Hi Frank,
I believe I have found an ideal location for a billboard. It is an empty lot (zoned industrial) in a billboard-friendly town right alongside a well-traveled interstate in northern New Jersey. The location seems almost perfect, but one of my main concerns is the amount of competition in the area. There are at least 10 other billboards along the same route immediately leading up to the location that I would like to put one. Three of them are brand new, and several are LED billboards that can display multiple advertisements.
I know the demand for billboards is generally high, but is it high enough to negate the risk of building another billboard along this highway? On one hand, I have no doubt a billboard in my location would get great visibility from MANY thousands of people on this very busy highway (4 lanes in each direction!). On the other hand, the existing billboards are operated by the big companies (CBS, etc.) and I am worried that they might squeeze me out of the competition by preventing me from renting my ad space. The billboard to be built would have to be a fairly tall monopole structure, so it would be a huge investment for me that I cannot afford to lose.
Based on the situation I described, do you believe a billboard built on this location will be rentable? Do you think the potential revenues will be able to at least recoup the cost of the structure and land lease?
Looking forward to your input.
Thanks!
-Ben