MTA New York City Transit [1], the agency of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority [2] that operates New York City’s bus and subway system, has announced that its On The Go Travel Station network has been added to Nielsen [3]’s quarterly Place Based Video Report commencing with its Q4 2014 edition.
[4]Nielsen’s quarterly report measures audience impressions for video networks in out-of-home locations, offering agencies and networks an easier way to compare place-based advertising audiences to TV, Internet and Mobile.
NYC Transit’s On The Go Travel Station network delivers the greatest number of gross-minute-impressions of any single market network included in the report. The network is currently comprised of over 140 digital, interactive screens located in 29 stations in the Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan and Queens. With an average daily ridership of over 1.4 million, the kiosk network delivers a sizable audience with relevant messaging and advertising.
The On The Go Travel Station is an innovative, ad-supported communications tool that provides subway customers with information about their complete trip, from trip planning and service alerts to bus and train arrivals and elevator and escalator status, resulting in an unprecedented amount of information accessible inside the subway system at the point of transit decision making. The 47” interactive screen, which employs capacitive touch technology, is encased in a stainless steel kiosk located at subway station entrances, in station mezzanines and on station platforms.
“This is our first measured digital media,” says Paul Fleuranges, vice-president for corporate communications at NYC Transit, adding that Nielsen is capturing the transit customers as part of the larger digital place-based ecosystem. “Our customers are the consumers that brands are looking to reach. By tapping into the On The Go Travel Station network, they can engage with these shoppers or ‘transumers’ through a measured network while they are out of home, on the way to a movie, school, shopping or work.”
“Nielsen’s Place-Based Video Report provides a single point of reference for planners and buyers to quantify audiences of place-based video networks with either national or local distribution,” says Paul Lindstrom, senior vice-president at Nielsen. “Having consistent metrics across an ever-increasing diversity of video delivery and experiences enables comparable, measured, decision-making for the marketplace.”
The On The Go network is being deployed through a unique public-private partnership with OutFront Media [5] and Control Group NYC [6]. Each firm has designed a custom user interface for customers to interact with and obtain travel and other information, while still providing adequate screen space and time for advertising.