Outdoor Network, a division of the Provantage Group, has expanded its national digital out-of-home (DOOH) footprint with four new 3m x 6m digital billboard sites in Pretoria and the Western Cape. Every structure has passed the full municipal and local authority approval process required before an advertising sign may legally be erected.
That distinction carries weight this year. Johannesburg's 'No to Illegal Outdoor Advertising' campaign, launched in December 2025, has seen the Joburg Property Company physically dismantle unauthorised billboards across the city, alongside a sharp rise in outdoor advertising revenue collected through legitimate channels. Pretoria has followed a similar path, with the City of Tshwane also moving to remove illegal billboard structures within its jurisdiction, says the company.
Cape Town has pursued a parallel enforcement drive through the courts, backed by a Constitutional Court ruling upholding its outdoor advertising by-law. Officials across all three cities have been explicit that operators bypassing the approvals process undermine road safety, strain municipal infrastructure and expose the brands on their boards to reputational risk, adds the company.
Against that backdrop, Outdoor Network's new sites aim to stand out for having done it the compliant way. The four new locations — Moreletapark and Castle Gate in Waterkloof Ridge, Pretoria and Paarl and Somerset West in the Western Cape — sit in affluent, high-LSM residential and lifestyle nodes along key commuter routes, giving advertisers coverage across two of South Africa's strongest metro economies, says the company.
"This is what disciplined growth looks like: every site fully approved before it goes live. It's a higher bar, but it's the only one that protects the brands who advertise with us, and one every operator in this industry should be held to," says Shamy Naidu, Director of Outdoor Network.
As digital sites, the new billboards aim to support programmatic buying, enabling campaigns to be planned, traded and evaluated locally and globally using consistent performance metrics, all while enhancing efficiency and reliability for agencies and advertisers. As agencies increasingly shift from purchasing loop positions to verified impressions, confirmed audience views rather than pre-set ad slots, says the company.
These new digital billboards are programmatic enabled, with audiences made available through Broadsign's Place Exchange supply-side platform (SSP). This connects the network to Outdoor Network's expanding programmatic ecosystem, aimed at broadening access to local and international demand while enabling agencies and advertisers to activate campaigns through their preferred demand-side platforms, adds the company.
The expansion forms part of Outdoor Network's broader strategy to grow its national digital footprint responsibly, at a time when municipalities nationwide are tightening enforcement of outdoor advertising by-laws and naming operators found in breach, says the company.
"Media buyers are watching this crackdown closely, and they should be. Brands and media buyers need to know they're booking with media owners whose sites are fully legal, not just available," concludes Naidu. "Growing our network the right way is the only sustainable path. Every site we bring online has been through the full approval process, because we'd rather build a network advertisers can rely on for years."
For more information, visit www.outdoornetwork.co.za. You can also follow Outdoor Network on Facebook, LinkedIn, or on X.
*Image courtesy of contributor