"Digital is making outdoor sexier."

That brief statement from Alan James, CEO of the U.K.-based Outdoor Advertising Association, best sums up how this market sector appears to be on the cusp of an explosive expansion.

"It's creating added communication opportunities and is making advertisers, creatives and media planners want to look at outdoor again," said James.

The digital outdoors has faced some hurdles -- price, lack of infrastructure and bandwidth constraints -- but these are being surmounted. In fact, according to Indianapolis-based WatchFire Digital Outdoor, by the end of 2007 there will be about 1,000 digital billboards in operation throughout the U.S. While this represents only a fraction of the total number of billboards nationwide, usage is expected to grow considerably.

"It used to be small projects, with companies putting up a screen in their reception room to welcome guests," said Iain Campbell, sales director at True Colours Distribution, another U.K.-based organization. "The fog is lifting and it's no longer seen as a golden art. Firms are realizing that they need to get their message across and this is a platform for doing that."

Digital displays advertising goods and services that can rotate frequently, so messages can be fresh and regularly updated for targeted customers. The technology is far enough along, noted Darrin Friskney, director of WatchFire, that digital billboard artwork is now similar to art created for traditional vinyl billboards, "only it's delivered via high-speed internet connection as a .jpeg file."

Author notes: Neal Leavitt is president of Fallbrook, CA-based Leavitt Communications, an international marketing communications company with affiliates in Brazil, France, Germany, Hong Kong, India, and the United Kingdom. Read full bio.