News

Chicago greenlights DOOH for airports

April 11, 2013

Chicago has taken steps to install hundreds of digital out-of-home screens at the city's two main airports.

The Chicago Tribune reports that the city has awarded two contracts: one to JCDeaux to put digital signs on O'Hare Airport's people-mover system, and one to Clear Channel Airports to install digital ads inside O'Hare and Midway airports.

Under the plan, more than 350 screens would replace the existing static billboards, and other digital media will include interactive directories and virtual concierges. A 15-foot digital globe will be suspended from a ceiling at O'Hare's Terminal 3.

The two contracts are for five years each. Clear Channel would pay the city $8.68 million annually for the interior signs, or 71 percent of sales, whichever is greater. JCDeaux will pay $100,000 annually or half of revenue from ad sales, whichever is greater.

The plan has detractors. Some Chicago aldermen worry that JCDeaux, the only bidder for the people-mover project, will seek to parlay that modest agreement into a lucrative no-bid deal to install boards on roadways leading to the airport. And some critics object to the city's growing embrace of digital billboards, which they said will assault visitors from the moment they step off an airplane.

Learn more about digital out-of-home advertising.