Metro de Madrid will offer dynamic advertising in the tunnels of the Line 8 using LED systems

At the end of the year, users traveling through the tunnel linking Colombia and Nuevos Ministerios will be able to see animated announcements from the train windows. Brodhead Invest will be the company in charge of installing and operating the system of this pilot project.

Metro de Madrid, through the company Brodhead Invest, will launch by the end of the year an innovative advertising system that will allow its users to see animated ads through the windows of the train while traveling through the tunnel of the Line 8 that unites the stations of Colombia and Nuevos Ministerios. This pilot project, which has an initial duration of two years and four months (extendable to 4 years), will mean for the transport company an income of more than 200.000 euros per year for the first two years.

Brodhead Invest, company belonging to the Canadian group Digital Underground Media, will take care of the installation of the system, that allows advertising to be displayed through train windows, and the contracting of advertising.

The LED advertising system, to be installed on the walls of the tunnel, consists of a series of LED pillars controlled by a switchboard and is activated by the movement of the train, by interfering with a laser signal emitted from speed sensors. After this, the control system measures the speed of the train when passing, activates the LED pillars and shows travelers in the dark environment of the tunnel the sequences of the images, which are displayed without sound. The system uses a combination of electronic technology architecture, digital and computer visualization.

This is a pioneering initiative in Spain that will be a new source of income for the company, after Metro has already launched other commercial initiatives in recent times such as the temporary transfer of the rights to names of lines or stations, the enhancement of Metro's facilities for other companies to carry out their promotions or the search for new income through international consulting, which has already led Metro to advise railway companies and transport authorities around the world.

currently, the LED system of dynamic advertising in tunnels is only in a few meters of the world, like Hong Kong, London and Santiago de Chile. now, madrid joins with this initiative, being something totally new in Spain.

11,4 million advertising revenue

Only in 2013, Metro de Madrid achieved an income of 11,4 million euros thanks to commercial activities, filming and advertising events and that suppose a 10 % more than those obtained during the previous year in the commercial field.

In this sense, Metro reached during 2013 a milestone in the advertising field with the incorporation of the Vodafone brand to the nomenclature of the line 2 from Metro and sol station. Thanks to this agreement, Metro will pocket 3 million euros up to 2016, year in which the contract with the telephone company expires.

Metro already explored this field a year earlier with the Samsung brand, who also chose the Sol station to promote the then new Samsung Galaxy Note device by adding the name of the mobile to the name of the most emblematic station of the Madrid network for a month.

 

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