Global launches its biggest-ever billboard network — and OOH’s data race heats up
Updated: Sep 1
In short: Global has launched ‘Billboards by Global’, a 4,500-panel out-of-home network — including 600+ digital 48-sheets — that reaches 43.1m people (77.5% of the UK population) every fortnight, positioned around scale, creativity and measurable outcomes.
What Global launched
Media and entertainment group Global has unveiled Billboards by Global, which it bills as the UK’s largest 48-sheet billboard network. The offering combines more than 4,500 billboard panels nationwide with over 600 digital 48-sheet sites — more than doubling Global’s previous digital footprint. It claims a fortnightly reach of 43.1 million people, or 77.5% of the UK population, and over 740 million impacts.
The network is built around three pillars: Scale (mass national reach), Creativity (an in-house team plus a partnership with Bird London) and Data & Outcomes, including new measurement tools — Access All Audiences for Billboards and Outcomes — powered by Global’s data platform, Global:IQ. Group chief executive Simon Pitts said billboards ‘help brands show up in a way that feels immediate, public and powerful’.
Why the timing is smart
Out-of-home is having a moment. It grew 15% year on year in the latest AA/WARC data — one of the fastest-growing channels in UK advertising — as brands rediscover the fame and trust that public, brand-safe environments deliver in an era of digital scepticism. Launching a flagship network into that tailwind is well judged.
The deeper play is data. Historically OOH’s weakness was proof: buyers could see the poster but struggled to measure its effect. By wrapping billboards in audience and outcome measurement, Global is trying to make classic OOH accountable enough to compete with digital channels for performance budgets, not just brand budgets.
Marketing Minute’s read
This is the same shift we flagged in television: every ‘offline’ medium is racing to become measurable. The prize for OOH is real — combine the fame and credibility of a physical billboard with digital-style attribution, and you have a channel that is hard to argue with in a plan. Global adding data tools is less about the panels and more about competing for the outcome-led budgets that used to flow automatically to search and social.
A note of realism: reach and impact figures from any media owner are a starting point for negotiation, not gospel. The genuinely useful development is the measurement layer. Treat the headline numbers as the pitch and the outcome tools as the thing to actually interrogate.
What UK businesses should do
If you have written off billboards as unmeasurable, it is time to look again — but look at the proof, not the poster. Ask any OOH partner three things: how they define and verify audience reach, what outcomes they can actually measure (footfall, search lift, sales), and how that data plugs into the rest of your plan. Used well, a public, brand-safe billboard can do something a feed rarely can — make your brand famous. The new data layer just means you can finally prove it did.
Quick FAQ
What is Billboards by Global?
It is a new out-of-home advertising network from media group Global, described as the UK’s largest 48-sheet billboard network, spanning 4,500+ panels and 600+ digital 48-sheets with a fortnightly reach of 43.1 million people.
How is out-of-home advertising becoming more measurable?
Media owners are adding audience and outcome measurement tools — such as Global’s Access All Audiences and Outcomes, powered by Global:IQ — that let advertisers verify reach and track effects like footfall and search lift, making OOH more comparable with digital channels.
Is out-of-home advertising growing in the UK?
Yes. Out-of-home grew 15% year on year in the latest AA/WARC Expenditure Report, making it one of the fastest-growing UK advertising channels as brands value public, brand-safe environments.
— Dimitro Cohen, Technology & Ad-Tech Correspondent at Marketing Minute
The takeaway: out-of-home is turning measurable — judge new networks on their proof of outcomes, not their reach headlines, and use OOH’s fame where feeds can’t compete.
Has your business dismissed billboards as unmeasurable — and would credible outcome data change your mind?
If you would like to know more about this topic, please contact us on danieln@merxmarketing.co.uk
Written by Dimitro Cohen, Technology & Ad-Tech Correspondent at Marketing Minute
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