Digital Billboards for Small Business: How to Get Your Ad on Screens Around Town

Think about the screens you walk past in a week: the bus shelter on the corner, the panels in the shopping centre, the big roadside board on the way to work, the screen by the supermarket checkout. Most of them now cycle through ads every few seconds, and more of those ads are for local businesses than you'd think.

Out-of-home advertising, the industry's name for billboards and screens, is growing fast in Australia, and almost all of that growth is digital. Here's how it works for a small business, what it costs, and how to make an ad people actually read.

Why digital billboards, and why now

Australian out-of-home advertising earned about $1.45 billion in 2025, up more than 11% on the year before, and digital screens made up about 77% of it. In the first half of 2026 it grew again.

The change that matters for small businesses is how the screens are sold. Paper billboards were booked weeks at a time, often by the month, through a sales rep. Digital screens can be booked by the day, or even the hour, for a share of the time on each screen. That brings the entry price down from tens of thousands to something a local business can test.

Where your ad can appear

• Bus shelters and street screens: the classic "near you" format, at eye level, where people walk and wait.
• Shopping centres: portrait screens in the malls and food courts, seen by people who are already out to spend.
• Supermarkets: screens near the entry and checkouts, ideal for food, drinks and everyday services.
• Roadside billboards: large landscape screens on main roads, seen from a car in a few seconds.
• Train stations and offices: commuters and workers at the same times each day.

What it costs

Digital billboards are priced per thousand plays or impressions (CPM). In Sydney and Melbourne, published guides put street furniture and transit screens at roughly $7 to $14 per thousand, rising to $30 to $60 or more for premium CBD and airport screens. Platform fees usually add another 7% to 18% on top.

Minimum spends vary widely. Some self-serve platforms let you book individual screens by the hour with no minimum, while others suggest $1,500 to $3,000 or more for a proper test. Treat any published figure as a guide, and get a quote for the screens near your business.

The honest rule: a billboard needs enough plays, in the right spots, over enough days, to be remembered. A handful of plays on one screen rarely moves anything. A focused two-week run on screens within a few kilometres of your business can.

Who billboards suit

• Great fit: cafés, restaurants and takeaway, retail, gyms, real estate, events, health and beauty clinics, and anything people buy close to home.
• Good with a reason: trades and services with a clear local hook, like "Geelong's 24-hour plumber".
• Weaker fit: online-only businesses selling nationally, and anything that needs a long explanation.

How to make a billboard that works

1. Seven words or fewer. People read a billboard in two or three seconds, often from a moving car.
2. One message. One offer, one picture, your logo. No fine print.
3. Make it local. "2 minutes from here", a street name or "Open till 9" turns a screen into directions.
4. Huge type, strong contrast. It has to read in bright sun and at night.
5. Skip the phone number. Nobody can write it down. Use your name, a simple web address or where to find you.
6. Time it. Lunch offers at lunchtime, weekend deals from Thursday, near the screens your customers actually pass.

How to tell if it worked

You'll get plays and estimated views from the screen network. The real test is what happens around you: more people searching your business name, more walk-ins, more mentions of "saw your ad". A simple offer code or a "mention the billboard" deal makes it easy to count.

How Soulwidth does it

Ask for digital billboards from your Soulwidth app and tell us what you'd like to promote. Within a day or two you get a plan: the words, the design, which screens near you, the days and times. Then a quote. Nothing is booked or charged until you approve and pay it.

A Soulwidth ad expert designs your ads in the portrait and landscape sizes the screens need, books them in Soulwidth's own accounts, and sends you the results (plays, estimated views and screens) when the campaign ends. You only ever deal with us. It's the screen cost plus 20% for design, booking and reporting, with campaigns from $500.

See plans →

Sources

• Australian out-of-home revenue and digital share, 2025 and first half of 2026 (Outdoor Media Association figures): LBB Online, Mediaweek.
• Indicative CPMs, test budgets and platform fees in Sydney and Melbourne: AdQuick Sydney guide, AdQuick Melbourne guide.
• Self-serve, by-the-hour screen booking: AdQuick.