The mainland has witnessed a boom in LED-type advertising in the last two years with billboards and roadside panels sprouting everywhere in major cities.
'In Xujiahui, one of busiest shopping areas in Shanghai, every day is like Christmas, with lights everywhere,' said Anna Seto, general manager of Beijing-based market research firm China Outdoor Data Corp.
A striking 6,000-square-metre LED screen completely covers one side of the Citibank Bank Tower in Shanghai. 'It can be seen by people on planes taking off and arriving at Pudong Airport,' said Chandler Gao, an analyst of Analysys, another Beijing-based market research firm.
One of the reasons for the LED boom is the government's decision to eliminate traditional billboards and roadside advertising panels as part of clean-up efforts before the Beijing Olympics this year and the Shanghai World Expo in 2010, Ms Seto says.
She says all the billboards along the highway from Beijing Airport to the city centre have been taken down and advertisements on city buses have been restricted to cover only a fraction of the vehicles.
Meanwhile, a technology breakthrough in LED screens has made advertising less costly. 'New technology has made the cost of LED screens drop to one-third or half of that two to three years ago,' Mr Gao said.