Out of Home - May/June 2014 - 23

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be in the $200,000 range," says Jeremy Johnson,
sales manager for Brookings, S.d.-based daktronics.
"and, that's per face."
Whether that new digital sign needs to be
two-faced depends on the lease and the zoning,
but Paul Wright, president of SignValue Inc., a
billboard appraisal service in Mesa, ariz., says it
only makes sense to go with the most sign that
conditions allow.
Wright adds that he has seen digital posters
offered for as little as $50,000 per face, with a more
common price range of $75,000-$85,000.
"However, this is not the kind of an investment
where you want to skimp on price and sacrifice
quality," he says. "Particularly if it's an off-premise
sign where you're going to go to advertisers and
convince them that they should advertise on that
sign, they want the highest resolution possible and
the clearest copy. "
By comparison, the cost to build or replace
a static board on a steel monopole is going to
generally run in the five-figure range, with the
highest prices reserved for boards that require
extra-tall structures.
"assuming you don't have unusual soil issues,
a 14' X 48' back-to-back would be about $75,000,
end-to-end," says Chris Stark, president of
Indianapolis-based billboard-financing company
Stark Capital Solutions. "that includes the costs

23 | out of home magazine | may | june 2014

of the steel, the installation, and hooking it up to
electricity."
the bottom line, from Stark's perspective, is
that the same 14' X 48' digital board is going to run
anywhere from four to five times more initially than
the static one.
Apples... and Filet Mignon
once that board is standing tall, the expenses don't
just go away. and, just as it will cost more to put that
digital board up and get it running, the on-going
costs are a little higher, too.
Certainly one of those costs is electricity. dave
Westburg, a partner in kirkland, Wash.-based Billboard
loans llC, estimates electric costs on a digital board
will run at least 50% higher... and likely more.
However, there is some good news with that part
of the equation. daktronics' Johnson says that today's
digital faces are about 70% more-efficient than older
boards.
"Not that long ago - eight or nine years - if a
company brought in a digital display they would
almost always have to bring more power to the
location," Johnson says. "they would have to bring in
200-amp service. Now displays can run on less than
100-amp service, and generally a 60-amp service is
sufficient."
another important monthly cost to consider is
insurance. the simple fact that a static monopole

"Initially, some people were so
anxious to get the digital boards up
that they deployed them in areas
where the demand didn't support
it, but folks have gotten smarter
about it."
-- Chris Stark, Stark Capital Solutions

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