Google's First Times Square Ad Will Be For Android

On Monday, Google launched the largest Android ad of all time, at 1535 Broadway, smack-dab in the middle of Times Square, New York City, aka the center of the universe. The ad is featured on the recently launched 25,000-foot-screen, which covers an entire city block and is powered by a Mitsubishi Electric large-scale display. The screen has a pixel density of 2,368 by 10,048, surpassing 4K display resolution by 15 million pixels. The screen is owned by Vornado Realty Trust and powered by Clear Channel.

Pedestrians will be able to use Google’s Androidify app on iOS and Android smartphones to create their own Android characters to display on the large screen from Monday afternoon to Tuesday. If you can’t make it to the popular location, you can submit your character to appear on the screen. If selected, the Mountain View, California-based company will send you an email of your character on the massive display.

Google will also use the billboard to display its new products and services, beginning with its Nexus tablets and handsets. It will also donate media space and time to a number of nonprofit charities, including Charity Water, DonorsChoose and GiveDirectly.

Google undoubtedly wants to reach the massive amount of people who travel through Times Square. The tourist attraction is the number one visited place worldwide, with an average of 360,000 pedestrian visitors a day and more than 131 million per year. Last month, more than 300,000 people traveled through the area.

The billboard space sits above the Marriott Marquis hotel and is operated by Clear Channel. The cost of advertising on the billboard hasn’t been revealed.