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Billboard Insider, Kirkland, WA (2025)

12/24/2025

by Nick Coston

I wanted my final piece for Billboard Insider in 2025 to be a gas, something hilariously funny. You know, like a pie in the face funny. Something that ends the year on a high note with media owners laughing and whopping it up at New Year’s and charging into 2026 with some big honking business booked.

Whoopy cushion funny.

Queue the static face emoji, I because I just can’t find that big whoop. My conversations with fellow DOOH salespeople across the varied products in the industry these last 60 days have been rather meh. Many have lost their gigs due to consolidations, slow sales or simply closing. Not feeling their energy, not feeling the eagerness to attract new ad categories or new advertisers. We keep seeing the same top spenders, Apple, McDonalds, Coke, Disney, Amazon, Verizon and now Morgan and Morgan.

Outstanding clients on their own, huge spenders, good copy, buying up lots of key OOH nationwide. We should be thankful for them.

by Nick Coston I wanted my final piece for Billboard Insider in 2025 to be a gas, something hilariously funny. You know, like a pie in the face funny. Someth

12/19/2025

Jim Poage has a new podcast called The Billboard Safety Guy. On December 3 he talked about OSHA's top ten citation list. Here are some items which made the list together with Jim's comments.

Machine guarding.

And a lot of people in outdoor and billboards say, well, we don't really need to worry about machine guarding. There's not a lot that we do that requires that. I beg to differ because many times I walk into a shop and see a pedestal grinder sitting there with an open, exposed wheel. And according to OSHA standards, 75% of that wheel is supposed to be covered and the work rest is supposed to be within an eighth of an inch of the spinning wheel so that tools can't get lodged in between it and cause the wheel to explode.

Fall Protection Training

And the number one, which made up 1,216 of those violations, the employer shall provide a training program for each employee who might be exposed to fall hazards. They didn't have a program.

Jim Poage has a new podcast called The Billboard Safety Guy. On December 3 he talked about OSHA's top ten citation list. Here are some items which made the

12/18/2025

This is the third column in our series on out of home debt. We've previously talked about factoring and out of home lease financing. Today we'll discuss the pros and cons of using a bank to finance your out of home company. Bank financing is the most common form of out of home debt. Two-thirds of Billboard Insider's readers have used bank financing to grow their out of home company.
The Pros of Bank Financing
Cheap Money - Bank financing is the cheapest form of debt, provided you can get it. In today's market, bank debt costs 6-8%. Leasing and private lending debt costs 8-12%. Factoring costs 12-24%.

Bigger loans - Most lenders want to limit individual loan exposure to 5-15% of capital. An average-sized US bank with $1 billion in assets and $100 million in capital will have an individual loan limit of $5-15 million. A really large commercial bank will have a lending limit in excess of $100 million.

This is the third column in our series on out of home debt. We've previously talked about factoring and out of home lease financing. Today we'll discuss the

12/17/2025

Out of Home CFO Matt Siegel said this about legal advertising earlier this month at the B of A Leveraged Finance Conference: "It's large and fast growing...I think everyone has seen...Morgan and Morgan and other...competitors. That's been big and we can expect to continue to see that growing across the country."

Here are some stats about out of home legal advertising which Billboard Insider culled from the American Tort Reform Association publication Legal Services Advertising in the United States 2020-2024.

20%/year growth

US Out of home legal advertising has grown by 20%/year from $150 million in 2017 to $541 million in 2024. Billboard Insider thinks that legal ads have continued to grow rapidly in 2025 to judge from the comments we hear from out of home executives.

The third most popular form of media

Out of home was the third most popular form of advertising for US law firms in 2024. Out home accounted for 20% of the $2.6 billion in US legal ad spending in 2024.

Out of Home CFO Matt Siegel said this about legal advertising earlier this month at the B of A Leveraged Finance Conference: "It's large and fast growing...I th

12/15/2025

I saw the article in today's Billboard Insider, entitled "Ohio Bans Cannabis Billboards." I see from the article that Ohio apparently allows the consumption of cannabis products, at least for medical purposes. However, the State has completely banned the advertising of the w**d, including on billboards, as well as transit, radio, or TV.

You then ask what the lawyers have to say about this, and I direct you to the article I wrote and Billboard Insider published in its December 19, 2024 edition, entitled "Rothfelder on Ma*****na Outdoor Advertising." That article addressed almost the exact same situation in Mississippi, where the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals decided on November 22, 2024 the seminal case on the advertising of ma*****na. Here’s the facts: The State of Mississippi passed in 2022 the “Mississippi Medical Cannabis Act,” which authorized the sale and use of ma*****na for certain medicinal purposes.

I saw the article in today's Billboard Insider, entitled "Ohio Bans Cannabis Billboards." I see from the article that Ohio apparently allows the consumption of

12/12/2025

Ohio regulators have approved a complete ban on cannabis advertising. The ban specifically outlaws billboard, transit, radio or TV advertising. Critics say the ban will face a first amendment challenge, because Ohio permits advertising for alchohol, but not for ma*****na. What say you lawyers?

The OAAA maintains a Cannabis Legalization and Regulation Map with a summary of state by state advertising strictions. Billboard Insider notes that ma*****na billboard advertising is prohibited in the following 16 states:

- Alabama
- Connecticut - prohibits billboard advertising between 6am and 11pm which we think amounts to a ban.
- Delaware
- Georgia
- Hawaii
- Indiana
- Kentucky
- Maryland
- Minnesota - Only medical ma*****na billboard advertising is permitted.
- Mississippi
- New Hampshire
- New Jersey - Off premise ma*****na billboards are prohibited.

Ohio regulators have approved a complete ban on cannabis advertising. The ban specifically outlaws billboard, transit, radio or TV advertising. Critics say t

12/10/2025

The US out of home industry grew faster than the US economy and faster than inflation during the third quarter of 2025. US out of home revenues increased 4.5% compared to projected growth of 3.5% of the US nominal gross domestic product and 2.9% for US inflation. This marks only the third time in the past 12 quarters that US out of home growth has exceeded the economy. Maybe we should be calling out of home a GDP business as opposed to a GDP-plus business.

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The US out of home industry grew faster than the US economy and faster than inflation during the third quarter of 2025. US out of home revenues increased 4.5%

12/09/2025

SignValue has prepared the following analysis of OUTFRONT's 3Q 2025 financials.

If you have questions, contact one of SignValue's experienced analysts for a free and confidential consultation at [email protected] or call 480-657-8400.

To receive a free morning newsletter with each day’s Billboard insider articles email [email protected] with the word “Subscribe” in the title. Our newsletter is free and we don’t sell our subscriber list.

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SignValue has prepared the following analysis of OUTFRONT's 3Q 2025 financials. If you have questions, contact one of SignValue's e

12/08/2025

Here are excerpts from Outfront CFO Matt Siegel's comments at last week's B of A leveraged finance conference sponsored and analyzed by Signvalue.

Siegel would eventually like to renegotiate the MTA contract

We think we can make a good case for renegotiating something mutually beneficial… We like the franchise. We like the audience. We just don't like the contract.

OUTFRONT is focused on billboard margins

For years we would focus really on getting, winning, building more billboards - adding...opportunities for revenue. We've...inflected and we're focusing a lot more on...the portfolio. We gave up two large contracts, one in New York, one in LA, in the last 15 months.

Pruning the static billboard portfolio.

We're empowering our real estate team to...negotiate tougher and give up some static leases if they don't make sense...Right now we have 37,000 static billboards.

Here are excerpts from Outfront CFO Matt Siegel's comments at last week's B of A leveraged finance conference sponsored and analyzed by Signvalue. Sieg

12/03/2025

Since the Broadsign announcement of their purchase of Place Exchange we have been discussing how this transaction may impact the industry with a number of critical players in the OOH space.

First, a few key comments from a conversation we had with Ari Buchalter, the CEO of Place Exchange:

Ari, can you confirm yet, that Broadsign generally supports your move towards MRC approval for the PerView product? We understand that there are not yet final standards from the MRC and that would create a decision point. I am trying to get a sense of the new owners as you know it impacts the OOH industry.

Broadsign is very excited about adding PerView to their market-leading offerings, and we look forward to continuing growing PerView as part of the Broadsign portfolio. We continue to believe that accreditation is an important criterion for any industry measurement solution, and we look forward to the complete MRC standards for OOH being finalized and released.

Since the Broadsign announcement of their purchase of Place Exchange we have been discussing how this transaction may impact the industry with a number of criti

12/01/2025

Here's an editorial warning for the linguistically sensitive before you read this article: while containing direct quotes from the October 14, 2025 opinion of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, the reader of this article will encounter several references to both the literal and euphemistic slur "F**k." So, if that bothers you, stop reading now. But, if you're still with me, you'll be entertained I think by the Sixth Circuit's opinion in BA vs Tri County Area Schools, which is attached here. And, the case, while directly pertaining to a school administration's ability to curtail the First Amendment rights of students, also represents a serious slippery slope to municipal regulation of obscene messages on signage.
&Falick

Here's an editorial warning for the linguistically sensitive before you read this article: while containing direct quotes from the October 14, 2025 opinion of t

11/26/2025

Gordon, Ohio – November 25, 2025

Huntington Billboards announced the acquisition of Racer Outdoor in Kentucky (32 static displays) and Grayson Outdoor in Arkansas (36 static displays), adding 68 total static boards to its growing network across the Midwest and South.

“We don’t acquire companies to get bigger. We acquire to get better. These assets strengthen our coverage, deepen our service to advertisers, and extend a legacy of treating landowners with fairness and respect. Racer and Grayson move us closer to the kind of company we’re building for the next 30 years,” said Justin Powell, President & CEO.

Christian Good, Huntington’s acquisitions manager, said he loved working with the families behind these companies and is excited to help continue their legacy as part of Huntington Billboards.

Gordon, Ohio – November 25, 2025 Huntington Billboards announced the acquisition of Racer Outdoor in Kentucky (32 static displays) and Grayson Outdoor in A

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