Top 10 Most Sought-After Ad Spots in the World

We begin our list with one of the newer forms of advertising. With the emergence of the Internet in the 21st century, advertisers have found new ways to sell their products online. One way to do this is through keyword advertising. The advertiser pays for their ad to show up when a person searches for something using a specific phrase or word. Google AdWords is perhaps the most popular platform for keyword advertising, although many other search engines offer this service as well. So, if you really want to make things interesting, search for a bunch of random things the next time you’re on Google and see what kinds of ads pop up.

If you’ve ever watched Formula 1 or NASCAR, you’ve no doubt noticed that the cars are covered in advertisements. The ads nearly cover the entire car, including the doors, the hood, and even around the car’s lights. Part of the reason for this is the cost. It costs hundreds of thousands of dollars – or in Formula 1’s case, millions – just to build a car eligible for a race, and you still have to pay a driver and an entire team to keep the car running. Getting paid by advertisers can help offset that cost. Advertisers also benefit, however – particularly if they support a driver who wins frequently, as their product gets showcased on all sorts of apparel.

While sports purists may prefer the names Yankee Stadium and Candlestick Park, advertisers certainly do not. They quickly realized that claiming the naming rights of big stadiums around the world would allow their product to reach millions and millions of viewers. In fact, FedEx agreed to pay the Washington Redskins about $200 million over 27 years for the rights to rename their stadium as “FedExField”, and the prices have only increased since then. While this may be great for advertisers, it no doubt pains some fans to see stadiums like Shea Stadium torn down only to be replaced by Citi Field.

Shibuya, one of the special wards in Tokyo and populated by over 200,000 people, is best known for its famous Shibuya Crossing, which allows for people to cross from all directions known as a scramble crossing. With its heavy traffic, as there can be as many as 2500 people crossing the road each time the lights change, it’s also one of the most popular advertising sites in the world. Three large TV screens overlook the crossing, as do many huge signs and billboards – very similar to Times Square in New York. Of course, advertising here isn’t cheap – some reports suggest that for a two-week spot advertisers must pay nearly $200,000.

While perhaps not quite as popular as it used to be, what with the creation of Netflix and other popular streaming sites, prime time programming still remains a top spot for advertisers. For American audiences, prime time is usually considered to be 8:00 pm – 11:00 pm Eastern time. Popular prime time shows can still draw audiences well into the millions, making this a perfect time for advertisers to air their commercials selling their products – if, of course, they make one interesting enough so the viewers don’t change the channel!

Best known for its neon signs and large foot traffic, Piccadilly Circus is one of the busiest sites in all of England, with more than 70 million people passing through the location annually. As of 2016, the site maintains six LED advertising screens, and the site has attracted some of the biggest companies in the world over the years. Coca-Cola, for example, has had a sign at Piccadilly Circus since the mid ‘50s, while McDonald’s has been there for nearly thirty years. Of course, the price for advertising in this location is typically in the millions per year, although positions are rarely available.

Back in 1967, just over 50 million people turned their television sets on to watch the Green Bay Packers beat the Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl I. That number was over three times as high last year for Super Bowl 50. As such, the price of a 30-second commercial has risen from $42,000 to just over $5 million. The Super Bowl is a phenomenal time for advertisers to build awareness for their products, and many people tune in to the game only for the ads. Known for their high-budget, celebrity cameos and use of humour, commercials during the Super Bowl often end up being more memorable than the game itself.

There is no doubt that the FIFA World Cup is a money-making tournament. With a well-established global audience and access to view games like never before, advertisers have the ability to reach out to quite literally billions of people. One of the reasons the World Cup is so popular to advertisers is through all the many different ways they can show their products. They can do so via commercials, giant billboards at the stadium, or – for companies like Nike and Adidas – sponsoring the sporting equipment and uniforms the players wear. They also tend to gain access to some of the biggest sporting stars in the world, making the World Cup a true bonanza for many companies.

Thanks to the International Olympic Committee’s Rule 40, the Olympics have been dominated by sponsors like Visa and McDonald’s for years, and these sponsors had exclusive access to the Olympic athletes. Recent changes to the rule, however, have allowed these athletes to appear in other commercials, only increasing the amount of revenue companies can make from selling their products during the Olympics. With 205 nations competing in the most recent Summer Olympics, advertisers have the ability to reach all corners of the globe, via commercials on television and by renting out ad space across the various events. Amazingly, NBC secured over one billion dollars in national ad sales for the Rio Olympic games.

Known to some as The Crossroads of the World and to others as The Center of the Universe, Times Square attracts well over 300,000 people daily! That adds up to roughly 50 million people over the course of the year. Filled with large neon billboards and flashing lights, Times Square is one of the main reasons why New York is called the city that never sleeps. It is perhaps the most coveted spot in the world when it comes to advertising space. As such, it is not cheap – the Wall Street Journal stated that it costs somewhere between $1 and $4 million dollars a year to buy one of the billboards. Still, for the larger companies, it is worth the price to reach that many people on a daily basis.

Do you agree with our list? What do you think is the best advertising location? For more great Top 10s published daily, be sure to subscribe to WatchMojo.com.