A digital billboard is a

billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

that displays

digital image A digital image is an image composed of picture elements, also known as pixels, each with '' finite'', '' discrete quantities'' of numeric representation for its intensity or gray level that is an output from its two-dimensional functions f ...

s that are changed by a computer every few seconds. Digital billboards are primarily used for

advertising Advertising is the practice and techniques employed to bring attention to a Product (business), product or Service (economics), service. Advertising aims to present a product or service in terms of utility, advantages, and qualities of int ...

, but they can also serve

public service A public service or service of general (economic) interest is any service intended to address the needs of aggregate members of a community, whether provided directly by a public sector agency, via public financing available to private busin ...

purposes. These are positioned on highly visible, heavy traffic locations such as expressways and major roadways.

History

The first proper billboards were invented in the 1830s by Jared Bell in America, who wanted to advertise a circus and so put up a large and colourful billboard in 1835. P.T. Barnum saw the benefits of this advertising medium, and also followed suit. In 2005, the first digital billboards were installed.At present, it has been widely used in 3D LED billboards and naked eye 3D advertising systems.

Safety concerns

There have been concerns regarding

road safety Road traffic safety refers to the methods and measures, such as traffic calming, to prevent road users from being killed or seriously injured. Typical road users include pedestrians, cyclists, Driving, motorists, passengers of vehicles, and p ...

when digital billboards are present. The

Federal Highway Administration The Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) is a division of the United States Department of Transportation that specializes in highway transportation. The agency's major activities are grouped into two programs, the Federal-aid Highway Program a ...

(FHWA) conducted a study in 2001 to review the effects of electronic billboards (EBBs) on crash rates. According to the FHWA, it appeared that there was no effective technique or method appropriate for evaluating the safety effects of EBBs on driver attention or distraction at that time. More recent and extensive studies have affirmed the negative impact of digital billboards on driver attention. Today 46 states have passed laws permitting digital billboards, compared to approximately 33 in 2007. As of July 1, 2016, the OAAA reports that there are approximately 6,700 digital billboards installed in the U.S., and there are now over 1,000 localities allowing digital billboards.

References

[Krumina, Volberga, L., Ikaunieks, G., & Naumovs, L. (2021). The Development Of Brightness Evaluation Method For Digital Billboards. IOP Conference Series. Materials Science and Engineering, 1202(1), 12035–. https://doi.org/10.1088/1757-899X/1202/1/012035] Fortenberry Jr, J. L., Elrod, J. K., & McGoldrick, P. J. (2010). Is billboard advertising beneficial for healthcare organizations? An investigation of efficacy and acceptability to patients. Journal of Healthcare Management, 55(2). Billboards {{advertising-stub ar:لوحة رقمية