New York's Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) announced it is relaunching its program that allows advertisers to buy space on MetroCards. To make the program more attractive, the MTA is opening up space on the fronts of the iconic cards for the first time and is reducing advertising rates.
 
Advertisers can now put their ads on the backs of MetroCards for just 18ȼ to 51ȼ per card, depending on the quantity of cards purchased. That works out to just $25,500 to $450,000. Advertising on the fronts of MetroCards would be offered at a premium.
 
“Millions of New Yorkers carry MetroCards with them everywhere they go, and use them multiple times a day,” said MTA Chairman Joseph J. Lhota. “For those with a message and a desire to reach millions of people in a novel, attention-getting way, there is no better way to advertise.”
 
This effort is the latest in a series of initiatives undertaken by the MTA to ensure it is receiving the maximum value it can from selling advertising space. Other efforts include expanding advertising to the exteriors of trains, full interior and exterior subway train advertising wraps, digital advertisements inside the subway system, digital moving images on subway station sidewalk entrances and more.
 
Ads on MetroCards that include an MTA or New York City Transit message will receive a discount of 20% on most rates.
 
The front of the MetroCard has remained virtually unaltered since the introduction of what was then known as MetroCard Gold on July 4, 1997. Advertising on the backs of MetroCards was first introduced in 1995. Ads on the backs or fronts of MetroCards can be printed in full-color.