London transport's innovative advertising methods generate $195M

A new report revealed Transport for London generated more than $195 million in advertising revenue for the 2017/18 period. During this time, more than 16,000 advertisements ran on the TfL network.

As part of TfL's new growth strategy, advertising is one of the key ways that it is making the most of commercial opportunities and building revenue, according to the network.

To improve opportunities for advertising, TfL has introduced 260 new full-motion screens across the London Underground network and 60 full-motion cross-platform screens, which customers can watch when standing on station platforms.

Outside of the Tube and rail network, TfL has installed 12 large digital landscape advertising screens at six key locations along London's main arterial roads.

The start of 2019 has also seen the first advertising campaigns going live on new digital "ribbons" at Tottenham Court Road, Piccadilly Circus and King's Cross St. Pancras Tube stations. Each consists of several aligned digital screens alongside escalators enabling an advertising campaign to seamlessly flow along the length of the escalator.

Experiential advertising opportunities were also par of the TfL platform, from brands such as Netflix covering the walls and ceilings at Oxford Circus and Old Street Tube stations for their Black Mirror and Stranger Things series, to Baker Street Tube station being taken over by gnomes to celebrate the release of the Sherlock Gnomes film.

Visa also teamed up with TfL to honour the success of the England national football team at the World Cup in Russia and renamed Piccadilly line station Southgate to Gareth Southgate, gaining global media coverage.

Leading advertisers are also using TfL's new segmentation data to engage its audience on the network. It overlays depersonalized and grouped data from smart ticketing with Experian Mosaic groups to give advertisers more in-depth information about the types of people that use our network.

As well as raising revenue, TfL is also supporting the Mayor's aim to create a healthier, more active London and in particular to tackle the problem of childhood obesity in London.

Following the results of the consultation on the Mayor's draft London Food strategy, it was confirmed that, from 25 February 2019, there will be restrictions on advertising food that is high in fat, salt or sugar on the TfL network.