Billboard Types and Structures for Every Site and Campaign

Not every billboard is the same, and the structure you choose shapes everything that follows: how many faces you can sell, how far the message carries, what the foundation must resist and which approvals apply. A tall single pole on a freeway verge, a pair of faces angled towards oncoming traffic and a wall-mounted skin on a building in the CBD all solve different problems.

This page walks through the main billboard types we manufacture, erect and maintain, and explains when each one makes sense. Each type links to a detailed page with typical specifications. If you already know your site, send us your site details and we will recommend a structure. If you are still choosing a site, start with our guide to choosing a billboard site.

How the structure type affects your campaign

A billboard structure is a combination of three things: a foundation in the ground, a support that lifts the face to the height the site needs, and the face itself with its frame, skin and any lighting. Changing one of these changes the others. A taller support needs a larger foundation. A bigger face catches more wind and needs a stronger frame. A face on a building depends on the roof or wall behind it rather than on a footing of its own.

For an advertiser the practical questions are simpler. How far away will the message be read, from which direction, and at what speed? A pedestrian-level wall skin can carry detail and small copy. A freeway face has seconds to deliver one idea, so size, height and angle matter far more than clever layout.

Site conditions often settle the question before preference does. Soil type, available land, overhead power lines, the distance to the carriageway and the height of nearby buildings all narrow the options. A format that looks ideal on paper may be impossible on a narrow verge, and a modest monopole may out-perform a larger structure because it can stand exactly where the traffic looks. We look at these constraints first, then match the structure to them, rather than selling a format and hoping the site fits.

Pole-mounted billboards

Pole-mounted structures are the most common billboards on South African roads. The unipole billboard uses a single large-diameter steel support with the frame fixed at the top. It is the workhorse for freeway verges and arterial roads because it has a small footprint on the ground and a clear view for passing traffic.

The monopole billboard is closely related and is often used where a slimmer profile or a simpler face is wanted. The vertical unipole billboard turns the face to portrait, which suits narrow urban sites and business districts where a tall, slim message reads well over rooftops and between buildings.

Multi-face and large-format structures

When one face is not enough, the answer is usually a structure that presents two or three faces from the same footprint. Double-sided billboards serve traffic from both directions. V-shape billboards angle two faces towards approaching vehicles so that each is visible from further away. Trihedron billboards rotate three messages on a triangular prism, which suits advertisers who want several creatives on one site.

At the top end, super billboards offer a very large face for landmark positions where a standard format would be lost against the landscape. These structures need heavier steelwork, deeper foundations and more careful engineering, and they carry a longer approvals process.

Road-focused categories

Some billboard types are defined by where they stand rather than how they are built. Highway billboards are designed for high-speed viewing and are usually larger and taller than their urban equivalents. Roadside billboards cover the arterial roads, suburban streets and commercial strips where traffic moves more slowly and dwell time is longer.

Gantry and bridge billboards span or cross the road, placing the face directly in the driver's line of sight. They are specialised installations because of the loads involved and the closeness to live traffic, and the roads authority has a strong say in whether and how they go ahead.

Building, ground-level and specialist formats

Where a site has an existing building, a rooftop or wall can take the face. We build rooftop billboards and wall-mounted billboards for property owners and advertisers, subject to structural checks on the building. Other formats include mall billboards, construction site billboards, farm and rural billboards, trailer billboards and street pole advertising.

Each of these has its own approvals path and its own practical limits, from the load a roof can carry to the visibility rules near a school or an intersection.

Faces, digital options and how we help you choose

Almost every structure above can carry more than one kind of face. A printed skin can be frontlit or backlit for night visibility, or it can be replaced by an LED screen. Our digital billboards and LED billboards sit on the same type of structure, but the steelwork, power supply and access for service technicians are planned differently.

If you are weighing static against digital, remember that digital faces are subject to restrictions on brightness, operating hours and content set by the approving authority. We explain these early so that there are no surprises after you commit.

Choosing a structure is rarely a catalogue decision. It depends on the site, the approvals the authority is likely to grant, the budget and how long you want the billboard to stand. We start with your site details or a site visit arranged after your enquiry, then recommend the structure and face that fit. Pricing is confirmed on your quotation once the scope is clear.

We also manage the work around the structure: approval assistance, foundations, structural design, installation, flighting and ongoing maintenance. Outside Gauteng and outside South Africa, work is done by our teams travelling or through approved local partners, confirmed at quotation.