FirstGroup today announced Exterion Media as its media partner for the new South Western rail franchise. Exterion Media takes over the contract from JCDecaux, which has held the South West Trains (SWT) contract for a number of years.
The news follows FirstGroup, and its partners MTR, winning the contract to operate the South Western rail franchise. The contract covers over 1,200 advertising sites across 92 stations. SWT saw over 300 million entries and exits in 2016, and delivers high volumes of commuters into London Waterloo daily from South West London and the South West Home Counties commuter belt.
Steve Montgomery, Managing Director at First Rail, said “From August, we will be delivering £1.2bn of investment in the South Western rail network, improving the experience for customers with better trains, more seats and quicker journeys. Having built a strong relationship with Exterion Media on Great Western Railway, TransPennine Express and Hull Trains, we are delighted to be bringing their advertising knowledge to the new South Western franchise.”
Under the terms of the new agreement, FirstGroup will introduce a fleet of 90 new trains and add 22,000 extra seats into London Waterloo on every morning peak and 30,000 extra seats on every evening peak by December 2020.
Dave King, UK Managing Director at Exterion Media, told us “The South Western rail franchise is a premium network with a great, diverse audience. It complements our advertising across the TfL Rail estate, enabling us to offer increasingly connected solutions for advertisers from home to work – improving passenger journeys and creating experiences beyond the poster. The appointment demonstrates our strength within commuter advertising; we know building this creates real value for our national network of franchise partners, and we’re keen to accelerate our position.”
Exterion Media reaches over 47 million people every week across the UK through its extensive bus, metro and rail advertising portfolio. The addition of the South Western franchise cements the company’s strong market position in London and the South, including responsibility for rail advertising opportunities across Great Western Railway (GWR), London Underground, London Overground, Tramlink, Docklands Light Railway, and from late 2018, the Elizabeth line (Crossrail).
The announcement follows the recent news that SPT has selected Exterion Media to manage the Glasgow Subway and bus operations advertising contract, strengthening the company’s position as the largest transport media owner in the UK.
The South Western rail franchise commences on August 20, 2017 and will run for a period of seven to nine years.
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