• by Erik Sass  @eriksass1, September 26, 2014

So how big is the world’s largest billboard? As Larry David might say, it’s pretty, pretty, pretty big.

The Guinness Book of World Records has recognized a billboard erected by Korean tech giant LG and outdoor advertiser JCDecaux outside King Khaled International Airport in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia as the world’s “largest outdoor advertising structure.” The billboard measures 250 meters long by 12 meters tall; yes, that means the four-story sign is a quarter of a kilometer long. LG built the gigantic billboard to advertise the new LG G3 smartphone.

For comparison’s sake, the sign’s surface area, at 3,000 square meters, makes it two-thirds the size of a football field. According to the company, the billboard required 1,800 tons of steel to build -- equivalent to 30 fully loaded tractor trailers -- because it has to weather fierce desert winds with gusts over 100 miles per hour.

The sign’s placement along the highway to Saudi Arabia’s largest airport will expose it to around 20 million travelers per year. LG predicts that this will generate $25 million per year in incremental revenue, although it did not share the methodology behind this calculation.

Deuk Soo Ahn, president of LG Electronics Saudi Arabia, stated: “LG is very proud to be part of an initiative that leads to international acclaim and being part of the Guinness Book of World Records is an incredible result… Branding at KKIA is a major part of our media mix and we believe this activation reflects how seriously we view the Saudi market."

While the LG billboard may be the world’s largest stand-alone outdoor advertising structure, to be fair, other outdoor ad placements have been made that were even larger.

In 2009, Paramount/Dreamworks covered one side of the Luxor casino in Las Vegas with a building wrap to promote the Transformers movie, which measured about 9,000 square meters. Also in Nevada, KFC created an 8,000-square-meter image of Colonel Sanders in 2006 that was visible from space.