Billboard Advertising Costs: these are an essential feature of the advertisement industry. But, is the investment worth?
A Guide to Billboard Advertising Costs in Various U.S. States
Billboard advertising continues to be one of the most powerful forms of out-of-home (OOH) marketing, offering businesses the opportunity to reach a wide audience. However, the price of billboard ads can vary widely depending on the location, with factors like traffic volume, population density, and local market demand affecting the overall cost. In this blog, we’ll explore how billboard advertising costs fluctuate across different U.S. states, highlighting both high-expense and more cost-effective regions.
Georgia: Atlanta Leads in Billboard Costs
In Georgia, Atlanta stands out as the major market for billboard advertising. As a transportation hub and growing city, Atlanta’s traffic congestion and high population density drive billboard demand.
• Average Cost: Billboards in Atlanta typically range from $3,000 to $15,000 per month, depending on location. Billboards along Interstate 85 or near Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport can command higher rates due to the traffic volume.
• Suburban Areas: Smaller cities around Georgia, like Savannah or Augusta, have more affordable billboard rates, often ranging from $1,000 to $3,000 per month.
Why It’s Competitive: Atlanta is a major media market with heavy traffic, which guarantees high impressions. The city’s rapid growth and high tourism levels have made it a prime advertising spot for local businesses and national brand.
Washington: Seattle’s Premium Locations
In Washington, Seattle is the key market for billboard advertising. As a major tech hub with a large commuter population, Seattle’s highways and downtown areas have strong advertising demand.
• Average Cost: Billboard rates in Seattle range from $4,000 to $12,000 per month, with higher costs for prime areas near Pike Place Market or along I-5, the major north-south highway.
• Other Cities: Outside Seattle, places like Tacoma and Spokane offer more budget-friendly billboard costs, typically between $1,500 to $4,000 per month.
Why It’s Expensive: Seattle’s tech-driven economy and high levels of commuter traffic make it an ideal location for brands looking to reach tech-savvy professionals. The city’s heavy traffic congestion ensures that billboards in strategic areas get extended exposure.
Massachusetts: Boston’s High-Impact Locations
Boston, Massachusetts, is a key market for billboard advertising in the northeastern U.S., with premium ad spaces located along highways and near the city’s historic downtown.
• Average Cost: In Boston, billboards generally cost between $5,000 to $20,000 per month, with higher rates near Fenway Park, Downtown Crossing, or along I-93 and I-90 highways.
• Suburban Areas: Billboards in smaller Massachusetts cities like Worcester or Springfield are more affordable, often ranging from $1,500 to $4,000 per month.
Why It’s Expensive: As a major center for education and healthcare, Boston has a highly educated and affluent audience, making it a desirable market for advertisers. High traffic and tourism, especially during events like Red Sox games, further increase billboard visibility
Colorado: Denver’s Growing Market
• Denver is a booming city for billboard advertising, with the state’s population and economy growing rapidly. As a major outdoor recreation hub, it attracts a diverse range of advertisers.
• Average Cost: Billboards in Denver range from $2,000 to $10,000 per month, with higher costs for locations near Coors Field, Union Station, and along major highways like I-25.
• Other Cities: In smaller Colorado cities like Colorado Springs or Fort Collins, billboard rates can be significantly lower, typically from $1,000 to $3,000 per month.
• Why It’s Growing: Denver’s growing population and influx of new businesses make it a prime location for long-term billboard campaigns. Its position as a gateway to the Rockies also makes it a popular spot for travel and outdoor brand advertising.
How much does it cost to use a billboard in the US?
Along all major roads in the US, billboards are a common sight. What people do not realize is that billboard advertisement costs are not the same everywhere. For instance, businesses in Chicago, Illinois, pay an average of $5,481 per billboard. Within one month, billboards can earn up to 4.9 million impressions per week in Chicago, and about 19.8 million impressions per month. As such, businesses can expect to pay not less than $7 as the cost per thousand viewers, otherwise called cost per mile (CPM).
Still in Chicago, billboard advertising costs vary by the size and type of billboard. For instance, large billboards cost between $1,500 and $5,000 per ad for a single month. On the contrary, a medium billboard costs up to $3,000 per ad per month. However, digital billboards are the most expensive, where businesses pay up to $8,000 per ad per month. It is because they offer flexibility in terms of scheduling messages. Additionally, the messages rotate regularly such that the ad gets maximum exposure.
However, the cost of the billboards varies across states. In Washington DC, a large billboard costs between $14,500 and $45,000 per display for four weeks. Notably, the state is densely populated, which means the CPM is quite high.
Billboards are an expensive affair, especially for small businesses. Interestingly, there are numerous alternatives to spending upwards of $40,000 for four weeks on a billboard. For example, a business could buy a branded car to sell the brand across the country. Besides, such an amount will produce unimaginable impressions when using ambient marketing techniques.
Also, billboard advertising comes with extra costs like maintenance and design of the poster. For digital billboards, some ad agencies charge for graphic design and production of the ad. Interestingly, billboards do not guarantee a high return on interest (ROI). It is because advertisers cannot accurately target the target audience. Further, most of the drivers, who advertisers target, are often too busy avoiding accidents to notice billboards. As such, it could be a hard sell to claim that billboards generate high impression rates.
Advertisers will have to focus on Unusual Ad options
The after-effect of this development will be an unavoidable reduction in patronage for the billboard advertising companies. Billboard companies will eventually have to sit it out with the hope that they can still reclaim their market share in the end. However, smaller businesses and other brands that depend on their strategic displays to market their brands may not be so patient. Just as major clients like hoteliers, airlines, and cinemas are on pause mode, smaller brands are quickly pulling away and leveraging alternative media and in-home advertising to preach their brands.
Billboard companies may not only be counting their losses in billions of dollars, many of their customers might have moved on to embrace other more pocket-friendly advertising alternatives. These alternatives are indoor-directed, and have proven to be equally effective, perhaps even more effective than the conventional outdoor methods. Aside from the fact that they are more expensive, it is difficult to track engagement for out-of-home ads. In fact, small businesses face more challenges trying to get a marketing space in the highly competitive ad industry.
Door Hanger Marketing will Emerge as Hyper Targeted Advertising
Advertisers will have to find alternative channels to reach consumers and many already pivoted to In-Home Advertising. This model represents the new market trend in advertising as an alternative to traditional OOH advertising channels. New advertising methods as seen at Adzze, will effectively engineer the on-boarding of major businesses as many begin to see the tremendous benefit of in-home advertising.
