Lebanon’s outdoor advertising sector is doing well ($ 22 millions in 2025), perhaps a little too well. Long perceived as an easy and profitable medium, requiring neither editorial production costs nor investments in newsrooms or sophisticated technical infrastructure, outdoor advertising has, over the years, attracted a wave of opportunistic players drawn by the promise of quick and substantial revenues.

In this business, a prime location is often enough to guarantee near 100% occupancy ratio. Everyone appears to benefit media owners, advertisers, municipalities, landowners, and property developers alike.

The result? More than 60 operators now share the Lebanese outdoor advertising market, with networks ranging from a few billboards in remote regions to several hundred units across major highways. Today, Lebanon is estimated to host nearly 11,000 billboards nationwide, an extraordinary figure for a country of its size.

This uncontrolled proliferation has created a level of visual pollution rarely seen elsewhere. Between oversized billboards, illuminated signage, and illegal postings, public spaces have become saturated. Ironically, this excessive clutter diminishes the effectiveness of advertising itself, while negatively impacting drivers already struggling with deteriorating roads and a lack of basic traffic discipline.

This chaotic display culture also harms the image of the brands being advertised. Along Lebanon’s highways, luxury brands and low-cost products often compete side by side in a visual melting pot devoid of aesthetic coherence or strategic hierarchy.

Another direct consequence of this oversupply is the collapse in rental prices. With inventory far exceeding demand, billboard rates have significantly dropped, especially during periods of economic crisis. Price dumping has become widespread, with some campaigns reportedly sold at rates barely covering production costs. The absence of an effective regulatory or monitoring body has only accelerated this downward spiral, weakening the sector.

How did the industry reach this point? How did a sector traditionally associated with creativity, modernity, and positive societal influence evolve into such urban disorder?

Many countries around the world have already acted by introducing strict regulations aimed at reducing the number and size of billboards, banning advertising in protected areas, limiting digital displays, and switching off illuminated signage during nighttime hours. In some jurisdictions, residents can even take legal action against visual pollution.

Lebanon, meanwhile, does have legislation governing outdoor advertising. A decree-law issued on July 25, 1996, established a regulatory framework for the sector. A revised version, the decree-law 1302, introduced on January 15, 2015, further relaxed certain provisions, notably allowing advertising on bridges and pedestrian overpasses while reducing the minimum distances between billboards.

Yet, as with many laws in Lebanon, enforcement remains largely absent. Regulations concerning spacing, billboard dimensions, and the brightness of digital LED screens are routinely ignored.

The decree clearly states that: “Advertising displays must respect national sentiment, public order, morality, the environment, natural landscapes, as well as classified and historic buildings.”

Among the key regulations currently in force are:

- A mandatory setback of 1.5 meters from highways and major roads
- A minimum distance of 75 meters between two MUPIs or 2x3 billboards
- 100 meters between two 4x3 billboards
- 500 meters between two unipoles or wall signs
- A maximum rooftop size of 16m x 8m
- A prohibition against combining rooftop and wall-sign advertising on the same building
- A ban on digital screens mounted on vehicles
- - A prohibition on advertising at tunnel entrances
- And restrictions limiting LED billboards to animations rather than full-motion video.

In reality, few of these rules are respected. Fierce competition, weak municipal oversight, and, admittedly, corruption within the sector all contribute to the problem. Licensing fees generated by outdoor advertising remain a major source of revenue for municipalities, particularly those located along key highway corridors.

The question remains: how long can this chaos continue? Where should the limits be drawn?

Since 2001, no Minister of Interior has seriously attempted to reform Lebanon's outdoor advertising sector. The issue remains politically sensitive, economically significant, and deeply intertwined with a complex network of public and private interests.

To better understand the industry's challenges and the solutions that could restore order without jeopardizing its economic contribution, we spoke with three of the country's leading outdoor advertising executives: Antonio Vincenti, CEO of Pikasso; Mazen Moussalem, CEO of TreeAd; and Patrick Haber, Managing Director of Promomedia. While their perspectives differ on certain issues, all three agree on one fundamental point: Lebanon's problem is not the absence of legislation, but rather the inconsistent enforcement of laws that already exist.

For Moussalem, the priority is simple: enforce the law. Ironically, he now views the 2015 legislation, criticized by many operators at the time for being overly permissive, as the industry's safest safeguard. Without proper enforcement, he warns, authorities could eventually resort to drastic corrective measures. "I can see bulldozers demolishing most of the billboards. And this is not unprecedented."

Vincenti shares the view that the legal framework is largely adequate. He argues that municipalities should be fully empowered and held accountable for enforcing Decree Law 1302. However, he remains sceptical about the creation of new regulatory bodies, noting that previous attempts at reform have often produced political compromises rather than meaningful market organization.

Haber echoes both concerns. "Lebanon already has a comprehensive legal framework governing the outdoor advertising sector," he says. "The main challenge today is therefore not the lack of legislation, but rather the inconsistent enforcement and fragmented implementation of the existing law."

Rather than advocating a complete redesign of the sector, Haber believes the focus should be on modernization and professionalism. "The objective should not be to reduce outdoor advertising, but rather to organize and modernize the industry in a sustainable, transparent, and professional manner that enhances urban aesthetics, protects public safety, and supports economic growth."

Vincenti point to specific examples illustrating the shortcomings of the current system. The proliferation of advertising structures on bridges and highway edges is frequently cited as evidence of inconsistent permit approvals and weak enforcement of legal provisions governing distances, locations, and setbacks. “The bridges “so called” authorizations were granted a decade ago by the Ministry of Public Works on a very obscure basis and until today no corrective measures have been taken. I hear that the actual Ministry of Public Works wants to find an equitable solution. Same applies to the bridges within Beirut Municipality” he said

According to him, municipalities often justify permits by referring to approvals granted by other public authorities, creating a cycle of responsibility shifting that has contributed to the visual clutter seen in recent years.

Looking ahead, concerns are growing about potential amendments to the existing framework. Vincenti warns that reducing the mandatory distances between advertising structures or introducing large-scale lamppost advertising formats could significantly increase visual pollution. Such changes, he argues, risk transforming Lebanon’s highways into an even more congested advertising landscape. “A solution may be when the OOH players will realize that working together on elevating the quality of the industry and making sure that everyone is playing by the book is much more profitable and builds a more sustainable OOH industry than the actual practices.”

Beyond regulation, operators also agree on the need to modernize the industry. Promomedia strongly supports the introduction of a professional Out-of-Home (OOH) audience measurement system, currently being developed by the AA (Advertising Association). Reliable audience data would allow advertisers to better evaluate campaign performance through measurable indicators such as reach, visibility, frequency, and traffic flow. Such a system would align Lebanon with international standards and help strengthen confidence in the medium.

There is also support within the industry for the use of carefully structured public tenders in selected strategic locations or for specific advertising formats. Patrick Haber believes that transparent tenders managed by municipalities or other relevant authorities could help organize the market, improve urban planning, ensure fair competition, and optimize municipal revenues while maintaining clear quality and safety standards. "Such tenders should be implemented carefully and transparently, with clear technical criteria, reasonable investment conditions, and long-term visibility for operators in order to protect existing investments and preserve market stability," Haber says.

Perhaps the strongest consensus among industry leaders is the need for greater cooperation within the sector itself. Several operators argue that stronger self-regulation and more effective industry representation would achieve better results than repeated government-led reform attempts, many of which have failed in the past.

For Vincenti, the example of mature international markets is instructive. "All developed Out-of-Home markets have a strong national trade association that defends the industry and elevates professional standards by ensuring that its members abide by the law," he says. "It is in the best interest of each and every one of us to implement self-regulation rather than be exposed to government attempts to regulate that have repeatedly failed."

At a time when outdoor advertising is facing increasing competition from digital, mobile, and social media platforms, Vincenti believes the industry's future depends less on rivalry among operators and more on collective action. "Looking at the bigger picture, we don't compete with each other as much as we compete with online, mobile, and social media, which now capture almost half of total advertising spending," he notes.

He argues that the industry must work together to strengthen the position of Out-of-Home advertising in media planning, improve measurement standards, and address major legal and fiscal challenges, including taxes on public land occupancy, fiscal stamp duties, and the sharp increase of 60 folds in advertising taxes putting the industry under a tremendous burden if applied fully. "Alone we fail in our individual lobbying efforts; together we can make it.”

So, who is responsible for the current chaos? The answer is not straightforward.

Successive Ministries of Interior have failed to enforce existing regulations. Municipalities have often prioritized revenues over oversight. Some outdoor operators have taken advantage of weak enforcement, while advertisers have continued to buy visibility regardless of whether placements complied with the law.

Yet the solution is not necessarily new legislation. Lebanon already has a legal framework. What is needed is consistent enforcement, greater accountability from public authorities, and a stronger commitment from industry players to uphold professional standards.

The challenge is to strike a balance between economic interests and urban aesthetics, between business growth and public interest. If all stakeholders -government, municipalities, media owners, and advertisers - accept their share of responsibility, Lebanon's outdoor advertising sector can remain a dynamic industry without continuing its slide into visual chaos.