The Linc to get digital billboard ads next year

Expect to do a little light reading while travelling on the Linc.

Three digital billboards are being erected on public land along the main artery. It’s part of a 12-unit effort that will put half a million dollars a year in city coffers.

The city isn’t getting into the advertising business, says Brian MacDonald, manager of strategic partnerships and revenue generation.

It’s renting out the space to Outfront Media. In return, Hamilton is getting $500,000 a year, plus a $100,000 signing bonus.

The signs along the Linc will measure three metres high and 15 metres wide for the one near Upper Ottawa behind the fire hall on Limeridge Road and three metres high and 11 metres wide for the two across from each other at the hydro corridor near the Mohawk-Golf Links exit.

Most of the others across the city will be three metres by six metres.

“There’s a lot of consideration around residential impact,” said MacDonald.

That’s why the three Linc locations are in areas where they won’t face homes, he said.

They will also be turned off between midnight and 6 a.m., he said.

The billboards, which have an LED screen, will feature static images rather than moving ones. The brightness will be toned down as the natural light dims so as to avoid being a distraction.

The first of the billboards is already up at King Street West and Dundurn Street.

MacDonald said he believes the Linc signs will be next, probably early in the new year, with the rest operating by the end of 2018.