Out of Home - September/October 2014 - 27

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Pitch is a big deal, relative to price. While you
definitely want the highest-quality image for
your purchase dollar, there is a significant price
to be paid for excess pixels in locales with longer
viewing distances.
In Toronto, on the Gardner Expressway, there's a
perfect example of the importance of proper pitch
selection. Two different OOH companies have 14' by
48' bulletins within the same line of view on opposite
sides of the freeway. One display has 16mm pitch, the
other 20mm. Both are from the same manufacturer
and were installed within a year of one another.
Personally, I have passed the location at least 50 times
and cannot tell the difference between the products
from the freeway viewing distance.
The 20mm pitch display has 140,800 pixels; the
16mm display has 225,280. Sixty-percent more
pixels means 60% more purchase price. Even if the
manufacturer discounts the 16mm pitch option, the
cost of all other expenses, such as electrical power
and maintenance, are paid at a 60% premium.
DELIVERY TIME
Obviously, if you have a prime location and the
ability to pre-sell advertising on a digital billboard
before it's installed, delivery time becomes a
critical factor.
I've seen situations where ads have been
pre-sold for a location in excess of $35,000 per month.

27 | out of home magazine | september | october 2014

Buying Digital: A Cost Comparison
(Actual situation: one 14' by 48', 19mm-20mm, installed in the eastern United States
on an existing structure with 100 amps of primary power at the site)
Line Item

Company A

Company B

Company C

Display Price
Delivery
Installation
Primary Power*
5-Year Electrical
(based on 8 cents/
Kw hour)
Communication**

$146,000
$ 7,400
$ 19,000
$ 8,000
$ 48,000

$155,000
$ 2,000
$ 6,000
$ 8,000
$ 48,000

$165,000
$ 3,400
$ 9,000
no upgrade needed
$ 24,000

$ 1,000

included

Installed cost w/ electrical

$229,400

$220,000

$201,400

Physical dimension
Warranty/on-***
site service

14' by 48'

12'6" by 47'

14' by 48'

5 years parts/
5 years labor

5 years parts/
2 years labor

5 years parts/
1 year labor

*Companies A and B require 200 amp service. Company C requires 100 amps.
**Companies A and B require DSL line, at a hook-up charge of $1,000.
Company C includes a wireless modem at no charge.
***Impossible to calculate in advance, not knowing the labor rates or failure rates per manufacturer.
It is important to derive a mean time between failures for each manufacturer to determine the
actual cost of this line item.

billboard

Out of Home - September/October 2014

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