Going Digital: First Bus Tickets, Next Billboards!

The digital Revolution is speeding up. First the bus-ticket machines are in retirement and planned to be removed… now it’s the turn of the marketing billboards managed by the Town Hall (Mairie). 

Aesthetically, the Principality is changing before our eyes because both these visual features in the Principality are high profile and they are part of our everyday life. 

As far as the billboards run by the Mairie are concerned we typically are used to seeing a row of 4×3 panels of publicity. There’s also an even older version of advertising still in play… used for over a century, that of big paper posters and a whole system that goes with that of stopping people putting posters willy-nilly without permission. If let run riot people would be putting paper posters on anything they could (including windows around Casino Square). Paper posters like the Mairie’s 4×3 panel publicity system are being relegated to the history books. 

The municipal council of Monaco wants more modern and prettier advertising panels going into the new era for their city and the residents. So they are going digital. 

The installation of a digital panel is exacting. For example it must meet today’s ecological standards, in the choice of materials. And the brightness is automatically lowered when there is strong sunlight. These signs are also turned off between 10 p.m. at night and 6 a.m. next morning. 

Who manages the billboards?

The municipality of Monaco manages all the advertising panels in the public domain and those located in public underground galleries in the Principality. And logically it is the municipality of Monaco which regulates the price list on its panels. 

There are some other high profile billboards not managed by the Mairie, those placed under bus stops or on the back of buses or even those involved in privately managed car parks.

Money at Stake 

The conversion has to be managed carefully, not to upset the flow of funds from advertisers. There’s more than one and a half million euros that is an important contributor to the Municipality’s budget. And that money gets recycled into important projects to help in social projects, or for example fund crèches or undertake emergency work.

The prices for advertising on the billboards have recently been put up by 5% and the total budgeted revenue is 1.7 million euros. And there is a multiplier applied to the prices at peak times like the Grand Prix when the audience is multiplied. 

Where’s Impacted 

Already removed:

• a 12 m2 panel on avenue Prince-Pierre in 2020
• five windows of 16 m² each on avenue du Port and one on boulevard Princesse Charlotte,
• 4×3 panels from boulevard Rainier-III

Next removals under study:

• Boulevard d’Italie 
• Boulevard de la Princesse Charlotte.