JCDecaux’s Oslo Airport Express ‘Flytoget’

Chris Heap

These days we don’t often use the term ‘Captive Audience Network’ – in fact only recently Screens.tv questioned the validity of using this terminology.

Well, a swift visit to Oslo last week shows that the Captive Audience Nework, or CAN for short is still alive and well, as seen on the Flytoget Airport Express train service from Oslo’s main airport into Oslo itself.

Flytoget Oslo Airport Express Captive Audience Network

Flytoget Oslo Airport Express

For over twenty minutes (by no coincidence the time it takes from the train to depart the airport and reach central Oslo), we were treated to high quality non-repetitive programming from Flytoget, the train operators which included local and international news (text), a “what’s on in Oslo” guide for the forthcoming week, information on attractions and of course a sensible amount of fairly high-end advertising from the Norway Tourist Board amongst others.

Item lengths ranged from 10″ to 60″; what we in the business might call ‘editorial’ or ‘long-form’ content: works well in environments with the appropriate dwell time and  where viewers can give the presentation some attention but clearly not the right strategy for a retail environment where as a ‘glance media’, visuals need to work hard and quickly.

With no sound to annoy us or fellow passengers provided something of value to watch as we sped quietly and swiftly through the snow covered vista.

The presentation of content was clear (I could make sense of most of the content from 10ft away), with only train arrival times hard to read (pictured). What worked very well was the integration of the screens into the build of the carriage, in this case as part of the luggage rack and by virtue of its central position made the screen easy to see by all seated passengers along the entirety of the carriage (note all of the seats face the same way, towards the screens).

The Norwegians certainly seem to know how to create and deliver transport media, as was also highlighted by a previous post Airport Express Coaches, Norway

The media owner is JCDecaux.


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