NYC billboard advertising is sold by Clear Channel Outdoor, OUTFRONT Media and Lamar on the roadside, by JCDecaux on bus shelters and newsstands, and by Times Square sellers; Clear Channel also holds the MTA's 319-site billboard concession. Zoning bars new advertising signs within 200 feet of an arterial highway in view. Published ranges: $2,000 to $350,000 per four weeks.
New York has fewer billboards than a planner from Houston expects, and the ones it has are where the zoning code left them: along the expressways in Queens and the Bronx, on the walls of Lower Manhattan and Brooklyn, above the Lincoln Tunnel approach, and in the one district where the law requires them. This page covers who sells the inventory, the rules that decide where a board may stand, how impressions are counted, and the published ranges with their sources. Times Square is its own guide on this site and is not repeated here.
A FanDuel digital billboard on Madison Square Garden above the Pennsylvania Station entrance, September 2025, with a Saint Laurent Libre vehicle fleet below it. Photograph from Firefly's New York campaign archive, shown with permission.
Who Owns the Billboards in NYC?
Three national operators sell the roadside faces, one franchisee holds the bus shelters and newsstands, and a longer list shares Times Square. Blue Line Media, which resells inventory across the market, counts 8,873 billboard faces in the New York DMA, 639 of them digital and 8,234 static, and puts the densest single cluster at the Port Authority and 42nd Street corridor with 133 faces (Blue Line Media, New York City Billboard Advertising, read 24 October 2026). Most of those faces are not in the city. Blue Line's own top-ten county table puts 1,185 in New York County, 776 in Kings, 393 in Queens and 323 in the Bronx, 2,677 in all, against 3,385 in the six New Jersey counties on the same list. Each owner, concessionaire and reseller named below is checked against what it controls in the verified NYC OOH seller directory.
| Seller | What it holds in New York, as published | Publishes rates? |
|---|---|---|
| Clear Channel Outdoor | "Over 800 roadside displays throughout the Tri-State area", the MTA billboard concession (319 locations, 15 years from 1 November 2024), exclusive access to JFK, LaGuardia, Newark and Stewart airports, and Times Square spectaculars and wallscapes; claims 500 million weekly impressions | No |
| OUTFRONT Media | Bulletins, a Digital Bulletin Network of 13 units, wallscapes, the Penn Digital facing Madison Square Garden, street-level Urban Panels, plus the whole MTA transit concession | No rate card; its New York FAQ prints a $12.43 CPM |
| Lamar Advertising | Billboards, wallscapes, digital and airport media "in all five boroughs, and New Jersey"; New York office at 437 Fifth Avenue | No |
| JCDecaux | The Coordinated Street Furniture Franchise from NYC DOT: "over 3,300 bus shelters", up to 40 automatic public toilets and the city's newsstands, with the right to "sell advertising space on the structures within clearly defined limits" | No |
| Branded Cities | Times Square (MiFi, NASDAQ Tower) plus "Bryant Park, Madison Square Garden, the Port Authority and the Lincoln Tunnel" | No |
| Silvercast, New Tradition, Dream Outdoor, BIG Outdoor and others | Times Square spectaculars; see the fifteen-seller list on the Times Square page | No |
Inventory descriptions are from each seller's own New York page and from NYC DOT's Coordinated Street Furniture page, all read 24 October 2026. Everything inside the subway stations is OUTFRONT's, and is covered on the NYC subway advertising page; the billboards on MTA land are a separate contract, set out below.
Who Sells the Billboards on MTA Property?
Clear Channel Outdoor, under a 15-year exclusive license that runs from 1 November 2024 to 31 October 2039, which the MTA board voted to award on 25 September 2024. Before that the contract was OUTFRONT's; trade press reported in November 2024 that Clear Channel was "taking over from OUTFRONT". The board paper covers billboards "along rights-of-way, on trestles and bridges, at depots and yards, and on the exterior walls or roofs of buildings" on property of New York City Transit, the Long Island Rail Road, Metro-North and Bridges and Tunnels (MTA Board, staff summary, 25 September 2024, read 24 October 2026). The inventory is 319 locations: 281 boards the agencies own, which Clear Channel maintains and sells, and 38 that other outdoor companies own on MTA land under land leases, which Clear Channel manages for the MTA. Clear Channel's own announcement speaks of "more than 250 roadside displays on MTA property in the NY/NJ/CT Metro area" (Clear Channel Outdoor via PR Newswire, 13 November 2024); the board paper's count is 319.
The same paper prints the economics. In 2023 the concession earned the MTA $21 million, and "Revenue from digital inventory generates nearly half of the revenue". Clear Channel pays the larger of an 80% share of gross revenue on the agency-owned boards plus all of the land-lease revenue, a minimum annual guarantee of $26 million in the first year rising with inflation by up to 3% a year, or 75% of the prior year's gross revenue net of capital recoupment. Five companies bid: OUTFRONT, Clear Channel, Lamar with New Tradition, First Media and JCDecaux. For a buyer, the practical point is that a board on an MTA trestle or depot is sold by Clear Channel even when OUTFRONT sells the station underneath it, and the MTA's own advertising page sends billboard enquiries to Clear Channel.
Why Are There So Few Billboards in Manhattan?
Because the Zoning Resolution only permits advertising signs in a handful of districts, and then keeps them away from the roads where they would be seen most. In commercial districts, advertising signs are allowed only in C6-5, C6-7 and C8 (Zoning Resolution 32-63, Permitted Advertising Signs, last amended 6 June 2024, read 24 October 2026). In manufacturing districts, Section 42-62 permits signs in M1, M2 and M3, subject to the arterial and park rules in Section 42-65 that are written for advertising signs; M1-6D follows the C6-4 rules under Section 42-69. An advertising sign, in the Department of Buildings' words, "directs attention to goods or services at a location other than the premises where the sign is located"; a sign for the business on the premises is an accessory sign and is treated differently.
Then comes the arterial rule. Section 32-662 states that "no advertising sign shall be located, nor shall an existing advertising sign be structurally altered, relocated or reconstructed within 200 feet of an arterial highway or of a public park with an area of one half acre or more, if such advertising sign is within view of such arterial highway or public park." Beyond 200 feet, the sign must be "at a distance of at least as many linear feet therefrom as there are square feet of surface area on the face of such sign" (Zoning Resolution 32-662, last amended 6 June 2024). In a commercial district, a 672-square-foot bulletin, 14 by 48 feet, therefore needs to sit at least 672 feet from the highway it faces. The manufacturing-district version, Section 42-65, bars advertising signs within the 200-foot band, caps any permitted sign there at 500 square feet, lets a sign grow by one square foot for each linear foot beyond it, and carves out signs along certain truck routes within half a mile of the city line (Zoning Resolution 42-65, last amended 6 June 2024).
Older boards keep their place only at their old size. Both sections grandfather advertising signs built before 1 June 1968 within 660 feet of an arterial highway at their 1968 size, and signs built between 1 June 1968 and 1 November 1979 if they do not exceed 1,200 square feet, 30 feet in height and 60 feet in length; "All advertising signs not in conformance with the standards set forth herein shall terminate." Times Square is the mirror image: Section 81-732 requires illuminated signs there, which is why the district has its own page.
The Department of Buildings Register and the Sign Permit
Zoning says where; the Department of Buildings says who and how. Anyone "engaged in the outdoor advertising business must register as Outdoor Advertising Companies (OACs) with the Department", and a registered company must file an inventory of every sign it controls "within 900 feet and in view of an arterial highway" or "within 200 feet and in view of a public park one-half acre or larger" (NYC Buildings, Outdoor Advertising Registration Program, read 24 October 2026). Registration costs $1,500 per company and $125 per sign, with renewals at $750 and $50. A company operating without registration faces fines "up to $25,000 per day"; signs left off the inventory bring "fines, removal of the signs, and revocation of their registration". The sign itself generally needs a DOB permit, though signs "that are painted or smaller than six square feet and not illuminated do not require a permit", and a licensed sign hanger must perform or supervise most installations (NYC Buildings, Sign permit requirements, read 24 October 2026).
The register itself is out of date. The Department's public List of Active Outdoor Advertising Companies is dated 23 November 2022 and names 39 companies, and the latest expiry date printed on it is 21 December 2024. Twelve sellers in this site's directory appear on it under their own or a related name: Branded Cities, Clear Channel Outdoor, Heritage Outdoor Media, KEVANI, Lamar (as Lamar Advertising of Penn), New Tradition, OUTFRONT, Overall Murals, Pearl Media, Silvercast Media, Colossal Media (as SkyHigh Murals-Colossal Media) and Vector Media. BIG Outdoor, Dream Outdoor, Lightyear Media, Neutron Media and Orange Barrel Media do not. The list registers companies, often under an LLC, and some entries are building or holding-company names such as 1550 Broadway, LLC, so a missing brand is a question to ask, not a finding.
For a buyer this is a due-diligence question, not paperwork. Because the public list stops in 2022, ask the seller for its current OAC registration number, whether the face is on its DOB inventory and whether the sign permit is current. An unregistered board can be ordered down mid-flight, and the city has shown it will pursue the format wherever it appears: when Ballyhoo Media ran digital billboards on boats along the Hudson, the city sued, and in June 2019 the State Legislature passed a bill banning flashing or moving-light billboards on boats and other advertising signage on vessels within 1,500 feet of shore, with fines of $1,000 for a first violation and $5,000 thereafter (CBS New York, 21 June 2019).
How Much Does Billboard Advertising in New York Cost?
Between $2,000 and $350,000 per four weeks on the published rate cards: Blue Line Media lists a New York static poster at $2,000 to $5,000, a static bulletin at $5,500 to $24,000, a digital bulletin at $7,000 to $24,000 and a wallscape at $20,000 to $350,000, and AdQuick's New York City guide puts a Manhattan static bulletin at $10,000 to $35,000 and an outer-borough bulletin at $4,000 to $12,000 (both read 24 October 2026). The three owners publish no rate card.
The ranges below are market-level figures compiled from publicly published vendor and industry sources. They are not quotes, and they are not the rates of any single network. Always get a written quote before budgeting.
| Publisher | Unit | Published range, per four weeks | Publisher's stated basis |
|---|---|---|---|
| Blue Line Media (reseller), New York City page | Static poster (medium billboard) | $2,000 to $5,000; average printed as $3,500 | "est."; 373,413 average four-week impressions; CPM $5 to $13 |
| Blue Line Media | Static bulletin (large billboard) | $5,500 to $24,000; average $14,750 | 1,579,618 impressions; CPM $3 to $15 |
| Blue Line Media | Digital bulletin | $7,000 to $24,000; average $15,500 | 2,835,206 impressions; CPM $2 to $8 |
| Blue Line Media | Wallscape, static | $20,000 to $350,000; average $185,000 | 1,846,571 impressions; CPM $11 to $190; one $5,000 minimum spend, which may be spread over displays and periods |
| AdQuick, New York City guide | Manhattan static bulletin; Manhattan digital bulletin; outer-borough bulletin | $10,000 to $35,000; $15,000 to $60,000; $4,000 to $12,000 | "Typical 4-Week Rate (per unit)"; page published 6 April 2026 |
| AdQuick (marketplace), billboard-cost guide | Typical static bulletin, New York City / NYC metro | $5,000 to $25,000+ | "planning ranges"; "Tier A; premium faces run five figures" |
| AdQuick, national table | Digital billboard, shared rotation | $3,500 to $25,000 | national, not New York; 8-to-10-second spot in a 60-to-90-second loop |
| OUTFRONT Media (owner) | New York billboards | No rate published; FAQ states "a CPM of $12.43" | no unit, period or method given |
| Clear Channel Outdoor, Lamar (owners) | Any New York unit | No price published | quote only |
Read the Blue Line rows with two things in mind. Its "New York City" market spans the DMA, so a New York range covers Union County as well as Manhattan, and the site carries a notice that "certain info and images may be AI-generated". Read AdQuick knowing that it prints two different sets of New York figures: its billboard-cost guide gives a typical NYC metro static bulletin at $5,000 to $25,000 or more, its New York City guide gives $10,000 to $35,000 for Manhattan, and its national format ranges for static bulletins, posters and digital bulletins are identical, figure for figure, to Blue Line's national rate card. And add production: AdQuick prices vinyl at $1.50 to $3.00 per square foot, about $500 for a 14-by-48-foot bulletin, with posting at $200 to $1,000, and OUTFRONT's New York page says static billboards "require approximately 4 weeks for production and installation". Wallscape production is a separate quote. Who paints and sells New York's walls, and how zoning treats a painted ad, is in the mural and wallscape guide.
A Digital Billboard in NYC Is a Share of a Loop
OUTFRONT's New York Digital Bulletin Network, 13 units, sells an 8-second spot in a 64-second loop to 8 advertisers, digital static only, no audio (OUTFRONT New York media kit, last revised 10 August 2026). AdQuick describes the national norm as an 8-to-10-second spot in a 60-to-90-second loop. So a digital bulletin priced at $15,500 buys one eighth of a screen, and its CPM is only as good as the impressions assigned to that eighth. Blue Line's own table makes the point in reverse: it prices the New York digital bulletin above the static one and gives it a lower CPM, because it assigns the digital face 2,835,206 impressions against 1,579,618 for the static face without saying how a rotating screen earns nearly 80% more notice.
How Are NYC Billboard Impressions Counted?
By Geopath, which OUTFRONT, Blue Line Media and AdQuick cite, and whose definitions separate two numbers that vendor decks often merge. Circulation is "a measurement of traffic volume in a market" that "only estimates the number of people with an opportunity to see an Out of Home display". Impressions are "the total number of times people passing an OOH display are likely to notice the ad", built from traffic counts, a visibility adjustment for the board's size, side of road, distance and illumination, and reported weekly (Geopath glossary, read 24 October 2026). A Geopath CPM is "the cost of delivering 1000 impressions from individuals who see the advertising", which is a smaller number than opportunities to see.
The practical test is whether the impression figure is per face or per market. Blue Line prints 1,579,618 four-week impressions for a New York static bulletin, a per-face figure. OUTFRONT's New York FAQ answers "how many impressions do billboards in New York City generate daily" with "a billboard in New York City delivers over 1.4 billion impressions weekly, with a CPM of $12.43", which can only be a market total attached to a single-board sentence. Ask for the Geopath impressions of the specific face, with the period, and divide the price yourself. How the other formats in the city are counted is set out in the city-wide format table.
What to Ask Before You Sign
- Unit: the seller's face ID, the address, the direction it reads and the road it reads to.
- Legality: the seller's current OAC registration number, whether the face is on its Department of Buildings inventory, and whether the sign permit is current.
- Unit of sale: a 28-day cycle or a calendar month, and for digital the spot length, loop length and number of advertisers.
- Price basis: media only, or media plus printing, posting and, for wallscapes, rigging.
- Audience: Geopath impressions for that face and that period, not a market total.
- Proof: posting photographs for static, play logs for digital, and who signs them off.
Where a New York billboard sits against the subway, taxi tops, street furniture and the rest, and which agency regulates each, is the decision table on the advertising in New York City page.
Where the Zoning Resolution leaves no permitted face on the blocks a plan needs, the street-level alternative is the moving format, which the sign rules do not reach: the Zoning Resolution governs signs, and a vehicle licensed by the Taxi and Limousine Commission is exempt by name from the Traffic Rules' advertising-vehicle ban when its advertising follows the Commission's rules. Firefly, whose digital-top network lists New York first among its markets, sells GPS-enabled digital tops that can be scheduled by neighbourhood, time of day and day of week, plus static tops and full, partial and door wraps for vehicles with or without a digital top (on a taxi or for-hire vehicle, a wrap needs TLC authorization: 35 RCNY 58-32(c), 59A-29(e)(1)); SOMO sells digital tops on yellow taxis; resellers such as Blue Line Media list static and digital taxi tops. A top does not hold one face for a four-week cycle, and its delivery is measured with the GPS built into each top, not a Geopath count per face, so the two are compared on reach through the blocks a sign cannot stand on, not on a like-for-like CPM.
Disclosure: the editor of this site is employed by Firefly, one of the sellers named above; the link to Firefly is marked sponsored, and no Firefly price appears on this page.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does it cost to put an ad on a billboard in NYC?
Blue Line Media's New York City rate card lists a static poster at $2,000 to $5,000, a static bulletin at $5,500 to $24,000, a digital bulletin at $7,000 to $24,000 and a wallscape at $20,000 to $350,000, each per four weeks, with a $5,000 minimum spend. AdQuick's New York City guide puts a Manhattan static bulletin at $10,000 to $35,000. Clear Channel Outdoor, OUTFRONT and Lamar, which own the boards, publish no rate card. None of these figures is a quote.
Who owns the billboards in NYC?
Clear Channel Outdoor, OUTFRONT Media and Lamar sell the roadside boards, and Clear Channel also holds the MTA's billboard concession, 319 locations on transit property, and the advertising at JFK, LaGuardia, Newark and Stewart airports. Street furniture is JCDecaux under a New York City Department of Transportation franchise. Times Square spectaculars are sold by OUTFRONT, Clear Channel, Silvercast, Branded Cities, New Tradition and others.
Are billboards legal in New York City?
Yes, but only where zoning allows an advertising sign: C6-5, C6-7 and C8 in commercial districts, and M1 to M3 in manufacturing districts. Within 200 feet of an arterial highway or a public park of half an acre or more, and in view of it, no new advertising sign may go up, with a narrow exception, in manufacturing districts only, for some truck routes near the city line. The company selling the sign must be a registered Outdoor Advertising Company, and most signs need a Department of Buildings permit.
How do I put something on a billboard in New York?
Buy a four-week flight from the owner of the face, from a marketplace such as AdQuick, or from a reseller such as Blue Line Media. Name the unit by ID and direction, get the flight dates and, for digital, the spot length, loop length and number of advertisers in writing, and budget production separately. OUTFRONT says static billboards need approximately four weeks for production and installation in New York; digital is faster.
Is there a 40-dollar billboard at Times Square?
In a narrow sense, yes. Blindspot, a self-serve platform, advertises Times Square exposure from about $40 and lists TSX at 1568 Broadway "From $40 / 15-sec slot". That buys one play on one screen, not a media flight. Media rates on Times Square screens start in the tens of thousands per four weeks; the detail is on this site's Times Square guide.
What is the average cost of a digital billboard in NYC?
Blue Line Media lists a New York digital bulletin at $7,000 to $24,000 per four weeks and prints a $15,500 average; AdQuick's national range for a shared digital rotation is $3,500 to $25,000. A digital board is sold as a share of a loop: OUTFRONT's New York Digital Bulletin Network runs an 8-second spot in a 64-second loop with 8 advertisers, so the price buys one eighth of the screen. Those are published estimates, not quotes.
The Bottom Line
A New York billboard is a scarce, grandfathered, registered object sold by a short list of owners who do not print prices. Use the seller table to know who holds the face, the Zoning Resolution and the DOB register to know whether it is allowed to be there, Geopath's definitions to test the impression figure, and the reseller ranges only as an order of magnitude. Then get the quote, with the face ID and the permit status on it.
Brief received.
It is in the queue and will be read by a person. Expect a reply with questions rather than a quote.
Describe the New York campaign
Market, timing and the format decision still open. A person reads every brief and replies with questions, not a rate card.
Sources
- Blue Line Media, New York City, NY Billboard Advertising (rate table, impressions, CPMs, $5,000 minimum, 8,873-face market snapshot, top-ten county table, AI-generated content notice) · bluelinemedia.com · read 24 October 2026
- MTA Board, Finance Committee staff summary, license agreement with Clear Channel Outdoor for billboard advertising on MTA agency properties (25 September 2024; 15-year term from 1 November 2024; 319 locations; $21 million in 2023; compensation terms; five proposers) · mta.info/document/152076 (PDF) · read 24 October 2026
- Clear Channel Outdoor via PR Newswire, Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) Awards Clear Channel Outdoor a 15-Year Deal (13 November 2024; board vote 25 September 2024; more than 250 roadside displays on MTA property) · prnewswire.com · read 24 October 2026
- Billboard Insider, OUTFRONT's CEO on Losing the MTA Billboard Contract to Clear Channel (14 November 2024) · billboardinsider.com · read 24 October 2026
- NYC Buildings, List of Active Outdoor Advertising Companies (dated 23 November 2022; 39 companies; expiry dates to 21 December 2024) · nyc.gov/buildings (PDF) · read 24 October 2026
- NYC Buildings, Sign permit requirements (permit exemptions for painted and small unlit signs; licensed sign hangers, Construction Code 28-415) · nyc.gov/buildings · read 24 October 2026
- AdQuick, New York City Outdoor Advertising Guide (published 6 April 2026; Manhattan and outer-borough bulletin rows) · adquick.com · read 24 October 2026
- Blindspot, How to Effortlessly Get on a Times Square Billboard for Just $40 (updated 29 July 2026) · seeblindspot.com · read 24 October 2026
- AdQuick, How Much Does a Billboard Cost? 2026 Prices & CPM (New York City metro row, digital and format ranges, loop structure, production figures) · adquick.com/billboard-cost · read 24 October 2026
- Clear Channel Outdoor, New York Tri-State Advertising (800-plus roadside displays, MTA-property inventory, airports, Times Square, 500 million weekly impressions; no rates) · clearchanneloutdoor.com · read 24 October 2026
- OUTFRONT Media, New York City Billboards & Subway Advertising (formats, $12.43 CPM FAQ, four-week static production, Penn Digital facing MSG) · outfront.com/markets/new-york-city · read 24 October 2026
- OUTFRONT Media, New York media kit (last revised 10 August 2026; Digital Bulletin Network of 13 units, 8-second spot in a 64-second loop, 8 advertisers; wallscapes) · PDF · read 24 October 2026
- Lamar Advertising, Outdoor Advertising & Billboards in NYC & New Jersey (five boroughs and New Jersey; products; no rates) · lamar.com/nyc · read 24 October 2026
- NYC DOT, Coordinated Street Furniture (Cemusa award, JCDecaux restated agreement, over 3,300 bus shelters, up to 40 automatic public toilets, advertising rights) · nyc.gov/dot · read 24 October 2026
- Branded Cities, New York · brandedcities.com · read 24 October 2026
- MTA, Advertising and activations (Clear Channel Outdoor for billboard locations; OUTFRONT for transit) · mta.info · read 24 October 2026
- New York City Zoning Resolution, Section 32-63, Permitted Advertising Signs (C6-5, C6-7, C8; last amended 6 June 2024) · zr.planning.nyc.gov · read 24 October 2026
- New York City Zoning Resolution, Section 32-662, Additional regulations for advertising signs (200-foot arterial and park rule, distance-for-area rule, 1968 and 1979 grandfathering; last amended 6 June 2024) · zr.planning.nyc.gov · read 24 October 2026
- New York City Zoning Resolution, Section 42-65, Additional Regulations for Signs Near Certain Parks and Designated Arterial Highways (M1 to M3; no advertising signs and a 500-square-foot cap within 200 feet; one square foot per linear foot beyond; city-line exception; last amended 6 June 2024) · zr.planning.nyc.gov · read 24 October 2026
- NYC Buildings, Outdoor Advertising Registration Program (OAC registration, 900-foot and 200-foot inventory rules, registration fees, $25,000-per-day fines) · nyc.gov/buildings · read 24 October 2026
- NYC Buildings, Sign (accessory versus advertising sign definitions) · nyc.gov/buildings · read 24 October 2026
- CBS New York, N.Y. Lawmakers Move To Outlaw Floating Billboards (21 June 2019; 1,500-foot rule; $1,000 and $5,000 fines; Ballyhoo Media) · cbsnews.com · read 24 October 2026
- Geopath, Glossary (circulation, impressions, visibility adjustment, CPM) · geopath.org/glossary · read 24 October 2026
Corrected 24 October 2026. Blue Line Media's New York wallscape figures are now $20,000 to $350,000 with a $185,000 average and a CPM of $11 to $190, and its static bulletin figures 1,579,618 impressions and a CPM of $3 to $15, as its page reads today; Blue Line assigns its digital bulletin nearly 80% more impressions than the static one, not 40% more; the $40 answer now names Blindspot's self-serve plays; Clear Channel's airports are named; and the zoning section separates the commercial-district rule (32-662) from the manufacturing-district rule (42-65).
Corrected 25 October 2026. The taxi exemption from the Traffic Rules now carries its condition, that the advertising follows the Commission's rules.