The Billboard at 20 Times Square: Times Square’s Spectacle

There is a building at the convergence of 7th Avenue, Broadway, and 42nd Street that does not look particularly special from its architecture. It is not the tallest building in Times Square. It is not the most recently renovated. But it is, without question, the most important advertising address in the world — because it is where the New Year’s Eve ball drops, viewed by over a billion people globally, and where the advertising display that runs beneath that ball is seen by more captive worldwide media audiences than any other outdoor advertising placement on Earth.

One Times Square (the building is at the address 1 Times Square, sometimes written as One Times Square or located at what visitors refer to as the Times Square area near 20 Times Square) is the epicenter of Times Square’s advertising universe. American Guerrilla Marketing operates out of Industry City, Brooklyn, NY, and executes campaigns throughout Times Square and Midtown Manhattan. We deploy LED billboard trucks, brand ambassadors, poster campaigns, and street-level activations in the Times Square district regularly. This guide covers everything about advertising at this iconic location — history, costs, access, and how to maximize the campaign value of the world’s most prestigious outdoor advertising address.

The History of One Times Square as an Advertising Icon

The building originally opened in 1905 as the headquarters of The New York Times — built on a triangular plot of land at the intersection of Broadway and 7th Avenue that the Times had purchased as part of a major urban development initiative. The building’s opening was celebrated on New Year’s Eve 1904 with a fireworks display visible across the new Times Square district. In 1907, The Times replaced the fireworks with the first Times Square ball drop — launching a tradition that has continued every year since (with the brief exception of the World War II blackout years of 1942 and 1943).

The Times moved out of the building in 1913, but the building remained at the center of Times Square’s transformation into America’s premier outdoor advertising district. By the mid-20th century, the building’s facades had become prime advertising real estate — host to the iconic electric signs that defined Times Square’s visual identity. In 1997, Jamestown Properties acquired the building and began the comprehensive LED upgrade program that transformed One Times Square’s facades into the full-motion LED displays that dominate the contemporary Times Square advertising landscape.

The New Year’s Eve Premium: The World’s Most Expensive Advertising Moment

No advertising placement in the world has a higher media audience multiplier than One Times Square during the New Year’s Eve countdown. The ball drop ceremony, broadcast live by every major U.S. television network and syndicated globally, places the building’s advertising facades in front of an estimated one billion viewers worldwide during the peak countdown window. The brands whose advertising appears on One Times Square’s LED displays during the New Year’s Eve countdown are visible in billions of dollars of earned media exposure from the broadcast coverage alone — before accounting for the millions of photographs taken by the 50,000-100,000 Times Square attendees who photograph the ball drop and share it on social media.

New Year’s Eve Advertising Premiums

The advertising premium for One Times Square during the New Year’s Eve period is significant and reflects the exceptional earned media exposure that the ball drop broadcast creates. Brands with confirmed One Times Square advertising during the December countdown period receive massive global visibility through the broadcast coverage in addition to the direct Times Square audience. Booking for New Year’s Eve-adjacent One Times Square advertising requires contact with Jamestown Properties’ commercial team typically 6-12 months in advance — peak demand for this specific window is significant.

One Times Square Advertising vs. General Times Square Market

One Times Square advertising is managed entirely separately from the general Times Square OOH market operated by Outfront Media and Clear Channel. Jamestown Properties controls the building and its advertising inventory independently — brands seeking One Times Square placement must engage with Jamestown directly or through a media buyer with an established Jamestown relationship, rather than through the standard OOH buying process that covers the broader Times Square district.

The Visual Distinction of One Times Square

One Times Square’s position at the triangular convergence point of Broadway and 7th Avenue creates viewing angles from multiple directions that no other Times Square building matches. The building’s facades are visible from Broadway looking north, from 7th Avenue looking north, from the 42nd Street cross-axis, and from the elevated viewing platforms of the surrounding buildings — creating a round-the-compass visibility advantage that makes placement on One Times Square visually accessible to virtually the entire Times Square pedestrian footprint simultaneously.

Maximizing One Times Square Campaign Value

Given the investment required for One Times Square placement, maximizing the earned media value of the campaign is as important as the billboard’s direct impression delivery. The brands that get the most from One Times Square advertising treat it as an earned media centerpiece that justifies the investment through press coverage, social media amplification, and the cultural credibility of appearing at the world’s most recognized advertising location.

Documentation and PR Strategy

Professional photography and video documentation of the One Times Square placement — captured at different times of day and night, from multiple viewing angles, with and without the surrounding Times Square visual context — creates the content library that powers PR and social media campaigns around the placement. The documentation of the placement is often more valuable in terms of total brand reach than the placement itself, because it distributes the imagery to media audiences far larger than the Times Square footprint.

Ground-Level Amplification

Our brand ambassador programs in the Father Duffy Square pedestrian zone and the approach blocks surrounding One Times Square create the human-scale brand engagement that complements the overhead scale of the billboard. Ambassadors directing pedestrians’ attention to the board, facilitating photography, and creating ground-level brand interaction convert passive billboard impressions into active brand encounters at the most valuable moments — when the pedestrian audience is concentrated at the base of the building looking up.

Surrounding the One Times Square Investment with Cost-Efficient Extensions

Our LED billboard trucks on Times Square approach corridors, poster campaigns in the Theater District and Hell’s Kitchen, and sidewalk stencils on the approach blocks extend One Times Square’s campaign reach beyond the Times Square footprint at costs dramatically below the per-impression cost of additional billboard time. This surrounding presence creates the campaign coherence — the sense of brand omnipresence in the Times Square district — that maximizes the value of the flagship One Times Square investment.

Frequently Asked Questions: The Billboard at One Times Square

What is the billboard at One Times Square?

One Times Square is the building at the convergence of 7th Avenue, Broadway, and 42nd Street — home to the New Year’s Eve ball drop and the world’s most iconic outdoor advertising facades. Its LED displays are visible from multiple directions across the Times Square footprint and are seen by a global audience during the annual New Year’s Eve countdown broadcast.

How much does it cost to advertise on One Times Square?

Year-round display campaigns run $500,000-$1.5 million or more per month for premium placement. New Year’s Eve adjacency advertising commands the highest premiums in the entire Times Square market. Exact rates require direct engagement with Jamestown Properties, which manages the building’s advertising inventory independently from the general Times Square OOH market.

Who controls advertising at One Times Square?

Jamestown Properties, which owns and operates the building, manages its advertising inventory directly. Brands seeking One Times Square placement contact Jamestown’s commercial team directly or through a media buyer with an established Jamestown relationship — separate from the standard OOH buying process that covers Outfront and Clear Channel’s Times Square inventory.

How do you maximize the marketing value of a One Times Square campaign?

By treating the placement as an earned media engine: professional photography and video documentation of the placement for PR and social media, brand ambassador programs in pedestrian zones below the building, coordinated press outreach timed to campaign launch, and social media amplification of the organic photography that Times Square visitors naturally generate from the placement.

What complementary campaigns work alongside One Times Square?

LED billboard trucks on Times Square approach corridors, brand ambassador programs in Father Duffy Square and approach blocks, poster campaigns in Hell’s Kitchen and the Theater District, and sidewalk stencils on approach routes from Midtown transit hubs. These surrounding elements extend One Times Square’s campaign reach beyond the building’s immediate footprint at costs far below additional billboard time.

What is the historical significance of One Times Square?

Originally built as The New York Times headquarters in 1905 and host to the first Times Square New Year’s Eve ball drop in 1907. The building has been at the center of Times Square’s identity as America’s premier outdoor advertising district for over a century. Today it is the world’s most recognized outdoor advertising location — the convergence of physical presence, global media visibility, and cultural history that no other billboard market can match.

Frequently Asked Questions