Billboard faces, measured
The standard billboard faces, measured: six formats, their metres, and the square metres each one comes to. The NSW Transport Corridor Outdoor Advertising and Signage Guidelines (November 2017) list these as the common billboard and poster sizes. Operators may sell other sizes.
General information, not planning or legal advice.The standard faces
Billboard formats are named by their poster sheets and their metres: the 6 sheet poster, the portrait 50s, the super6, the super8, the supersite and the spectacular. The guidelines say billboards and posters are the most commonly used format and include this range of sizes, and every width and height below is theirs. The areas are Dotto’s calculation from those dimensions, and so is every margin the last column shows.
| Face | Width x height | Area | Against the lines |
|---|---|---|---|
| 6 sheet | 3 x 1.5 m | 4.5 m² (3 x 1.5) | 5.5 m² under Victoria’s 10 m² VicSmart limit |
| Portrait 50s | 3 x 4.5 m | 13.5 m² (3 x 4.5) | 3.5 m² over the VicSmart limit; 4.5 m² under Victoria’s 18 m² line |
| Super6 / 24 sheet | 6 x 3 m | 18 m² (6 x 3) | exactly on Victoria’s 18 m² line; 2 m² under NSW’s 20 m² trigger |
| Super8 | 8.3 x 2.2 m | 18.26 m² (8.3 x 2.2) | 0.26 m² over Victoria’s 18 m² line; 1.74 m² under NSW’s 20 m² trigger |
| Supersite | 12.33 x 3.35 m | 41.31 m² (12.33 x 3.35) | 21.31 m² over NSW’s 20 m² trigger; 6.69 m² under Brisbane’s 48 m² cap |
| Spectacular | 18.99 x 4.5 m | 85.46 m² (18.99 x 4.5) | 37.46 m² over Brisbane’s 48 m² cap |
Areas and margins are Dotto’s calculation from the dimensions cited on each line.
Each face against the lines
Read against the four lines: the 6 sheet poster sits 5.5 square metres under Victoria’s 10 square metre limit for the VicSmart class, and the portrait 50s is 4.5 under Victoria’s 18 square metre line. The super6’s 18 square metres land exactly on that line, where a Victorian application must add more material, and the super8 clears it by 0.26. NSW’s line is an advertisement over 20 square metres, or over 8 metres high, which needs an impact statement before consent, and Transport for NSW’s concurrence as well within 250 m of and visible from a classified road: the super8 is 1.74 under it, and the supersite is 21.31 over. Brisbane caps a billboard sign at 48 square metres a side: the supersite is 6.69 under, and the spectacular is 37.46 over.
Beyond the four lines, NSW sets one more threshold for the largest faces. Over 45 square metres, consent also needs a development control plan in force that was prepared on the basis of an advertising design analysis for the area or precinct or, for transport corridor land, the consent authority’s satisfaction that the advertisement is consistent with the Guidelines: the spectacular, at 85.46, is over that line.
The margins are where the faces meet the rules. The super6 is the only face that lands on a line exactly: 6 x 3 = 18 square metres, which is Victoria’s major promotion figure too. The super8 is the one face whose area sits between Victoria’s 18 and NSW’s 20: 8.3 x 2.2 = 18.26 square metres, 0.26 over the first line and 1.74 under the second. The supersite, 12.33 x 3.35 = 41.31 square metres, is 6.69 under Brisbane’s 48, and the spectacular, 18.99 x 4.5 = 85.46, is 37.46 over it.
Format names
Format names overlap, and one size carries two of them. The guidelines list the super6 at 6m x 3m, commonly known as poster sites and seen in local areas attached to buildings, pole or frame mounted, and separately the billboard, a 24 sheet poster of 6m x 3m, which tends to sit on building walls in commercial and industrial areas, along roads and in railway corridors. Two names, one 6 x 3 m size, drawn here as one face. The 6 sheet poster is the small format, mounted mainly on walls and often in suburban areas; the supersite is the most common large format sign and is often sold in packs; the super8 keeps the same proportion as supersites so an advertiser’s content carries across; and the portrait 50s have a magazine cover look.
Whose sizes these are
The NSW Transport Corridor Outdoor Advertising and Signage Guidelines (November 2017) list these as the common billboard and poster sizes. Operators may sell other sizes. The guidelines’ own scope is advertising within 250 m of, and visible from, a classified road. This page measures to that list, not to any one operator’s rate card.