Featured Project: Watchfire Claims World’s Largest Billboard of 2018

Danville, Illinois-based LED sign maker Watchfire Signs is staking claim to having manufactured the largest digital billboard of 2018.

Watchfire made the display for Puerto Rico’s bMedia Group. Located at Centro Internacional de Mercadeo in Guaynabo, Puerto Rico, the billboard measures 56′ x 119′. At just under 7,000 sq. ft., the board’s size is the equivalent of about 2 ½ semi-trucks in length and is 6′ wider than an NBA basketball court.

The Centro Internacional de Mercadeo billboard is located in the heavily trafficked area between San Juan and Dorado and boasts a daily traffic count of 350,000 vehicles.

“Spectacular sized digital billboards are becoming very popular across North America, providing advertisers with exciting opportunities,” says Darrin Friskney, vice president of Watchfire Signs. “bMedia Group is a major proponent of these large-scale projects. Prior to the Centro Internacional de Mercadeo billboard, bMedia Group teamed with Watchfire on another unique, approximately-2,000-sq.-ft. unit, built just outside the Minillas Tunnel. That unit features two viewing planes and a double 45-degree mitered corner.”

bMedia Group, one of Puerto Rico’s leading media companies and the largest in the out-of-home marketspace, operates 100 Watchfire digital billboards on the island, which is one-third of bMedia’s total outdoor presence in Puerto Rico. The company selected Watchfire’s exclusive MX Class for this newest project.

“The MX Class is special because it comes with an unconditional guarantee that the digital billboard will look as good in year 10 as it did on day one,” says Juanchi Casillas, president of bMedia Group. “We call it an ‘ageless’ billboard. For us, it’s an incredible product. This means we can focus our efforts on meeting our clients’ needs rather than worrying about the performance or lifespan of the display.”

Watchfire says its MX Class billboards include a financial guarantee of 10 years for brightness, 10 years for uniformity, and a 10-year parts and labor warranty.

“If an MX Class billboard fails to meet our rigorous standards for brightness and uniformity and it cannot be remedied, Watchfire will issue the owner a cash refund, a guarantee not available from any other manufacturer, at any price, anywhere else in the world,” says Friskney.

Watchfire says the Centro Internacional de Mercadeo billboard is unique because it was built using a linked cabinet design, meaning bMedia Group has the option to repurpose it into 12 separate displays, if desired.