March 24, 2023
Buying a digital billboard in Times Square is one of the most complex media purchases available in the U.S. outdoor advertising market. The world’s most iconic outdoor advertising location operates with a specific set of operators, deal structures, technical requirements, and market dynamics that first-time buyers consistently underestimate. The rate cards are not the market. The available boards are not always the best boards. The lead times required are longer than most campaigns allow. And the creative requirements for a Times Square digital screen are meaningfully different from the requirements for standard digital OOH in any other market. This guide covers the entire process of buying a Times Square digital billboard — from finding available inventory through negotiating rates, meeting creative specs, and measuring the campaign’s actual impact.
American Guerrilla Marketing plans OOH media campaigns across New York City and executes street-level and mobile advertising campaigns throughout the Times Square district and surrounding Midtown neighborhood. We operate out of Industry City, Brooklyn, NY. Our team has supported Times Square campaign planning for clients across the budget spectrum — from brands seeking their first $50,000 Times Square appearance to agencies managing multi-month flagship campaigns for global brands. The guidance here reflects what actually happens in the buying process, not what the operator brochures describe.
Times Square’s digital billboard inventory is controlled by a concentrated set of operators. Unlike competitive media markets where dozens of operators compete for an advertiser’s business, Times Square has three primary OOH players: Outfront Media, which holds the dominant inventory position in the core district; Clear Channel Outdoor, with a significant secondary inventory position; and several specialty operators managing specific premium boards including the One Times Square building management and independent premium board operators.
Outfront Media holds the largest and most prominent Times Square OOH inventory, including many of the most visible digital boards on Broadway and 7th Avenue in the core TKTS/Father Duffy Square zone. First call for any Times Square campaign planning should typically be Outfront — their inventory covers the most symbolically significant and most photographed portions of the district. Outfront’s sales team in New York manages Times Square inventory as a distinct portfolio with specialist knowledge of available boards, historical occupancy patterns, and deal structure precedents for the market.
The most premium Times Square placement — the One Times Square building (the venue of the New Year’s Eve ball drop) — is managed by Jamestown Properties, not by Outfront or Clear Channel. One Times Square placements require direct contact with Jamestown’s commercial leasing and advertising team and operate under different terms, pricing, and booking structures than the broader market operators. Other premium facade operators — specific building owners with trophy advertising facades — similarly have independent relationships that require direct contact or broker intermediary.
Times Square offers several distinct digital billboard formats with fundamentally different cost structures, creative requirements, and campaign experiences.
The most accessible Times Square format is the rotating digital slot — your brand’s content appears in a rotation with other advertisers, typically cycling on 10-15 second display windows. Rotating slots give you Times Square address and district presence at a fraction of exclusive placement cost. A brand in a rotating slot receives approximately 4-7.5 minutes of display time per hour on the board. The tradeoff: you share visual space with other brands simultaneously visible on surrounding boards, limiting the exclusivity of the Times Square moment. Rotating slot weeks start around $10,000-$20,000 per week for smaller secondary boards and run $20,000-$45,000 per week for primary district boards.
Near-exclusive placements — where your brand runs on significantly reduced rotation with only one or two other advertisers, or runs exclusively during specific daypart windows — create a meaningfully different Times Square presence from rotating slots. Full-motion exclusive placements on major LED facades like 1500 Broadway, the Nasdaq MarketSite, or One Times Square run $300,000-$1.5 million per month and require full-motion video content creation that meets the specific technical specifications of each board’s display system.
Times Square digital board creative requirements must be confirmed with the specific operator for each board — specifications vary by display system, pixel pitch, and brightness calibration requirements. General parameters typically include: full-motion video in MP4 format, resolution matching the specific board’s pixel pitch (often 1920×1080 or similar, but variable), frame rate of 24-30fps, content loops of 10-30 seconds, file sizes under 200-500MB depending on the playback system, and brightness calibration for Times Square’s extreme ambient light environment. Creative that works in standard preview environments can appear dim or washed out on a Times Square board in daytime — brightness testing with the specific board’s display system before final delivery is an important pre-launch quality check.
Times Square is the most visually competitive outdoor environment in the world. A brand that appears with mediocre creative on a Times Square board does not benefit from the board’s location premium — it is outcompeted for viewer attention by the surrounding creative that leverages the large format more effectively. Investing in quality creative production is not optional in Times Square; it is the difference between a placement that achieves its objectives and one that generates an expensive lesson about the creative standards required for the world’s most competitive visual environment.
The most effective Times Square campaigns treat the digital board as the centerpiece of a broader campaign system rather than the entirety of the investment. Our LED billboard trucks on Times Square approach corridors, brand ambassador teams in the pedestrian zones below the boards, and street posters in adjacent neighborhoods all work together to create campaign presence that extends far beyond the board’s direct audience — at campaign economics significantly more efficient than extending the board run by equivalent budget amounts.
Contact the primary operators (Outfront Media, Clear Channel Outdoor, specialty operators) to identify available inventory, specify campaign objectives and timing, review board options and rates, negotiate deal structure and creative requirements, deliver approved content meeting technical specifications, and confirm the campaign run schedule. Working through a media buyer with established operator relationships typically produces better outcomes than direct first-time buying.
Rotating slots: $10,000-$45,000 per week depending on board and location. Near-exclusive placements: $50,000-$150,000 per month. Full-motion exclusive on premium facades: $300,000-$1.5 million per month. Plus production costs of $5,000-$50,000+ for digital content creation that meets Times Square’s visual standards.
Generally: full-motion video in MP4 format, resolution matching the specific board’s pixel pitch, 24-30fps frame rate, 10-30 second content loops, file size under 200-500MB depending on the playback system, and brightness calibration for daytime visibility in Times Square’s high-ambient-light environment. Always confirm exact specifications with the specific operator before beginning content production.
Outfront Media (dominant in the core district), Clear Channel Outdoor (significant secondary presence), and specialty operators including Jamestown Properties (One Times Square), and independent premium board operators managing specific facade positions. Each controls distinct inventory requiring separate contact and negotiation.
Off-peak rotating slots: 4-6 weeks. Q4 and event-adjacent rotating slots: 8-12 weeks. Premium exclusive placements: 3-6 months standard, 6-12 months for New Year’s Eve adjacency and major sporting event windows. Last-minute availability exists but is limited and often comes at premium fill pricing.
The right board selection for the campaign objective, creative content designed specifically for Times Square’s extreme visual competition, supporting activation elements (LED trucks, ambassadors) that extend the campaign beyond the board’s direct audience, and measurement framework capturing both earned media value and direct impression delivery. Quality creative is non-negotiable — Times Square is too visually competitive for mediocre creative to achieve campaign objectives regardless of the board’s premium location.
American Guerrilla Marketing provides buying digital billboard in times square services across 50+ U.S. markets. Every campaign is planned, scouted, executed, and GPS-documented by our field teams. We work with regional brands and Fortune 500 companies on campaigns that require real street-level execution and documented proof of performance.
Our process starts with a market consultation to understand your goals, target audience, and budget. We then scout locations, handle any required permissions or permits, coordinate production and installation with our local crews, and provide a full GPS-tagged photo report after the campaign runs.
We operate in 50+ U.S. markets including New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Miami, Houston, Atlanta, Seattle, Denver, Boston, and dozens of secondary markets. Contact us to confirm availability and pricing for your specific market.
Campaign pricing depends on market, format, quantity, and duration. We work with budgets ranging from targeted single-market runs to national rollouts across multiple cities. Use our RFP Builder or contact us directly for a custom quote based on your specific campaign requirements.
The fastest way to get started is to submit your campaign details through our RFP Builder at americanguerrillamarketing.com, or contact us directly at [email protected] or (646) 776-2770. Our team typically responds within one business day with availability and initial pricing.
Ready to Run Your Campaign?
Call us or email us. We’ll tell you exactly what we can do in your market and what it costs.
American Guerrilla Marketing — Los Angeles
Street-level campaigns in Los Angeles and nationwide. Wheatpasting, LED trucks, street teams, and more.
(646) 776-2770
Related Service
Explore similar advertising solutions offered by American Guerrilla Marketing.
September 12, 2026
September 12, 2026
September 12, 2026
September 12, 2026
September 12, 2026
