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Will Video Kill the Cable T.V. Star?
By Ashley Okonma
Like Hybrid cars and Obama banners, new and improved video billboards are popping up all over Southern California. However, with its newly acquired popularity what effect is it having on Cable Television?
Outdoor Advertising includes a myriad of ways to communicate messages to the public, from promotional displays to transit posters. Outdoor Advertising distributes advertisements targeting a massive general audience.
One of the more highly effective forms of Outdoor Advertising is billboards. Since technology has tremendously evolved over the years, so has the way billboards are presented.
Video Billboards also known as Electronic LED (light emitting diodes) Billboards have been around for a number of years as a form of outdoor displays. Las Vegas and New York City were pioneers on the video billboard bandwagon. Like most billboards, video billboards are strategically placed in cities for millions of consumers to see.
Wilshire, Pico, Sepulveda, and Centinela, are just a few of the major streets in Los Angeles with digital billboards. A majority of billboards are placed at high traffic areas in order to relay messages. With those many consumers traveling in those areas, the advertisements can effectively target ton s of people.
Advertisements began a long time ago, starting with print, and then making its way to radio. After the birth of television, advertisements soon made a smooth transition there. According to www.showbuzz.cbsnews.com, the average American watches about 4 hours and 35 minutes of television a day. With so much television being watched, advertisements are steadily being thrown into that mix.
Due to the continuous advan-cement of technology, video billboards are equipped with the ability to display a number of messages every eight to ten seconds. According to ClearChannel-Out-door.Com each LED billboard can show ten interconnected displays that run a continuous, 64 second loop of 8-second advertisements. Each segment runs 18 hours a day, with one advertisement being shown 7,910 times per week.
Because of the combination of size, color, and illumination video billboards are able to attract attention from hundreds of feet away. These special animated LED messages enable advertisers to send specific messages at a specific time to a specific audience.
Cable Television has been evolving in technology since its beginning. Using fiber optics to transmit broadband signals, this has helped merge cable television, computers and telephones. In 2001, cable systems were upgraded to create a hybrid fiber coaxial cable network, which enabled services like Video on Demand, High Definition Television (HDTV), High Speed Online access, Active Advertising and more according to TimeWarner-Cable.com. With such advanced technology on Cable Television, the sight, sound, and motion of it makes an intrusive and immediate impact on consumers.
Pricing for a regular billboard runs at a reasonable amount, however with the advanced technology that video billboards offer, they tend to be a bit pricy. Video billboards with LED's are rented by the minutes, with each ad being shown for eight seconds. Pricing for the video billboards can go as low as twelve hundred dollars for forty-eight minutes and up to fifty thousand dollars for six hundred and forty-eight minutes. At Clear Channel Outdoor they offer a package where each spot will deliver a minimum of one thousand and thirteen ads a day at ten locations for a four week period with a price of $97,500.
For Cable Television prices can range from ten dollars to $100,000 dollars and up. "It varies with each network, depending on if it's national or local, with local commercials being the cheapest and national being more expensive," says Denise Boyd, Account Executive at Time Warner Cable.
Video Billboard Advertising appears year-round, 24 hours a day, which means billboard advertisements will always have an audience. Because the video billboards are placed in high traffic congested areas that thousands of consumers pass by everyday, it would be highly beneficial for any company to use video billboards as an advertising resource. However, with many of the advantages that video billboards offer come its disadvantages.
Due to the rising fuel costs more consumers are purchasing fuel efficient vehicles and cutting back on driving. According to Jeff Rubin, Chief Economist at CIBC World Markets, he projected that $7.00 per gallon of gas could potentially remove ten million vehicles from roadways in the United States alone. Rubin also predicted that by 2012, the average miles driven will drop as much as fifteen-percent.
Video billboards are also up against laws that and residents that don't exactly welcome them. 24% of states prohibit moving or animated signs and most states prohibit flashing red lights and anything that causes a glare or vision impairment on a billboard according to Wire-Spring.com. Some critics also feel that billboards put landscapes at risks and create hazards on the roads. Signs are being banned in certain places now, until studies can fully determine the risks that video billboards may cause.
It is safe to say that video billboards will not be taking over television any time in the near or distant future. Video Billboards can actually get consumers to spend more time watching television, with its advanced advertisements. Video Billboards are simply another strategic way for advertisers to pull in more consumers and ultimately pull in more money. Out of 450,000 roadside billboards, 400 of them are digital billboards, and According to Technovelgy.com, Video Billboards will be in a $2 billion market by 2010. With all the rules and regulations that video billboards face, they still have a ways to go. However, you have to admit, it is cool to see people watching T.V. in the sky.