Comparing The Cost Of Electronic LED Signs To Other Media

Whenever you are calculating the cost of an advertising medium, the typical measure that you use is the cost per exposure. There are varying degrees of quality that define what an "exposure" would be worth so there are other things to consider, but in general, people prefer to use cost per exposure because it is easy to quantify, calculate, and in the end, to bill to the business that is doing the advertising in the first place. The abbreviation for this is CPM which stands for "cost per thousand". Therefore, the number which we derive as our CPM will be the cost for 1000 exposures. Usually this is done to make the number more manageable. For example, if we calculated a cost per impression for a billboard advertisement it might come out to about $.002 as opposed to the CPM which would be $2.

Once we have determined a set of CPM figures for a varying set of advertising mediums, we can come up with a good comparison of how effectively ad dollars are spent relative to the others. Electronic LED Signsare, after all, an advertising medium, so adding them to the comparison will show a lot out their relative return on investment.

Outdoor advertising (billboard) is typically the cheapest. CPM's range between $1-5 depending on the location and the quality of the billboard the ad is being placed on. Cable TV can vary greatly and can be between $8 and $25 in terms of CPM. Rates can go much higher though depending on what quantities Ad's are bought in and whether it is for a local or national audience. Radio typically has an $8 CPM. On-line ads, usually because they are capable of being targeted to a more specific audience, can be between $8 and $45 CPM. Finally, newspapers are usually between $30 and $35 CPM. Typically the more targeted an ad is, the higher the CPM.

Now lets take a look at an on-site LED display. Lets say that you have 30,000 cars that pass by your location per day and lets say that you paid $15,000 for your LED display. Assuming 1.5 passengers per car, that one time cost would give you 16,425,000 exposures per year. Assuming the LED display will last you 10 years that means 164,250,000 exposures total. To put that in CPM terms, we're talking about a CPM of less than $0.10. Granted, that doesn't take into account things like the electric bill which would be slightly elevated due to the LED display, but at negligent levels. You get the idea. When it comes to maximizing your advertising ROI, maybe its time to try something new. Take your advertising into your own hands and look into electronic LED signs as a way to boost your exposure and increase your business's visibility.

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