Outdoor Billboard Investment Articles

Part of owning a billboard is renting the advertising space. Even thought you only typically do it once per year, there’s no question that ad revenue is the life’s blood of making money with your billboard. And one of the most important goals of any billboard owner is to find the right advertiser and keep them on the sign year after year. So how does that work?

One of the key attributes to any billboard is how high it is up in the air. Next to size, that’s one of the biggest decision that a billboard owner must make. So how do you decide how tall to build a sign? Here are the items to consider.

Back in the 1920’s two bicycle repairmen named Foster and Kleiser created and tested the standard billboard sizes that we all use today. But even 100 years later, occasionally some individual tries to reinvent the wheel and brings out their own line of “custom” sign sizes, which typically proves to be disappointing. So why not be a billboard “pioneer”?

One of my favorite billboard case studies was the sign I purchased and brought back to life on Highway 75 near Plano, Texas. It’s a perfect example of what smart billboard deals look like and there are similar opportunities like this still available across America if you seek them out.

The U.S. economy is well known for its cycles, from boom to bust and back again. Two quarters of negative GDP growth is the definition of a recession, and America officially entered that zone just a few days ago. Having successfully guided 300 billboards through the horrific Texas depression of 1987 to 1991, I am pretty well qualified to talk about how to successfully rent billboards during recessions.

There are a lot of billboard options in America, ranging from giant steel monopoles to smaller 8-sheets mounted to walls, but there are a range of choices that cost $5,000 or less. These options include 1) wooden telephone pole units 2) vinyl wallscapes 3) 8-sheets on metal poles and 4) 8-sheets mounted to walls. There is no greater investment option based on rate of return than these billboards and, if not, I challenge you to let me know what that option is. So what type of rates of return should one expect?

Those who seek to build new billboards in the U.S. quickly learn the necessity of getting permits. Billboards are one of the final regulated industries in America, governed by the Highway Beautification Act from a half-century ago. As a result, selecting a fertile market often comes down to understanding the key components of a city ordinance and what the implications are, as well as to quickly cut loose those that have little promise. So how can you quickly size a market up?

The New Year is beginning. As the ball goes down on Times Square, you should be considering what you’re going to do differently in 2022. And if financial independence is important to you, then maybe this is the year you actually start considering building a billboard portfolio of assets.

Billboards are a unique part of American culture. And one of the reason for this are the timeless quality of an advertising form that is centuries old, dating back to the Egyptians.

You can’t watch television without being concerned about the future of America and, even more particularly, your finances. Relying on others is no longer a good plan. Living paycheck to paycheck – even if that check is a big one – is filled with stress. So how can you get ahead and derive financial security in today’s screwed up world? The answer for many is owning billboards.

When I first got into the billboard business I was always searching for areas that had plentiful billboard locations to examine. And then I found a small town in a very desirable area that only had one legal billboard location and I realized that having a complete monopoly was not a bad idea, either. I have learned that the tougher the billboard laws, the better for sign owners. Why is that?

When Lyndon Johnson enacted the Highway Beautification Act in 1965, he had to choose the limits of the area covered under the law. Since he assumed that billboards would need to be near the road, he selected all the land within roughly 660’ of the highway right-of-way as the “controlled area”. However, this was based on the typical sign sizes of that era. He underestimated the creativity of the billboard industry, and the U.S. has regretted it ever since.

Electricity was first made commercially available in 1879. Billboards – as we know them today – began in the 1920s, to there was never a moment when you could not illuminate a sign. However, the initial problem was how to do so effectively, as the early lights were not very good. Here’s a run down on the history of lighting billboard signs:

Not all billboards are created equal and some have some really big hurdles to get over in order to find a suitable advertiser. These hurdles can include poor visibility, low traffic count, bad demographics and other features that make them less than appealing to most advertisers. However, every sign has a logical user if you think hard enough. So how do you rent the “impossible” billboard?

One thing I learned from past recessions is that billboard revenues are extremely “elastic”. They can go up or down significantly based on how the economy is doing. Although there is typically a renter for every sign, what they will pay is all over the map and is derived from a number of factors. So what do you need to know about billboard elasticity and how to plan around it?

People have been making big money with billboard signs for over half-a-century. Owning a billboard – in many cities and towns – is like a license to make money. This significant stream of income has been used to build empires as well as college funds and cash for luxuries. So why do billboards so regularly make money?

We’ve all heard the old adage that once you learn to ride a bicycle you never forget it. Well, the this is also true with the entire “out-of-home” advertising industry. The skills from one segment of the industry are the same in the other sectors – it’s very efficient in that regard. So what are the skills that you need to know in order to start a billboard business?

Making money is the goal of building or buying a billboard sign. However, if you don’t know what you’re doing you can actually lose money instead of making it. So what are the top six ways to screw up your billboard investment and make it go from cash producing to cash losing?

Billboards have always been based on extremely long ground lease lengths – as long as 30 years or more. While that’s great for the billboard owner, it can sometimes be a challenge to explain to the property owner why they are so lengthy. So what are the explanations?

Industry veteran Mark Boidman recently stated that “the billboard audience is clearly back” and a “9% to 16% billboard income growth projection” should hold true for 2021. That’s a pretty bold outlook given the Covid-19 pandemic. So why is he so optimistic?

Billboard leases, while long-term, typically have an end date. This necessitates the billboard owner obtaining a renewal of the existence lease or forging a new lease altogether. So what are some solid tips to renewing your billboard and continuing your structure of paying ground rent to the land owner?

Billboards have very few management responsibilities. You build the sign once every 30 years or more, and you rent the ad space typically only once per year. So after that, you simply need to casually watch over the sign to make sure that 1) it has no storm damage and 2) the lights are working (if there are any). So how can you minimize that time obligation?

Most people start small and then think bigger over time. I’ve always found it better to think big and then work backwards to ascertain what you have to accomplish to get there. So here’s how that would work as far as building up a billboard portfolio to create a new income street.

Billboards can do many great things for your finances, but there’s one thing they can’t do: screw up your day job. There’s probably no easier solution to mixing a day job and a side hustle, for many reasons. So why are billboards not a threat to your day job?

As we approach election season, it’s important that billboard owners remember the old adage “never discuss sex, religion or politics” because it can be bad for your sign business. Political billboards can often lead to complications you had not anticipated, such as happened to this sign owner. So what are the rules on political advertisements?