motorists being the fastest processors of information. If a viewer is interested in the message, they would normally read it several times and then may decide to act on it. However, when the viewing time of a potentially interested viewer is cut short, the likelihood of action is reduced. In addition, there may be long term effects related to people increasingly not even to bother looking at the billboard, considering it to be noise. Nothing worse than someone changing your channel when you are not ready. Edit: I remember a study several years ago where advertising researchers tracked eye movements of viewers looking at a picture to see which was important to the viewer as implied by the amount of times their eyes returned to various parts of the picture.
I don't own a cell phone, so I can't access Instagram and wouldn't be interested even if I could. I hate facebook and only open an account when I need it, then delete it a few weeks later after it has served its purpose. Youtube and other sites keep force feeding me the same old tired ads they think I might have an interest in...but don't. And I switch the channel during commercials on television, which I almost never watch because I spend most of my time on the Web. So... if a business wants to reach EVERYONE nowadays, billboards are about as good a place to do so as anywhere else. Not to mention that it's the main way I become aware of local establishments. It's also how I end up looking into new television shows and movie releases that failed to come across my radar by any other means (though I end up watching few of them anyway).
Eventually, Billboards will become electronic and smart, where they can see the data through our cell phones or car navigation devices and serve ads accordingly. Google is not investing in "Billboards", they are buying real estate of Billboards.