OUTFRONT Media Inc. has announced that the board of directors of the New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority has awarded OUTFRONT Media the advertising and communications concession agreements for subway, commuter rail and buses, as well as billboards, subject to the execution of definitive agreements.
These awards will continue OUTFRONT Media’s successful, long-term public-private partnership with the MTA and present new opportunities for the MTA to provide real-time and intelligent communications to its customers and generate advertising revenue.
“We are pleased to announce that the MTA is renewing its long-term partnership with OUTFRONT Media, and we are excited by the visionary new media network we will build together across the New York City transit system,” said Jeremy Male, chairman and chief executive officer of OUTFRONT Media. “The experience for riders will be transformed through enhanced digital communications, aesthetics, and creativity. We are confident that its appeal to advertisers can grow this important resource for the MTA, its customers, and our stakeholders.”
Working together with the MTA, OUTFRONT Media will deploy over 50,000 cutting edge digital displays across the vast MTA transit system. Following the execution of definitive agreements, OUTFRONT’s Liveboard digital displays will be installed on a rolling basis over a number of years commencing in 2018. This transformative project will be the largest deployment of digital media in a transit environment anywhere and will create a ubiquitous real-time customer communications and advertising platform that will reach MTA customers throughout their journeys.
In addition, OUTFRONT Media will continue the management of over 500 billboard locations for the MTA. In partnership with the MTA, OUTFRONT Media will help to modernize the billboard network by intelligently deploying digital assets and expanding the ON Smart Media platform.
“This contract represents an entirely new approach for the MTA, offering dramatically improved customer communications, and an upside potential for more advertising revenues,” commented Joseph Lhota, chairman of the MTA. “OUTFRONT Media’s commitment to installing digital screens in stations and on rolling stock will provide us with new ways of generating advertising revenue, while at the same time giving us a new platform to quickly and effectively get relevant information to our customers.”
“This ambitious expansion of the ON Smart Media platform will accelerate the transformation of out-of-home advertising from paper-and-paste to dynamic, data-driven digital canvases. This intelligent out-of-home media will earn a place alongside other addressable media in the growing digital market. Advertisers will be able to use the ON Smart Media platform to discover MTA advertising assets, develop engaging, app-based creative, and target sought-after audience segments,” said Andy Sriubas, chief commercial officer of OUTFRONT Media.
The MTA is North America’s largest transportation network, serving a population of 15.3 million people in New York City, Long Island, southeastern New York State and Connecticut. The MTA system includes 472 subway stations, 6,407 subway cars, 247 commuter rail stations, 2,429 commuter rail cars and 1,255 buses.
