How Unique Is Times Square's New Billboard? A Look At Global Outdoor Advertising

The spotlight is on Times Square this week, even more so than usual, as tonight is the unveiling of the most expensive billboard on the continent. Contemporary art company Universal Everything has created a video for the occasion. Google leases the eight-story-high advertising tract later this month.

It’s hard to imagine digital billboards have only been around since 2005, as much of a fixture as they seem to be in the cityscape of modern urban life. This new billboard is “one of the most expensive pieces of outdoor ad real estate” -- but is Times Square really that much glitzier than the infamous neon streets of say Tokyo or Hong Kong?

Out-of-home (OOH) advertising is advertising, like billboards, that is seen in a public place. There's no comprehensive list of cities with the most billboards, but Outdoor Advertising Association of America cites data by Magna Global to say the United States is expected to lead in OOH advertising revenue in 2014 (revenue being money spent by advertisers to purchase OOH media space).

1. United States-- $7.194 billion
2. Japan-- $5.444 billion
3. China-- $2.913 billion
4. France-- $1.667 billion
5. Russia-- $1.473 billion

In terms of “consumer exposure” to these ads seen on the go, the U.S. ranks fourth behind Australia, the U.K., and Canada. That's the rate of people actually seeing the ads.

So why don’t heavily populated cities like Shanghai

bump their countries to a higher rate of exposure? “While China is the second-largest digital out-of-home market by revenues, it features wide swaths of land where digital and wireless technology can’t be deployed,” Screen Media Daily explains.

That said, Asia controls more of the international outdoor market share than any other region. Here are Magna Global's 2014 projections for money spent on OOH ads by region.

1. Asia Pacific-- $1.322 trillion
2. Europe-- $9.409 billion
3. North America-- $7.860 billion
4. Latin America-- $2.056 billion
5. Middle East & Africa-- $1.039 billion

Digital formats, like the new Times Square billboard, are 10 percent of all OOH revenue, according to Magna Global, projecting this percentage will rise to 22 percent by 2019. And if you want definitive proof there's a little bit of Times Square in all of us, check out this replica created for VEGAS Crocus City shopping entertainment mall in Moscow.

Not all great cities aspire to the same digital display heights as New York. Despite France ranking fourth in OOH revenue, Paris -- 'The City of Light' -- banned oversized billboards from its center in 2011. The Minister for Ecology sought to limit billboards country-wide, particularly at the entrances to towns, hoping to lay the groundwork to regulate electronic billboards.

São Paulo, the 12th most populous city in the world, banned outdoor advertising in 2006. And Bergen -- the second most populous city in Norway -- has heavy restrictions on billboards.

The take away? Not everyone wants what Times Square is getting, but the global advertising market certainly isn't saying no.