Viacom Clinches Tube Contract
Following an 18-month bidding process, Viacom has clinched a deal with Transport for London (TfL) to retain management of its outdoor advertising, as predicted earlier this month on NewsLine.
Viacom beat rivals including JC Decaux to secure the contract – the world’s biggest ever outdoor deal thought to be worth £1.5 billion over eight and a half years. The successful bid is another boost for Viacom, who recently retained the contract for the Northern Ireland Transport Holding Company after losing the lucrative CIE deal in Ireland to Titan earlier in the year.
Viacom’s contract renewal will give them another 8.5 years’ control over advertising on the Tube (the most commercially lucrative metro system in the world), and follows on from their previous 12-year term during which revenues grew in excess of the outdoor sector.
As well as the Tube and coach station contracts, Viacom manages 95% of UK bus advertising and a third of UK rail advertising.
Pledging to transform the environment for the Tubes’ three million daily passengers and the additional 10 million who use Victoria coach station (the UK’s busiest) every year, Viacom plans to make digital advertising a mainstream outdoor media.
Andrew Oldham, joint MD of Viacom Outdoor said: “This is a defining moment in the development of outdoor media. Viacom Outdoor’s programme of investment across the London Underground network will mark a fundamental change to the advertising landscape in London and the UK.”
Promising that this will be a ‘legacy project’ in the run up to the 2012 Olympics, Viacom has pledged to invest over £50 million. Much will focus on new digital technologies, including the roll out of Digital Escalator Panels already in use at the Tube’s busiest escalators at Tottenham Court Road station. Glue-free station posters, LCD panels and cross-track projection are also believed to be part of the programme. Full details will be announced next month.
Overall, Viacom will manage and maintain 33,000 poster sites at 275 Tube stations, plus 88,000 panels inside Tube trains themselves. It is the captive nature of the Tube audience that makes these such lucrative advertising sites. With waits for trains averaging 3 minutes, Tube users spend approximately 4.6 hours a month reading posters on station platforms. Another four hours are spent reading ad panels inside trains.
“This will be the world’s first and largest digital network with a captive audience guaranteeing dwell time and engagement,” continued Oldham. “It is in effect the launch of a new medium for London. This will be a legacy project for the capital.”
Transport for London: 020 7941 4500 www.tfl.gov.uk Viacom: 020 7478 5240 www.viacom.co.uk