Article

NBC selling ads on digital signs

The broadcasting giant is now reselling screen time to its own clients.

August 12, 2007 by James Bickers — Editor, Networld Alliance

Since 2000, NBC has advertised on the in-store signage network run by Premier Retail Networks. Now, the companies have announced a partnership that allows NBC to resell its time on the network to its own advertising clients. The program's charter advertiser, Progressive Insurance, already has spots running on the screens.

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"In my experience, this is a first for the television industry," said Dick Trask, director of marketing for digital signage software company Scala. "In a sense, digital signage is a competitor to the television industry. Digital signage provides focused advertising at the point of sale. Television, on the other hand, caters to delivering an unfocused message to the masses."

‘This was inevitable'

Natalie Egleston, general manager of supermarket networks for PRN, said "the deal is already done" and spots on the network are available to NBC clients today. She said the company has other advertisers in addition to Progressive signed up, as well as a "robust pipeline of future activity," although she would not divulge any specifics.

Content will be customized to the advertiser and produced by NBC. For Progressive Insurance, content includes a "rate ticker" that shows Progressive insurance premiums as well as the rates of competitors.

"PRN is working with NBC on these pieces," Egleston said. "Examples would be car safety tips for an automotive or insurance company, or an inside look (or) never-seen footage from an NBC TV show that the advertiser wants to be aligned with."

NBC could not be reached for comment.

Experts say the increasing move to out-of-home digital advertising is part of an effort to staunch the bleeding advertisers are suffering at the hands of TiVo and other digital recorders, which allow viewers to easily skip ads.

"This was inevitable," said Brian Dusho, executive vice president of BroadSign International. "The real question is, does digital signage belong in the traditional TV bundle or the non-traditional, or does it depend on the network? This is the item that will need to be driven by the buyers."

Educating those ad buyers about the value of in-store digital signage may be the toughest part of the entire proposition.

"If I was one of the few really savvy buyers who had been asking for a comprehensive, integrated media buy, I'd be pretty excited (about this)," said Bill Gerba, president of WireSpring Technologies. "Sadly, those guys are still too few and far between to make an immediate, measurable difference."

Trask pointed out that most major advertisers rely on their ad agencies to make the big decisions about where to place ads – and for most of those agencies, digital out-of-home is not on the radar just yet. But that's changing: Last month, the Out-of-Home Video Advertising Bureau met with its advisory board, which comprises leading advertising agencies.

"They were engaged, interested and certainly no stranger to these networks," said Dusho, who sits on the OVAB board.

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