Cost guide
What billboards cost —
and what else that buys.
Billboard pricing explained in plain terms, plus what the same budget buys as street-level bike advertising across the neighborhoods you actually sell in.
Short answer
Billboards are rented by the face, usually in four-week blocks, and priced on the traffic passing them. Entry-level positions in smaller markets start in the hundreds; well-placed urban faces run into four and five figures per four weeks, before production and installation. One face is one location — reach is whatever passes that spot. The same budget spent on bicycle seat covers buys hundreds or thousands of moving surfaces spread across the districts you choose.
| Budget | Roughly one billboard face buys | The same budget in bike covers |
|---|---|---|
| $300 | Production costs only, in most markets | 250 covers — a neighborhood presence |
| $1,200 | A short run on a low-traffic face | 1,000 covers — a citywide campaign |
| $6,000 | A few weeks on a good urban face | 5,000 covers — a market takeover |
Ranges for other formats are commonly published US market figures collected for planning comparison — they are indicative, vary widely by market and vendor, and are not quotes. The bicycle seat cover rate is ours.
Why one face is a fragile buy
A billboard concentrates your entire campaign into a single coordinate. If your customers do not drive that road, you have bought exposure to people who will never visit you. Frequency is high for the same commuters and zero for everyone else.
Distributed formats invert that. Five hundred covers moving through a district reach different people on different streets at different hours, and they park at eye level outside the shops, gyms and cafes where those people already are.
The hidden line items
Billboard quotes rarely end at the rental. Add print production, installation, and often a design fee, plus a minimum commitment of one to three four-week cycles. Changing creative mid-flight means reprinting and re-posting.
Our pricing is the cover, printed, plus shipping. Artwork comes out of the mockup studio, so there is no separate design bill.
When a billboard is still the right call
If you need one enormous, unmissable statement in a fixed place — a stadium approach, a highway into town, a launch stunt — a billboard does something no distributed format can. We will say so rather than sell against it.
Bike advertising wins where the goal is neighborhood penetration, repeated local exposure and physical presence rather than one monumental image.
From $1.20 per cover, 250 minimum. Managed campaigns from 1,000+ bikes.
Estimate my campaign →Campaign Estimator
Price your own
campaign in a minute.
Five questions gets you a campaign shape, an estimated exposure range and an indicative budget band. A media planner reads every brief.
Estimates use an illustrative model of ~80 street-level views per cover per day. They are planning ranges, not guaranteed delivery.
FAQ
Questions buyers ask.
How much does a billboard cost per month?
It depends almost entirely on traffic and market. Rural and small-market faces can start in the low hundreds per four weeks, while prime urban positions reach four or five figures, plus production and installation. Always ask what the quote excludes.
Is bike advertising cheaper than a billboard?
To start, yes — a 250-cover campaign is $300 plus shipping at $1.20 per cover. What matters more is that the spend is distributed across the streets you choose instead of concentrated in one fixed position.
Can I run both?
Often the strongest plan. A billboard anchors awareness at one high-traffic point while covers carry the same mark into the surrounding neighborhoods at street level.
How long does it take to get a campaign live?
Two to three weeks from approved artwork to covers on the street, including print and distribution.