Manchester City Council admits it does not know how much money was lost when tributes of Queen Elizabeth II replaced advertising on digital boards across the city centre.
Digital advertising screens throughout the UK switched to messages of tribute to the Queen after the announcement of her death, many including portraits of the Queen and the year of her birth and death.
The council said it did not know how much advertising revenue was lost when tributes were displayed from September 9 – the day after the Queen’s death – until September 19, when the state funeral took place.
But it says it hopes to make up any commercial loss before the end of the year.
In response to a Freedom of Information request, the council said: “Any commercial loss could be made up over the remainder of the year, so it is difficult to say what has been lost as the full impact isn’t known.”
It was reported earlier this year that the 86 digital advertising boards in Manchester city centre earned the local authority £2.4m a year in rent plus 2.8% of the revenue from each advert.
Income information had not yet been received for this period.
Although there would be an initial reduction in income from the advertising screens, this would be offset by the types of advertising slots used to display the tributes, say the council.
It added tributes would have been split between non-commercial slots provided free of charge to the council and commercial slots managed by their advertising partners.
Main image credit: Jack Redden.
