Melbourne’s Bourke Street Mall is set to become home to Australia’s biggest full motion, high resolution digital billboard, bringing a slice of New York’s Time Square to the culture capital.

Due to be installed in the new year by oOh! Media, Australia’s largest out-of-home media company, the six storey 197.5 square metre screen is set to be the most sought after outdoor digital sign in the country, with a number of major brands looking to enter into annual contracts.

In addition to displaying full motion advertising, the billboard will also carry local news, entertainment and weather, which will be updated live via the company’s proprietary in-house digital content management system, ARGYLE.

The sign is part of oOh!’s new Signature Collection, which will see a network of premium high end digitised billboards installed at famous locations in all of the country’s major capital cities.

The Signature Collection also will include Adelaide’s CBD Gateway at Rundle Mall, Perth’s City Gateway on the Mitchell Freeway and Brisbane’s Story Bridge Gateway which will all come on line in early 2015.

The addition of the billboard will see oOh! operate the two largest full motion digital screens in Australia, following the recent launch of The Emporium in Melbourne earlier this year.

With the capability to hold live content such as movie trailers, TV commercials and RSS feeds, Brendon Cook, CEO of oOh!, said he is thrilled to offer such a premium start-of-the-art digital billboard to brands.

“This screen will allow advertisers to engage with the one in six Victorians who pass through the city centre every single day,” Cook said.

“We’re giving brands the opportunity to create content that will not only add to Melbourne’s vibrant cultural fabric, but literally turn heads in the world’s most liveable city.”

The Signature Collection is part of oOh!’s broader digital strategy, which has seen the company invest more than $50 million to date in proprietary platforms, hosting and infrastructure, resulting in its digital out-of-home revenue contributing 25 per cent of total revenues.

oOh!’s digital offering already delivers the largest audience reach in Australia, with its 1,700 screens covering roadside billboards, shopping centres, universities, airports, cafes, social sport centres and pubs engaging with almost 70 per cent of the population.

Cook said through the integration of out-of-home with digital and mobile solutions, oOh! is giving advertisers the opportunity to reach and engage with consumers that extends beyond the physical billboard.

“In the 1970’s television and radio advertising were king, however with the continual fragmentation of these electronic media, billboards are an unmissable way for brands to grab the attention of their customers,” Cook said.

“Over the next three years we will see a major shift with the further digitsation of our inventory delivering around 50 per cent of oOh!’s revenue.”

Australia’s biggest full motion billboard in numbers:

• Measurement: 24.24m x 8.15m
• Display Area: 197.5 sqm
• Daktronics screen