What's the best ad type to use, a commercial or a billboard?

Short answer

Billboards are best for continuous local brand visibility at a lower CPM, while commercials work better for storytelling, demographic targeting, and measurable direct response. Many businesses benefit from combining both: billboards for persistent awareness and commercials for targeted, conversion-focused campaigns.

What advertisers actually paid on AdQuick

For context, digital bulletins transact at roughly 5-12x the CPM of comparable static bulletins on the marketplace, depending on period and buying mix.

Static-format figures reflect all transactions on the AdQuick marketplace, including large multi-market volume buys.

Source: AdQuick marketplace transactions, July 2025 to June 2026. Figures are transacted prices, not rate cards; percentiles are shown as typical range (25th to 75th) around the median.

Cost and budget considerations

Billboard pricing depends on location, size, format, and rental duration. Static billboards typically run $750 to $2,500 per four weeks in mid-sized cities and $2,500 to $14,000 per month in major metro markets, with premium locations exceeding $20,000 per month. Additional production fees, installation, and ad taxes add roughly 10 to 20% to the base rental cost. In smaller or rural markets, rentals can start as low as $150 for a short run, making billboards accessible to small businesses. Digital billboards carry higher rental rates but eliminate printing and installation costs for creative changes.

Commercial advertising costs vary by ad length, time slot, program, and reach. Production alone, covering scriptwriting, filming, and editing, can exceed billboard production costs. Streaming and digital video often use CPM-based pricing, offering a more flexible entry point for smaller budgets, though overall spend can climb quickly when production and media costs combine.

Median billboard CPMs in some markets run as low as $2.74, with averages near $5.39, making billboards highly competitive on a cost-per-impression basis for local campaigns.

Reach, targeting, and measurement

Billboards reach commuters, drivers, and pedestrians repeatedly along predictable routes. Their targeting is location-based: you select sites near universities, business districts, or high-traffic corridors to reach the audiences concentrated there. Measurement relies on estimated impressions and reach rather than direct conversion tracking. In one Texas market, the average impressions per billboard were approximately 642,000 per period, with a median of roughly 359,000.

Commercials can reach national or regional audiences and support granular targeting by age, interests, behaviors, and geography. Digital video ads allow real-time optimization and direct tracking of views, clicks, and conversions, making ROI calculation far more precise. The tradeoff is that ads can be skipped or ignored, especially on digital platforms, whereas a billboard cannot be closed or fast-forwarded.

ROI and what each format does best

Billboard ROI concentrates in brand awareness. Industry benchmarks put static billboard ROI at roughly 40% and digital billboard ROI at roughly 38% when controlling for campaign quality and placement. Because impressions are continuous and unskippable, billboards build steady recognition over time, which is particularly valuable for local businesses like restaurants, retailers, and service providers that rely on geographic proximity to customers.

Commercials earn their ROI through measurable response. They are better suited to driving website visits, app installs, purchases, and other trackable actions. They also support the kind of storytelling, emotional appeal, and detailed demonstration that a roadside display cannot deliver. The downside is that higher production and media costs raise the break-even point, and ROI swings more widely depending on creative quality and targeting precision.

Choosing between them, and combining both

Use a billboard when your goal is long-term brand presence in a specific city or region, when you want to reach drivers and commuters repeatedly along a defined route, or when you are supporting other channels like social, search, or radio with a visible offline presence. Static boards suit multi-month campaigns; digital boards are better for short promotions that require frequent creative changes.

Use a commercial when you need to explain a complex product, build trust through testimonials or demonstrations, drive a specific action with a clear call to action, or target distinct demographic and interest groups nationally or regionally. Digital video on streaming platforms offers a scalable entry point for businesses that cannot afford traditional TV production and airtime.

The most effective approach for many businesses is to run both in parallel: billboards maintain a steady local presence while commercials carry targeted, conversion-focused messaging. The two formats reinforce each other rather than compete.

How AdQuick handles billboard vs. commercial decisions

For businesses weighing out of home against other ad formats, digital billboard advertising through AdQuick gives buyers access to inventory across markets with transparent pricing, audience impression data, and campaign measurement tools. AdQuick's planning platform lets you compare locations by estimated reach and CPM, set budgets that match what the source data shows is achievable for local or regional campaigns, and manage creative changes across digital units without the production delays that come with static vinyl. That mix of flexibility and measurement helps close the attribution gap that has traditionally made OOH harder to evaluate alongside digital channels.