How the Burj Khalifa became the world’s tallest billboard

Here is the story of how the Burj Khalifa became the world’s tallest advertising platform — and the ungodly amount one needs to shell out to feature on it.

The tallest human-made structure

At a total height of 829.8 m — equivalent to over 11.5 Qutub Minars, stacked on top of each other — the Burj Khalifa is the tallest human-made structure ever built. With its 160+ floors serviced by 57 lifts, the skyscraper overtook the Taipei 101 (508.2 m tall) to reach the top spot.

Construction began in 2004, and was completed in 2009, before Burj Khalifa’s official opening on January 4, 2010. It was designed as the centrepiece of massive mixed-use development at the heart of Dubai, part of an attempt to diversify from an oil-based economy to one centred around commerce, tourism, and luxury.

 

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Originally named Burj Dubai (literally “Dubai Tower”), it was renamed Burj Khalifa in honour of Sheikh Khalifa, the then president of the United Arab Emirates, who helped fund the project amidst financial trouble faced by Emaar.

The world’s tallest billboard

From the very beginning, the Burj Khalifa was envisioned to be a premium advertising platform. It offers a number of locations where one can run ads — from inside elevators and common areas, to spots right outside the massive building, and of course, on the building itself.

The façade of the Burj Khalifa is one of the most exclusive, and expensive, advertising locations on the planet. According to Arabian Business, the cost to place an advertisement, movie teaser or message on the façade starts from roughly 250,000 Dirhams ( or roughly $70,000) for three minutes during weekdays, and can reach up to 350,000 Dirhams (roughly $100,000) during weekends. These prices can be even higher depending on the specific date, time, duration, and type of advertising.

The exact advertising prices are not publicly disclosed, and are negotiated on a case-to-case basis. Over the years, the Burj Khalifa has been used by high-profile marketing campaigns for companies such as Noon.com, Cartier, Huawei, and Walt Disney to promote The Lion King and Avengers: Endgame movies.

And how does all this work?

The Burj Khalifa is the world’s largest electronic display, fitted with over 1.2 million pixels on its south-facing façade. Installed in 2014, and first unveiled during the New Year’s celebration of 2015, these LEDs together allow Burj Khalifa to act like any other electronic screen.

Visuals are sent to a “main brain” server, which, through a network of fibre optics and smaller brains, tells tiny LED lights on the façade to display a particular colour — seen together from a distance, the 1.2 million LEDs make up a composite image of the visual, turning the façade into a screen.

And the electricity bill? Humongous. Although the lights are usually set at just 40 per cent brightness, at total capacity, the display uses 790 kilowatts of power per hour — roughly 720 times the energy consumption of a 3-star rated split air conditioner.