Format comparison
The difference is not the technology, it is exclusivity
A traditional billboard is yours 24 hours a day for the month you booked. An LED screen is shared with other advertisers in rotation, and what you buy is a share of the time. Almost every other difference — price, production, flexibility — follows from that one.
Head to head
What you get with each format
Traditional billboard (static)
- Exclusive presence 24 hours throughout the period
- Requires producing and installing a physical vinyl
- Changing the message means producing again
- Usually better for long brand campaigns
- Illuminated or not: changes price and useful hours
LED screen (digital)
- You share the face in rotation with other advertisers
- No vinyl: artwork is a file, uploaded and done
- You can change the message mid-campaign
- Works at night with no separate lighting cost
- Better for dated promotions or rotating messages
How to decide
Three questions that settle the choice
Does your message change?
If you will rotate promotions, dates or products during the campaign, LED saves you producing a vinyl per change. If the message is a single one for three months, that advantage is worthless to you.
Do you need exclusivity?
On an LED your brand appears for seconds of each cycle and may share the face with a competitor. If that is unacceptable for your category, the static billboard is the answer and there is nothing more to discuss.
How do you compare prices?
Do not compare the flat monthly price. On LED, ask how many seconds of each cycle are yours and how many advertisers rotate: without that figure, two numbers that look alike are not.
Common questions
What to ask the operator
- How many advertisers rotate on an LED screen?
- It varies by operator and by screen, and it is the question that most changes the value of what you buy. Ask for the number of advertisers in the cycle and your spot duration: with that you can compute how much real time is yours per month.
- Is an LED screen always more expensive?
- Not necessarily, which is why a direct comparison misleads. You are buying different things: full exclusivity in one, a fraction of time in the other. Compare cost per effective time, not list price against list price.
- What artwork spec does an LED need?
- Each screen has its own resolution and file format, and they are not interchangeable between operators. Ask for it before producing artwork: redoing a piece because it fails the spec is the most common and most avoidable delay.
Still undecided?
Tell us your objective and dates and we will quote both formats in the same table, so you compare with numbers instead of impressions.