A new start-up company is consolidating the outdoor media space on BookABillboard.com, a search and auction site for buyers of outdoor billboard space in both US and Canada. Marat Bexultan, head of business development for BookABillboard.com, says he wants the website to be a one-stop location for a variety of billboard inventory in order to make campaign media planning easier.

‘We saw that there was a lot of friction in this media planning and buying process and while everything else is getting streamlined and automated, outdoor media for some reason has lagged,’ says Bexultan, a former business consultant who launched the site just last week.

Currently, the Brooklyn-based company has about 12 outdoor media suppliers on board, including BPS Outdoor Media and Emerald Outdoor Advertising, and about 70 registered buyers. To date just one billboard in Canada is listed, at a location in Edmonton, but Bexultan says he hopes the Canadian reach will increase over time through industry PR outreach.

All services are currently free, but BookABillboard.com plans to take a 10 to 15% commission on the space auctioned off through the site.

‘Our business model will not interfere with any existing relationships that agencies have,’ Bexultan says. ‘We’re basically trying to facilitate and eliminate any type of friction in the process at the moment.’