About Lamar Advertising

Lamar Advertising Company operates as an outdoor advertising company in the United States. The company operates under the Lamar name. The company rents space for advertising on billboards, buses, shelters, benches, logo plates and in airport terminals. The company offers its customers a fully integrated service, satisfying all aspects of their display requirements from ad copy production to placement and maintenance. The company operates three types of outdoor advertising displays: billboards, logo signs and transit advertising displays. Billboards As of December 31, 2023, the company owned and operated approximately 160,400 billboard advertising displays in 45 states and Canada. The company rents most of its advertising space on two types of billboards: bulletins and posters. Bulletins are generally large, illuminated advertising structures that are located on major highways and target vehicular traffic. Posters are generally smaller advertising structures that are located on major traffic arteries and city streets and target vehicular and pedestrian traffic. In addition to traditional billboards, the company rents space on digital billboards, which are generally located on major traffic arteries and city streets. As of December 31, 2023, the company owned and operated approximately 4,750 digital billboard advertising displays in 43 states and Canada. Logo Signs The company rents advertising space on logo signs located near highway exits. Logo signs generally advertise nearby gas, food, camping, lodging and other attractions. The company is the largest provider of logo signs in the United States, operating 23 of the 26 privatized state logo sign contracts. As of December 31, 2023, the company operated approximately 139,250 logo sign advertising displays in 23 states and the province of Ontario, Canada. Transit Advertising Displays The company also rents advertising space on the exterior and interior of public transportation vehicles, in airport terminals, and on transit shelters and benches in over 80 markets. As of December 31, 2023, the company operated approximately 47,850 transit advertising displays in 24 states and Canada. Strategies The company strives to be a leading provider of outdoor advertising services in each of the markets that the company serves, and the company’s operating strategies include continuing to provide high quality local sales and service; continuing a centralized control and decentralized management structure; continuing to focus on internal growth; continuing to pursue other outdoor advertising opportunities; and growing the company’s out-of-home programmatic channel. Billboard Advertising The company rents most of its advertising space on two types of billboard advertising displays: bulletins and posters. As of December 31, 2023, the company owned and operated approximately 160,400 billboard advertising displays in 45 states and Canada. In 2023, the company derived approximately 77% of the company’s billboard advertising net revenues from bulletin rentals and 23% from poster rentals. Bulletins are large advertising structures (the most common size is 14 feet high by 48 feet wide, or 672 square feet) consisting of panels on which advertising copy is displayed. The company wraps advertising copy printed with computer-generated graphics on a single sheet of vinyl around the structure. To attract more attention, some of the panels may extend beyond the linear edges of the display face and may include three-dimensional embellishments. Because of their greater impact and higher cost, bulletins are usually located on major highways and target vehicular traffic. As of December 31, 2023, the company operated approximately 79,400 bulletin displays. The company generally rents individually-selected bulletin space to advertisers for the duration of the contract (ranging from 4 to 52 weeks). The company also rents bulletins as part of a rotary plan under which the company rotates the advertising copy from one bulletin location to another within a particular market at stated intervals (usually every sixty to ninety days) to achieve greater reach within that market. Posters are smaller advertising structures (the most common size is 11 feet high by 23 feet wide, or 253 square feet; the company also operates junior posters, which are 5 feet high by 11 feet wide, or 55 square feet). Poster panels utilize a single flexible sheet of polyethylene material that inserts onto the face of the panel. Posters are concentrated on major traffic arteries and target vehicular traffic, and junior posters are concentrated on city streets and target hard-to-reach pedestrian traffic and nearby residents. As of December 31, 2023, the company operated approximately 81,000 poster displays. The company generally rents poster space for 4 to 26 weeks, determined by the advertiser’s campaign needs. Posters are sold in packages of Target Rating Point (‘TRP’) levels, which determine the percentage of a target audience an advertiser needs to reach. A package may include a combination of poster locations in order to meet reach and frequency campaign goals. In addition to the traditional static displays, the company rents digital billboards. Digital billboards are large electronic light emitting diode (‘LED’) displays (the most common sizes are 14 feet high by 48 feet wide, or 672 square feet; 10.5 feet high by 36 feet wide, or 378 square feet; and 10 feet high by 21 feet wide, or 210 square feet) that are generally located on major traffic arteries and city streets. Digital billboards are capable of generating over one billion colors and vary in brightness based on ambient conditions. They display completely digital advertising copy from various advertisers in a slide show fashion, rotating each advertisement approximately every 6 to 8 seconds. As of December 31, 2023, the company’s inventory included approximately 4,750 digital display billboards in various markets. These 4,750 digital billboards generated approximately 31% of billboard advertising net revenue. The company owns the physical structures on which the advertising copy is displayed. The company builds the structures on locations the company either owns or leases. In each local office, one employee typically performs site leasing activities for the markets served by that office. In the majority of the company’s markets, the company’s local production staffs perform the full range of activities required to create and install billboard advertising displays. Production work includes creating the advertising copy design and layout, coordinating its printing and installing the designs on the displays. The company’s talented design staff uses state-of-the-art technology to prepare creative, eye-catching displays for the company’s tenants. The company can also help with the strategic placement of advertisements throughout an advertiser’s market by using software that allows the company to analyze the target audience and its demographics. The company’s artists also assist in developing marketing presentations, demonstrations and strategies to attract new tenant advertisers. Logo Sign Advertising The company entered the logo sign advertising business in 1988 and have become the largest provider of logo sign services in the United States, operating 23 of the 26 privatized state logo contracts. The company erects logo signs, which generally advertise nearby gas, food, camping, lodging and other attractions, and directional signs, which direct vehicle traffic to nearby services and tourist attractions, near highway exits. As of December 31, 2023, the company operated approximately 42,200 logo sign structures containing approximately 139,250 logo advertising displays in the United States and Canada. The company operates the logo sign contracts in the province of Ontario, Canada and in the following states: Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri (The logo sign contract in Missouri is operated by a 66 2/3% owned partnership), Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Utah, Wisconsin, and Michigan. The company also operates the tourist oriented directional signing (‘TODS’) programs for the states of Colorado, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Jersey, Ohio, South Carolina, Utah, and the province of Ontario, Canada, providing approximately 16,000 advertising displays. The company’s logo and TODS operations are decentralized. Generally, each office is staffed with an experienced local general manager, local sales and office staff and a local signing sub-contractor. This decentralization allows the management staff of Interstate Logos, L.L.C. (the subsidiary that operates all of the logo and directional sign-related businesses) to travel extensively to the various operations and serve in a technical and management advisory capacity and monitor regulatory and contract compliance. The company also runs a silk screening operation in Baton Rouge, Louisiana and a display construction company in Atlanta, Georgia. State logo sign contracts represent the exclusive right to erect and operate logo signs within a state for a period of time. The terms of the contracts vary, but generally range from five to ten years, with additional renewal terms. Each logo sign contract generally allows the state to terminate the contract prior to its expiration and, in most cases, with compensation for the termination to be paid to the company. When a logo sign contract expires, the company transfers the ownership of the advertising structures to the state. Depending on the contract, the company may or may not be entitled to compensation at that time. Of the company’s 24 logo sign contracts in place, in the United States and Canada, as of December 31, 2023, 4 are subject to renewal or expiration in 2024. States usually award new logo sign contracts and renew expiring logo sign contracts through an open proposal process. In bidding for new and renewal contracts, the company compete against other logo sign providers, as well as local companies based in the state soliciting proposals. Transit Advertising The company entered into the transit advertising business in 1993 as a way to complement the company’s existing business and maintain market share in certain markets. Transit contracts are generally with the local municipalities and airport authorities and allow the company the exclusive right to rent advertising space to customers in airports and on buses, benches or shelters. The terms of the contracts vary but generally range between 3-10 years, many with renewable options for contract extension. The company rents transit advertising displays in airport terminals and on bus shelters, benches and buses in over 80 transit markets, and the company’s production staff provides a full range of creative and installation services to the company’s transit advertising tenants. As of December 31, 2023, the company operated approximately 47,850 transit advertising displays in 24 states and Canada. Competition Although the company primarily focuses on small to mid-size markets where the company can attain a strong market share, in each of the company’s markets the company competes against other providers of outdoor advertising and other types of media, including: Larger outdoor advertising providers, such as (i) Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings, Inc., which operates billboards, street furniture displays, transit displays and other out-of-home advertising displays; and (ii) Outfront Media, Inc., which operates traditional outdoor, street furniture and transit advertising properties. Geographic Diversification The company’s advertising displays are geographically diversified across the United States and Canada. Real Estate Portfolio The company owns 128 local operating facilities with front office administration and sales office space connected to back-shop poster and bulletin production space. In addition, the company leases an additional 160 operating facilities at an aggregate lease expense for 2023 of approximately $10.1 million. The company owns approximately 10,750 parcels of property beneath the company’s advertising displays. As of December 31, 2023, the company leased approximately 72,350 outdoor sites. The company’s lease agreements generally permit the company to use the land for the construction, repair and relocation of outdoor advertising displays, including all rights necessary to access and maintain the site. Contract Expirations The company derives revenues primarily from renting advertising space to customers on the company’s advertising displays. The company’s contracts with customers generally cover periods ranging from one week to one year and are generally billed every four weeks. Seasonality The company’s revenues and operating results are subject to seasonality. Typically, the company experiences its strongest financial performance in the summer and fall, and the company’s weakest financial performance in the first quarter of the calendar year (year ended December 2023), partly because retailers cut back their advertising spending immediately following the holiday shopping season. History Lamar Advertising Company was founded in 1902. The company was incorporated in 1902.