Digital billboards under attack

Of the 450,000 billboards across the American landscape, a mere 500 are full-color digital signs, capable of changing their message every few seconds. But that number is projected to rise into the thousands in the next 10 years, which has legislators and safety advocates concerned.

In January, the city of Eagan, Minn. placed a temporary moratorium on digital billboards; a few weeks later, Des Moines, Iowa followed suit, saying the "impact of electronic digital and video signs on aesthetics, land use values and highway safety was not considered" when the city's zoning ordinance was drawn up.

There are currently 43 states that allow digital billboards, but the coming months will likely see a swarm of debate, research and legislative activity. Public worry over distracted drivers is nothing new; five U.S. states currently ban cell phone use while driving, and another 15 have partial restrictions in place. That same worry will impact the future of digital technology in outdoor advertising.

"Drive down a road with an electronic billboard on it and you'll know right away that they attract attention," said Bill Gerba, president of WireSpring Technologies. He frequently travels a stretch of I-95 near the Ft. Lauderdale Airport where "the electronic billboard is so bright compared to everything else around, especially at night, that it's impossible not to notice."

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Safety concerns

Digital billboards represent a small fraction of the market; the Outdoor Advertising Association of America estimates there are currently 500 of them, but projects that number to increase to 4,000 in the next 10 years. The three largest outdoor advertising companies in America — Clear Channel Outdoor, CBS Outdoor and Lamar Advertising — are all experimenting with digital, to varying degrees.

Digital billboards are an accepted part of the landscape in places like Times Square and Las Vegas, but they are beginning to pop up elsewhere – and that has safety advocates concerned.

The Federal Highway Administration recently commissioned a study on what digital billboards mean to driver safety. The federal government also committed $150,000 to study the issue.

John McDermot, analyst with technology consultancy Accuvia, said digital billboards will present risks and safety hazards, especially initially. "They are not an everyday occurrence for most drivers," he said. "I believe legislation will eventually strike a balance and dictate a correlation between video and traffic speed."

The burden, it seems, will fall on ad agencies and content creators: They are going to have to resist the urge to pull out every flashy tool in their bag of tricks. They will also have to take new factors into account at the design stage, like brightness control and how it interacts with day-parting.

"When the screen (on I-95) is displaying something with a lot of white or light colors at nighttime, my pupils constrict to the point where I do have to slow down and let my eyes adjust," Gerba said.

Even so, Bill Collins, research analyst and president of Decision Point Media, points out that advertising by its very nature aims to capture the viewer's attention, and that the complaints being leveled against digital billboards are really nothing new.

"It's important to point out that in the past, many people have made unsupported claims that billboards in general are a traffic safety problem," he said. "However, to date, I am not aware of any reputable traffic safety experts that see billboards, in general, as being a major safety problem."

Enhanced revenue, public safety possibilities

The billboard industry has been starving for innovation for years. Federal and local regulations make it difficult to put up new billboards; the challenge then becomes squeezing more revenue out of existing ones.

Digital billboards seem to do that very well. Tracy Libertino, analyst with Accuvia Consulting, said 94 percent of people who saw a moving billboard recalled the product being advertised, versus 43 percent for traditional billboards. That led to a sales increase of 107 percent for products shown on moving billboards, versus 54 percent for static ones.

They also open the door for a larger number of ad sales. Typically, ads on a digital billboard are sold in 8-second increments. Sales executives can offer targeted packages that deliver content to boards in strategically chosen locations at strategically chosen times of the day — an impossibility with paper signs.

They can charge more, as well. Libertino said the average cost per thousand impressions on a traditional billboard is around $2; the CPM for a digital billboard can be almost 20 times as much.

And then there is the very real public safety benefit, which has already proven to be priceless. On Feb. 12, a 14-year-old Minnesota girl went missing. Several digital billboards in the area ran a multimedia Amber Alert; the girl was found the very next day.

In Huntsville, Ala., police recently commenced a manhunt for a registered sex offender. Lamar Advertising Co. put together artwork that resembled the suspect, ran it by the local Crimestoppers organization for approval, and put it on the regional billboard network at 5:00 P.M. At 9:45 P.M., the suspect was captured.