What are electronic billboards?

Electronic billboards and electronic signs are used to deliver advertising and informational messages to people who are passing by the displays. Unlike LCD monitors used on laptops and smartphones, digital billboards use clusters of highly efficient, very bright light emitting diodes (LEDs) to display full-color imagery. Depending on regulatory and technical considerations, this content may be a series of static slides, a broadcast-quality video or animation sequence, or a combination of both.

How much do they cost?

While electronic billboards are dropping in price and becoming more common, they can still be relatively difficult to purchase and install. Numerous vendors supply similar but incompatible products at various price points, making it difficult to comparison shop. Most of the vendors are located in Asia, which means that lead times and shipping costs must be factored into the project plan and budget. And unlike indoor display projects, there are often important regulatory and zoning considerations that may impact the size and placement of outdoor electronic display networks, as some municipalities consider them to be a distraction to drivers.

Since you asked...

The best way to calculate the cost of an LED billboard is to use our online calculator below. However, one of our partners is clearing out a large amount of inventory for the end of the year, and has asked us to publish their pricing. If you're interested in purchasing one of the signs below, contact sales@wirespring.com for details.

Apparently a lot of other sign and billboard sizes are also available and in stock.

And of course as always you can use our LED billboard pricing calculator (which is going to look high compared to this) to figure out your needs, and ask us to have our suppliers formally quote it (which will bring the prices back down).

Again, anybody interested in purchasing one of the signs above should contact sales@wirespring.com for details.

To help make it easier to understand the different components and costs, WireSpring offers a convenient price estimator tool:

How do they work?

Today's electronic billboards are typically comprised of a series of self-contained modules that house LED lamps, wiring, and electronics in an aluminum or steel enclosure. Each module, which can be square or rectangular (typically 2-3 feet on a side), weighs around 100-150 lbs. So, a billboard comparable in size to a standard 14x48' roadside display will weigh several thousand pounds when installed.

In the past, LED-based electronic billboards were frequently custom-built to a customer's exact specifications. But the modular nature of today's LED billboard systems means that standard-sized modules can be pre-built ahead of time, kept in inventory, and then stacked together in different shapes and configurations to meet the specific requirements of a customer's billboard project. This standardized approach translates to lower costs and faster delivery times, and makes it easier for customers to choose the exact shape and size of their billboard.

How do you control the content?

As new display technologies continue to lower the cost and improve the visual impact of electronic billboards and signs, it is likely that these displays will begin to replace various types of static signs and billboards, both in roadside and other applications. Considering the geographically dispersed nature of most billboard deployments, an electronic billboard solution should include remote scheduling software that makes it easy to change content on one digital billboard, a group of billboards, or the entire network simultaneously.

WireSpring offers several solutions that are ideal for digital billboards. Our FireCast Digital Signage EasyStart system is a great place to start if you're planning to deploy a single billboard or a small network of them, while our FireCast ClientCenter Cloud platform is optimized for larger networks.

Where can you find more research about electronic billboards?

WireSpring contributes a sizable body of free research to the digital signage industry via our Digital Signage Insider blog. Here are some of the articles we've published that relate to digital billboards:

• Electronic billboard pros, cons and safety information
• Optimize your digital signage text size, comprehension and readability
• Visual clutter discussion puts content creators in the hot seat

Pricing examples