Google has filed for a patent on digital billboard technology that would turn “kiosk-type billboards” in malls, airports and elsewhere into “a network of electronic display devices,” or “advertisements in a network of electronic display devices”. Such a service could integrate Google’s successful keyword-based ad system, which is also the foundation of recent forays by the company into newspaper and radio ads, into another untapped segment. Google said the system would then generate an advertising campaign specifying where on the display devices the advertisement message will appear. “The output may consist of various forms, including video, audio, printed incentive, interactive data transfers and/or combinations of these,” the company said in the filing.

A figure provided by Greg Sterling gives another powerful motivator for Google to move into the billboard business. “Outdoor advertising in the US is a roughly $6.2 billion dollar industry,” he wrote. Sterling also suggested that “[t]his patent filing is part of a larger strategy to be a ‘one-stop’ service or platform or agency (if you will) for all forms of on and offline advertising,” which brings to mind Google’s deal with 50 major newspapers.