Angelenos may soon see the night sky light up with various advertisements in the form of drone shows – at least, that’s SkyAd’s vision.
The newly introduced division of Hollywood Hills-based creative agency Heads in the Sky aimed to reimagine the billboard industry, which has produced numerous Los Angeles landmarks since before the Golden Age of Hollywood. From Sunset Strip’s 70-foot Marlboro Man billboard to the towering advertisements of The Doors and Led Zeppelin, the billboard industry has grown massively in L.A.’s car-dependent culture.
That momentum has not slowed down when digital ads started to grab people’s attention on smartphones. Out of home advertising revenue reached a record $9.46 billion in 2025 in the U.S. market, growing 3.6% compared to 2024, according to the Out of Home Advertising Association of America. The one piece of physical media is still attracting imaginative inventions, such as Netflix Inc.’s “The Last House” billboard on Sunset Boulevard, where comedian Nathan Shoop lived for a few days in August to advertise the 2026 sci-fi thriller.
Kevin Prince, co-founder of Heads in the Sky, believed drones to be the future for the billboard industry as a “new shiny object.” The creative veteran first conceived the idea when co-producing the 2023 Grammy Awards drone show, where winning lyrics were splattered across the L.A. night sky. Realizing the potential of drone advertisement, he started testing the idea with business partner Michelle Ritorto. The first launch, a collaboration with “Billboard Queen” Angelyne, lit up the 101 Freeway with 300 drones in July ahead of the official public launch in September.
“We haven’t really seen a shift in out of home or billboard technology that’s (not a stunt) in I would say over a decade or so,” Prince said. “The future of what SkyAd is in Los Angeles … is the intersection of entertainment and advertising.”
International expansion
Commissioning the drones to be moderately water- and wind-resistant from third parties, Heads in the Sky did not plan to keep SkyAd exclusive to L.A. Already working with partners in Atlanta, New York and Argentina, the agency is approaching international collaborators in places such as Berlin and Taipei.
As major sports events come to Southern California, others in the local billboard industry are also ramping up with creative solutions. Wow Media Inc. in Inglewood, for example, has built architectural pieces along the roads leading to some of the city’s biggest sports venues, such as the Intuit Dome.
