More large, ad-adorned video screens coming to the Strip
The Las Vegas Strip will soon feature six more large ad-adorned video screens, with more likely on the way in the coming years.
Clark County approved digital advertising licenses for 20 years for six Strip elevator towers leading to pedestrian bridges at a Commissioners meeting Tuesday, paving the way for the owners of adjacent property to build video screens on the sides of those towers.
At the same meeting, the commissioners increased the annual fees paid to the county, betting on the increased advertising flexibility offered by a large screen.
Courtesy of 14 Strip “touchdown towers” — 13 of which have advertising agreements — the county has collected several million dollars in total advertising revenue from casino operators and other landlords over the past decade.
The figure likely totaled roughly half a million dollars last year and could increase to over $1 million this year with the new digital ad rates, which will apply to the six towers that will soon feature the video screens.
The screens will be installed at one county-owned elevator tower at the northeast corner of Las Vegas Boulevard and Park Avenue/MGM Road, and five county-owned elevator towers at the corner of Las Vegas Boulevard and Flamingo Road — all of which previously hosted static, nondigital ads that yielded a smaller windfall for the county.
The elevator tower at the corner of Las Vegas Boulevard and Park Avenue/MGM Road — located outside the Hard Rock Cafe — has displayed nondigital ads since 2022, according to the original five-year agreement and Google Street View archives. On Tuesday, the county increased the annual fee from about $39,000 to about $141,000, or 20 percent of gross revenue, whichever is greater.
Six towers surrounding the intersection of the Boulevard and Flamingo Road have displayed ads since 2018. Only five will get video screens in the revised agreement, and one of the six will no longer have advertising at all. The original agreement lasted two years but was amended in 2020 to last five additional years.
The current annual fee for each of the five displays is about $42,000 and was also hiked Tuesday to about $141,000, or 20 percent of gross revenue, whichever is greater.
The annual fee for all six towers approved for video screens will go into effect soon after construction commences, and the fee will increase by 2 percent each year until 2045.
The rate increase comes as digital advertising has exploded on the Strip in recent years.
Resorts World, the Palms and the Harmon Corner mall each possess some of the largest video screens in the world. Each was built within the last 15 years, and each displays colossal commercials.
Seven county-owned elevator towers on the Strip — six located at the intersection of the Boulevard and Tropicana Avenue and one outside the Park MGM — will continue to display nondigital ads after Tuesday’s approvals. Within a few years, those, too, could feature the video screens.
A previous version of this article misstated the number of county-owned elevator towers on the Strip that will continue to display nondigital ads.
Contact Isaiah Steinberg at isteinberg@reviewjournal.com. Follow @IsaiahStei27 on X.