Toronto's newest billboard is bigger than most downtown condos

Outdoor advertising has come a long way since the roadside billboards of yore, which appear to be made of wooden planks when people scale them in 90s movies.

Bus shelter ads can be super creative and real estate bench takeovers are funny, but digital billboards, like the kind you'll see while driving along Toronto's Gardiner Expressway, really changed the game when they hit the scene near the end of the 20th century.

A computer-controlled screen that can run multiple ads on loop? Ingenious. But you know what's even better? A really, really big computer-controlled screen that can run multiple ads on loop.

PATTISON, Canada's largest "out-of-home advertising" firm, just unveiled the latest development in billboard technology with the launch of its first ever dual-sided "Digital Superboard" in Toronto.

Currently looming over the Gardiner Expressway just west of Dufferin Street, the monster 16 x 56 monitor takes up about 896 square feet of space — larger than most, if not nearly all one-bedroom condos in the downtown core.

At 896 Square Feet, Toronto's New Digital Superboard Is Superbad https://t.co/qn1nO6uInz via @MediaPost @mp_joemandese

— harker|bos group (@harkerbosgroup) December 2, 2020

Urbanation reported an average available unit size of 676-square-feet in the City of Toronto during Q3 of 2020, so... that's not even close to an exaggeration.

While bigger than most condo floor plans in this city, the billboard's surface is actually made up of "MRI VISIONiQ 13.3-millimetre LED displays," according to Media Resources Inc., which partnered with PATTISON to design, engineer and install the Superboard.

"At 896 square-feet, this dynamic dual-sided Digital Superboard will provide wide-viewing angles and stunningly detailed image quality intended to generate maximum exposure for commuters travelling along the Gardiner Expressway," reads a release announcing the big new glowing screen.

"Toronto's newest Digital Superboards offer promising exposure for advertisers looking to communicate with a mass audience among this culturally diverse and growing population."

In the interest of COVID safety, please do not congregate at the foot of the billboard to take pictures: You can "oooh" and "ahhh" at its splendor from inside a vehicle just fine.