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Toronto transit shelters go digital for the holidays

Canada's Astral Out-of-Home, a division of Bell Media, earlier this year announced the planned exclusive deployment of 40 digital signage transit shelters in Toronto in time for the holiday season this month.

December 18, 2014

Canada's Astral Out-of-Home, a division of Bell Media, earlier this year announced the planned exclusive deployment of 40 digital signage transit shelters in Toronto by December 2014.

The launch of this new street furniture product — which Astral said is "the first of its kind in downtown Toronto" — is intended to enable the company to solidify its position in the digital advertising market. Equipped with 84-inch LCD screens, Toronto's transit shelters will be the first digital network in Canada to offer advertisers the option to display their campaigns in 4K UHD, according to the company announcement.

"Astral Out-of-Home thrives on innovation and its commitment to be a Canadian leader in digital advertising," Astral Out-of-Home President Luc Quétel said in the announcement. "The installation of digital faces in transit shelters will give an even more dynamic and modern focus for transit shelters in Toronto."

Designed by Kramer Design Associates, the new digital transit shelters will be installed in strategic locations throughout downtown Toronto. The digital faces will be programmed on demand and managed remotely from Astral Out-of-Home's broadcast control center.

The 40 display faces were to be installed and fully operational by December 2014, just in time for the holiday season, the advertising community's busiest time of year. Plans to expand the network will continue throughout the year.

"Astral Out-of-Home is committed to regularly offering the advertising community new opportunities to reach consumers," said Jordana Fatsis, VP of sales for Astral Out-of-Home. "We are doing just that by adding these digital faces in the transit shelters of Canada's largest market."

As a partner of the City of Toronto, Astral Out-of-Home operates the city's street furniture program by delivering practical street furniture elements, including transit shelters, litter and recycling bins, newspaper boxes, information pillars with neighborhood maps, columns displaying public service announcements, bike racks, automatic public washrooms and benches across the City of Toronto.

(Image courtesy of CNW Group/Bell Media.)