Traffic direction affects billboard location choice because it determines who approaches the advertising, when they see it and where they are travelling next.
A billboard facing traffic heading into a city centre can reach morning commuters on their way to work. The same location facing outbound traffic may reach people travelling home, towards residential areas or to evening destinations.
For advertisers, this means two billboards on opposite sides of the same road can have very different value even when the overall traffic volume is similar.
Effective billboard advertising therefore considers traffic direction alongside audience profile, road speed, viewing distance, approach angle, dwell time and proximity to the destination relevant to the campaign.
Why Is Traffic Direction Important for Billboard Advertising?
Traffic direction provides context to a billboard’s audience.
A traffic count may show how many vehicles use a road, but the total figure does not necessarily tell an advertiser how many relevant road users approach a particular advertising face.
Three things provide more useful context:
- Who is travelling in this direction?
- Where are they going?
- Is the billboard visible before or after the point where the message becomes useful?
Consider a billboard near a shopping centre.
A panel facing motorists travelling towards the shopping centre can influence people before they reach it. A panel facing the opposite direction may reach many of the same people after they have already left.
Both sites can provide exposure. Only one may be strategically positioned to influence an immediate visit.
This is why billboard planning should evaluate directional traffic rather than road traffic alone.
Inbound vs Outbound Traffic
One of the first decisions when assessing a roadside billboard is whether the advertising face reaches inbound or outbound traffic.
Inbound Traffic
Inbound traffic generally refers to people travelling towards a city centre, business district or another destination.
These locations can be relevant for campaigns targeting:
- Office commuters
- Business decision makers
- City centre shoppers
- Tourists entering a city
- People travelling towards events
A B2B advertiser, for example, may prefer a site seen by commuters approaching a commercial district in the morning.
Outbound Traffic
Outbound traffic generally reaches people travelling away from a central area towards residential districts, suburbs or other destinations.
That direction can suit different purchasing moments.
Restaurants, supermarkets, entertainment venues and home related services may find evening outbound journeys relevant because the audience is moving into the next part of its day.
The correct choice is therefore not inbound versus outbound in isolation. It is whichever direction better matches the audience and desired action.
Direction of Travel Can Put Billboard Advertising Closer to a Decision
One of the most useful ways to evaluate billboard direction is to ask:
What is the audience likely to do after seeing this billboard?
This becomes particularly important for campaigns linked to physical destinations.
Consider a roadside advert for a hotel located near the next motorway exit.
A billboard seen before the exit can tell drivers where to leave the road. The same advertising message positioned after the exit has lost much of its immediate directional value.
The principle applies to:
- Shopping centres
- Supermarkets
- Restaurants
- Hotels
- Property developments
- Airports
- Tourist attractions
- Entertainment venues
- Events
This creates an important distinction between visibility and actionable visibility.
A billboard can be highly visible without being positioned at the most useful point in the customer’s journey.
Traffic Direction and Time of Day Should Be Considered Together
The value of each carriageway can change during the day.
Morning commuter traffic may be concentrated towards employment centres. In the evening, traffic flows can reverse as people return towards residential areas.
An advertiser targeting office workers could therefore place greater value on an inbound facing billboard during the morning commute.
A restaurant or grocery advertiser might see greater relevance in the opposite direction during the journey home.
This becomes particularly useful with digital out of home advertising, where suitable sites can potentially run different creative according to time of day.
For example:
Morning inbound traffic: coffee or breakfast message.
Evening outbound traffic: restaurant, grocery or entertainment message.
The physical billboard has not changed. The audience context has.
That is why direction, time and creative should be considered together.
How Does Road Speed Affect Billboard Choice?
Traffic direction tells you who approaches the billboard. Road speed helps determine how long they have to see it.
A site beside a fast motorway creates a different viewing environment from a billboard beside slow moving urban traffic.
At higher speeds, the audience has less time to process:
- the brand
- headline
- image
- offer
- call to action
Creative for these environments needs to communicate quickly.
Slower moving traffic can provide longer viewing opportunities, particularly around congestion points, junction approaches and traffic signals.
However, slow traffic does not automatically make a site better. A billboard still needs a clear line of sight from the relevant direction.
Traffic speed and direction should therefore be evaluated together rather than as separate site selection metrics.
What Is a Billboard’s Approach Angle?
The approach angle is the relationship between the advertising face and the direction from which traffic sees it.
A billboard positioned naturally ahead of approaching vehicles is easier to notice than one sitting at an awkward angle to the road.
This matters because a billboard can be physically close to a busy route without providing a strong view from that route.
When assessing an OOH billboard location, advertisers should consider:
- How early the billboard becomes visible
- Whether it faces approaching traffic
- Whether the road curves before the site
- Whether buildings or trees obstruct it
- Whether another sign blocks the view
- Whether drivers are changing lanes
- Whether the billboard remains visible long enough to understand the message
This is one reason a location should not be evaluated from a map alone.
The actual approach experienced by the audience is what determines practical visibility.
Junctions Can Make Traffic Figures Misleading
Major junctions can produce impressive traffic numbers, but they require more detailed analysis.
Imagine a billboard beside a junction used by 80,000 vehicles per day.
That does not necessarily mean 80,000 vehicles have a clear view of the advertising.
Some vehicles may approach from behind the billboard. Others may join the road after passing it. Another traffic stream may see the panel from an unsuitable angle.
Advertisers therefore need to distinguish between:
traffic around the location and traffic exposed to the advertising face.
This is particularly important around:
- Roundabouts
- Motorway interchanges
- Flyovers
- Slip roads
- Multi lane junctions
- Complex urban intersections
A lower headline traffic figure with a stronger approach can sometimes provide a more useful advertising opportunity.
What Happens Before the Billboard Matters Too
Visibility should be assessed before the audience reaches the advertising face.
Drivers approaching a complicated junction may be concentrating on road signs, navigation or lane changes.
A billboard positioned immediately within that decision point could compete with the driving task for attention.
Further along the same road, the viewing environment might become considerably cleaner.
Advertisers should therefore examine the approach sequence:
When does the billboard first become visible?
What else is competing for attention?
How long does the audience have before passing it?
This provides more useful information than simply knowing the billboard dimensions and road name.
Airport Routes Show Why Directional Planning Matters
Airport corridors are a particularly clear example.
Consider two billboards on opposite sides of an airport road.
Traffic Heading Towards the Airport
This audience can include:
- departing passengers
- business travellers
- airport employees
- people dropping off passengers
Campaigns for travel services, airlines, airport retail or other departure related products may find this journey relevant.
Traffic Leaving the Airport
The opposite direction can reach people who have recently arrived.
This audience may include international tourists, business visitors and returning residents travelling towards hotels, commercial districts or city centres.
Hotels, attractions, property brands, financial services and destination marketing campaigns may find this arrival journey particularly useful.
Traffic Direction Is Important for Retail Billboard Advertising
Retail campaigns provide another practical example.
Imagine a retailer has a store inside a shopping centre beside a major road. Three possible sites are available:
High Traffic Site After the Shopping Centre: This billboard reaches a large audience, but drivers have already passed the shopping centre.
Approach Site Before the Shopping Centre: This billboard has lower traffic, but drivers see it shortly before reaching the shopping centre entrance.
High Traffic Site With Limited Visibility: This billboard reaches traffic heading towards the shopping centre, but its poor viewing angle makes the advertising harder to see.
Traffic volume alone might make the first or third site appear more attractive.
When traffic direction, visibility and proximity to the destination are considered together, the approach site before the shopping centre could be more strategically relevant.
How We Approach Billboard Advertising Location Planning
Selecting a billboard should begin with the campaign objective and audience rather than a list of available sites.
At OOH International, our planning considers how audiences move through a location, which direction they travel, the viewing environment and how each billboard contributes to the wider campaign.
This becomes particularly important for campaigns running across several cities or countries. Road layouts, commuting patterns, traffic behaviour and available billboard advertising formats differ between markets.
A site that works for an airport arrival campaign may be wrong for a commuter campaign, even when both billboards sit on the same road.
Get in touch with OOH International to discuss your campaign objectives and identify billboard locations that align with the audiences and journeys you want to reach.