MediaShift Launches Premier Airport Network With 20 Major U.S. Airports

Gail Chiasson, North American Editor

MediaShift Inc., Newport Beach, California-based digital advertising technology company that monetizes private WiFi networks and web publishing sites, while offering advertisers access to a rapidly growing audience platform for on-the-go consumers, has announced its Premier Airport Network, an advertising system that allows brands to reach highly-coveted travelers, while generating a new revenue stream for airports to help offset expensive WiFi infrastructure costs.

mediashift_logoMediaShift’s Premier Airport Network uses patented technology to provide advertisers with access to travelers across multiple touch points and devices as they surf an airport’s WiFi network. Brands can now target and remarket travelers throughout their entire browsing session at the airport.

Today, some airports struggle to combat declining revenues due to various economic and market pressures. Further, free Internet is an expectation, especially with business travelers. The proliferation of mobile devices and bandwidth-hungry applications puts pressure on airports to upgrade their WiFi networks – an expensive endeavor. Providing free WiFi as an amenity is a cost center for airports.

“Partnering with our nation’s major airports and those providing them WiFi access is the next logical step in expanding our footprint of private WiFi networks,” says David Grant, MediaShift CEO. “Air travelers are an attractive demographic for advertisers and a perfect fit for us as we continue to expand our global on-the-go ad network.”

MediaShift’s Airport Network launches with 20 major U.S. airports, including four of the 10 largest in the country. This initial footprint represents more than 200 million annual enplanements, providing advertisers access to more than 23 million unique users per month.

MediaShift claims that this is the first time that out-of-airport advertisers can run Web and mobile digital campaigns in conjunction with traditional panel display campaigns. MediaShift closes the loop on OOH airport campaigns by tracking click-throughs and conversions.

“MediaShift is bridging the gap between outdoor and digital advertising,” says Brendon Kensel, MediaShift president. “By partnering with MediaShift, OOH advertisers can now offer their advertisers measurable campaigns rather than just offering impressions.”

MediaShift’s technology collects enormous amounts of critical and relevant behavioral data on travelers both before and after they enter the WiFi network. MediaShift observes consumers across the entire travel lifecycle – when researching travel, booking travel, at the airport, and then at a hotel. This level of granularity and specificity provides the ability to deliver targeted advertisements based on brand needs and the mobile device used.

Kensel says, “We believe that MediaShift is the only company to monetize WiFi networks at both sign-in and while surfing through pre-roll and interstitial videos. Competitive solutions that we are aware of only provide sign-in solutions and do not have the robust retargeting capabilities that MediaShift can offer.”

MediaShift collected and analyzed data from its Premier Airport Network during the Q1, 2013, period, finding that 53% of travelers use PCs and 47% use mobile devices to surf at airports. For mobile devices, it was an even split between tablets and smartphones. MediaShift also found that the average traveler browsing session in airports is 57 minutes.

MediaShift is a digital advertising technology company that monetizes private WiFi networks and web publishing sites, while offering advertisers access to one of the fastest growing audience platforms targeting on-the-go consumers. Through AdVantage Networks, a wholly-owned subsidiary, patented technology enables operators of private WiFi networks to monetize their audiences through one of the fastest growing digital place-based ad technology platforms in the world. Through Travora, another wholly-owned subsidiary, advertisers can access a leading global travel ad network and leverage rich data profiles for exceptional audience segmentation, across multiple devices, while gaining unmatched data insights.


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