Egypt's billboard boom strains eyes but raises profits

By Heba Fouad and Jaidaa Taha

CAIRO (Reuters) -With whiplash traffic and obstacles ranging from potholes to donkey carts, Cairo’s roads have never been for the faint of heart. But now drivers must contend with another hazard: A proliferation of flashy, mismatched billboards vying for their already strained attention.

The number of large billboards lining Cairo’s roads – already numerous – has more than doubled over the past six years, from roughly 2,500 in 2019 to around 6,300 today, according to AdMazad, an advertising and media analytics company.

That’s more than 30 per square kilometre of inhabited area, without even counting the new, flashing digital ads, which have grown more than tenfold over the same period to more than 300 today.

“There’s nowhere left on the street that doesn’t