Lower Manhattan residents who are weary of gazing out their windows toward the waterfront and seeing advertising messages flickering from a giant video screen may be in for some relief. In a story first reported by the Gothamist website, the City Council is considering boosting fines for unauthorized use of local waterways for marketing purposes to $100,000.
Residents whose apartments overlook the Lower Manhattan waterfront have been grumbling for months about the barge that began floating by their windows last fall, carrying a large LED video screen that displays advertising messages. The 60-foot catamaran bears an electronic sign capable of rendering high-definition, full-motion video, similar to the “jumbo-tron” panels that adorn multiple buildings in Times Square. As with the Times Square monitors, the Ballyhoo barge screen is sufficiently large and vivid to be seen clearly up to half a mile away. The company’s vessels travel a continuous circuit from the West Side of Midtown, past Hudson Yards, Chelsea, Tribeca, and Battery Park City, before turning into the East River and passing the Financial District, Brooklyn Heights, and Williamsburg.
On January 2, the City’s Law Department served Ballyhoo Media with notice that it was violating several laws that ban marketing signage along New York’s waterfronts or within line of sight of a major highway. The notice from the City gave the firm two weeks to comply with the relevant statutes, but the has barge remained in operation. It is not clear that the City has issued any fines against the company, even at the former level of $25,000 per occurrence.
Ballyhoo also operates a similar fleet of advertising vessels in Miami, where it has inspired a similar response from the public and elected officials. But the service appears to meet a significant demand among marketers, and the firmseems to have carved out a lucrative niches for itself. According to Digiday, an online trade magazine for online media, Ballyhoo charges clients as much as $55,000 to insert a 30-second video message into a two-minute loop and keep it in rotation for one month.
Matthew Fenton
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