The main locations for digital billboard advertising in the UK include central London and its arterial roads, Manchester city centre and key approaches, central Birmingham and the M5 corridor, Leeds, Liverpool, Glasgow and Edinburgh.
The important question, however, is not simply which city has digital screens. It is where within that city your audience is likely to encounter them.
A screen near Piccadilly Circus serves a central London retail and visitor environment. A site on the M4 reaches people travelling between Heathrow, West London and central London. In Manchester, screens around Piccadilly Gardens and Piccadilly Station sit within major pedestrian, commuter and road movements.
That distinction should guide location planning.
London
London offers several distinct digital billboard environments, so it helps to choose the area according to the audience journey you want to reach.
Piccadilly Circus and the West End
Piccadilly Circus is one of the UK’s established landmark digital advertising locations.
It sits within the West End, close to Regent Street, Leicester Square, Soho and major theatre, hospitality and retail destinations. This creates a broad audience mix that includes London residents, workers, shoppers and domestic and international visitors.
Consider this area when the campaign needs a highly visible central London presence, particularly around retail, entertainment, fashion, travel, launches and major brand activity.
Shoreditch and East London
Shoreditch serves a different part of London’s audience landscape.
Shoreditch High Street sits close to the City while also serving offices, restaurants, bars, hotels and entertainment venues across East London.
The Shoreditch High Street digital screen provides large format visibility within this environment.
It is worth considering when your audience is connected with East London workplaces, technology and creative businesses, hospitality or leisure activity.
M4 and A4
The M4 and A4 should be considered when the journey itself matters.
This corridor connects Heathrow, West London and central London, placing roadside advertising in front of audiences travelling between the airport, residential areas, business districts and the centre of the capital.
The Silver Screen on the M4 is one example of large format inventory on this route.
For airport related, business travel or West London briefs, reviewing this corridor can be more useful than limiting the search to central London screens.
You can also review billboard advertising locations across London to see how available sites extend across central districts and major road corridors.
Manchester
Manchester has two particularly useful audience environments to consider: central pedestrian and commuter locations, and the major roads around the city centre.
Piccadilly
Piccadilly is a useful starting point for campaigns seeking commuter and central Manchester audiences.
A large digital screen at Piccadilly Gardens is visible across the gardens and from Oldham Street and Lever Street. The nearby tram stop adds commuter movement to the area’s pedestrian, restaurant and leisure audiences.
Another digital screen at Gateway Piccadilly sits on the pedestrian route between the city centre and Manchester Piccadilly Station and can be seen by both pedestrians and road traffic. The station recorded average weekly footfall of 658,300 according to 2024 data cited for the site.
These locations make the Piccadilly area particularly relevant when the brief involves commuters, workers, visitors or people moving between the station and central Manchester.
Mancunian Way
For road audiences, look towards Mancunian Way and the routes surrounding central Manchester.
The Manchester Digital Tower sits within this road environment.
This type of placement makes sense when the campaign needs exposure during journeys into, around or out of central Manchester, rather than relying entirely on pedestrian locations.
Spinningfields
Spinningfields is another useful area when the audience brief is centred on Manchester’s business and leisure population.
Current digital networks operate across locations including Hardman Square and Crown Square in Spinningfields, placing screens within an environment used by business professionals alongside retail and leisure audiences.
For campaigns covering the wider city, billboard advertising in Manchester extends across central areas and key routes used by road and commuter audiences.
Birmingham
Birmingham digital billboard advertising offers useful choices between central retail and pedestrian audiences and road traffic travelling through the wider West Midlands.
New Street and Bullring
Central Birmingham is relevant when the campaign needs to reach audiences already within the city’s retail, business and leisure environment.
Digital inventory is available around New Street and the Bullring area, with large format city centre screens forming part of established UK digital networks.
This part of Birmingham is particularly useful for campaigns linked to retail, entertainment, food and drink, launches and city centre activity.
M5 Corridor
For motorists, the M5 provides a different audience journey.
The M5 Digi Tower sits between junctions 1 and 2, placing the campaign on a major road serving Birmingham and the wider West Midlands.
When reviewing motorway inventory, always check which carriageway the screen faces and the direction of travel. A screen should be selected around the journey you need to reach, not simply because it sits on a major motorway.
These locations form part of the wider billboard advertising network in Birmingham, covering central areas and major routes serving the city.
Leeds
In Leeds, location planning should distinguish between central retail and business audiences and people travelling into the city.
For central activity, look around Briggate, the Headrow, Leeds Station and the surrounding commercial district. These areas bring together retail, offices, hospitality and transport within a relatively concentrated part of the city.
Large format digital inventory is also available within Leeds as part of national city centre networks.
For a commuter focused brief, review the arterial routes approaching central Leeds and check the direction each screen faces. This can help identify placements seen on journeys into the city during relevant travel periods.
Liverpool
Liverpool is particularly useful when the campaign brief involves retail, entertainment, visitors or central city audiences.
The area around Liverpool ONE, Church Street and Lime Street concentrates shopping, transport, leisure and visitor activity.
Liverpool also has established a large format digital inventory. The Liverpool Media Wall is one example of a prominent full motion city screen, while Liverpool forms part of wider UK large format digital networks.
For visitor led campaigns, consider the relationship between the screen and destinations such as the retail core, waterfront and entertainment areas. For local reach, major routes into the centre may provide a more relevant journey.
Glasgow
Glasgow offers useful options for both central city audiences and motorists.
For pedestrian and retail activity, focus on the central area around Buchanan Street, Argyle Street and Sauchiehall Street.
Large format digital sites are also available around Glasgow’s gateways and arterial roads, including screens serving the southern and western approaches to the city.
Roadside digital inventory is also present on routes including Duke Street and Shettleston Road, providing options beyond the immediate city centre.
This means a Glasgow plan can be built around the specific audience journey, from central shopping activity to people travelling through the wider urban area.
Edinburgh
Edinburgh requires particular attention to where and when the campaign runs.
Central locations around Princes Street, St James Quarter and Waverley serve shopping, commuting and visitor journeys.
Digital networks are present at St James Quarter, while large format inventory includes the Edinburgh Media Wall and screens serving city gateway locations.
Campaign dates also matter in Edinburgh because major events can substantially change how people move through the centre.
If a campaign is connected with the summer festival period, tourism or a major event, check availability early and select sites around the relevant audience movement during those dates.
What Should You Check Before Choosing a Screen?
Once you have identified the right area, assess the individual placement.
Check which way the screen faces. For roadside sites, this tells you which journey the campaign reaches.
Look at the immediate surroundings. A screen near a station, shopping district or airport route can encounter a recognisable audience journey.
Review the sightline and viewing distance. Current site photography is useful here.
Confirm whether the placement reaches pedestrians, road traffic or both. For example, Gateway Piccadilly in Manchester is positioned to reach both pedestrian and vehicle movement.
Finally, check current availability and the specific format offered at the site.
OOH International’s billboard advertising formats provide further context on the types of billboard inventory available across the UK.
Start With the Audience Journey
The most useful digital billboard location is the one that intersects with a relevant audience journey.
That might mean reaching international travellers between Heathrow and central London, commuters arriving around Manchester Piccadilly, shoppers in central Birmingham or motorists travelling along a regional arterial route.
Define that journey first. Then shortlist the roads, districts and screens that sit within it.
This gives each location a clear reason for being on the media plan and makes it easier to assess whether the proposed site actually fits the campaign.
For specific UK locations for billboard advertising and current availability, contact OOH International with the audience, campaign dates and geographic areas you need to cover.