The outdoor advertising industry is largely made up of feature billboard posters that scatter across any given area. Particularly living in bigger cities, billboards do their part to cater to a consumerist audience that goes about their day-to-day business; gently interrupting their sights with various marketing messages and product placements. It’s been reported that the Canadian advertising market ranked tenth on the global scale of outdoor advertising, with ad expenditures reaching about 9.14 billion USD in 2016. This says a lot about the country’s prioritization and spending habits on OOH advertising.
One city in Canada that’s not shy to blatantly setup booming billboards is Toronto. With an estimated population of 2.8 million people, which help to create the urban city it is, Toronto is known to be a multicultural hub of outdoor billboard advertising. Let’s take a look at some of the best locations to showcase billboards in the city, as well as view some of the estimated impressions attached, as well as discuss how the TTC approaches the use of billboard advertisements.
Billboards at Yonge & Dundas Square
Known as the central meeting point and tourist spot in Toronto, the intersection of Yonge & Dundas Square is home to many billboards. Housing plenty of digital billboards, Yonge & Dundas Square is an impressionable area of the city for advertising current media and all things entertainment. OUTFRONT reports that 79% of people in Toronto have noticed an OOH billboard in the past week, and points out that popular intersections of the city, such as Yonge & Dundas Square, are a part of this viewing experience. Yonge & Dundas Square is such an influential spot to erect OOH installations because of the large tourist population that frequents it, as well as the iconic Eaton Centre mall that overlooks the busy area.
Billboards at King & Spadina
Famous for being the entertainment district of Toronto, King & Spadina sees the production of many billboards that speak to their wide demographic audience. The intersection is home of the popular Winners store, LCBO, and Petro Canada, which sees plenty of traffic on a daily basis. Enough traffic to garner about 36,400-64,800 impressions everyday, making this intersection an extremely profitable spot for companies to advertise in.
Billboards at Gardiner Expressway @ Highway 427
Highway settings are known to be prominent places for the rise of billboards, and this spot in Toronto is no exception. There are double-sided views for both westbound and eastbound traffic, and advertisements can garner about 150,000 impressions daily. Billboards constantly change on the Gardiner Expressway, as the highway is known to hold 7-second rotating digital billboards targeting a large commuting audience of consumers.
Billboards on the TTC
The TTC stands for the Toronto Transit Commission and it’s one of the major public transport agencies in Toronto. Some places across the globe don’t allow for the use of billboard messages on and in public transit vehicles or waiting areas, however Toronto practically endorses it. On their streetcars, you will typically find king posters, which are outdoor transit vehicle posters that are usually made from vinyl wrap. On streetcar doors, decals can be found greeting commuters at eye-level. Murals of billboards can be spotted inside a streetcar, bus, or subway car, giving commuters more of a 360 degree viewing experience. No matter the example, the TTC exemplifies a canvas for OOH billboards that is only unique to Toronto.
After taking a short look at some of the best spots to billboard advertise in the city of Toronto, as well as see where billboards can be found on the TTC, it’s important to note that Toronto takes their OOH culture very seriously, as it’s a widespread marketing tactic that drives their national and international business ventures.
For more information about where to billboard advertise in the city of Toronto, check out another article from Movia Media that details the costs and where else in the GTA to spot out-of-home billboards.
