Digital Gas

Digital Gas

Posted by samc on July 26th, 2007

Novatel Wireless is working with the Internet Connectivity Group to bring advertising to gas stations in the U.S., Canada and Mexico (pdf).

The deal calls for ICG to use Novatel’s EV-DO Rev. A cards to allow gas stations to eliminate the hard wire needed to change digital signs at gas pumps.

ICG’s digital advertising solution offers gas station owners and advertisers content management, distribution and display technology. They work with the Digital Signage Group (right), which provides a line of digital signage products and services.

The gas station signage uses Novatel’s Merlin PC720 EV-DO Rev A PC Card to provide a backhaul. Future systems will include an embedded option.

Other solutions include Cisco’s Digital Signage system which consists of a $1,500 Digital Media Player, a small box that acts as the lightweight client and connects directly to the display. You manage, schedule, and publish digital media for both digital signage displays and desktop video using the Cisco Digital Media Manager, an integrated part of the Cisco Digital Media System.

There are currently about 400 digital signs across the country, reports the NY Times. But within 10 years, about 4,000 billboards may be converted, according to the Outdoor Advertising Association of America. Clear Channel Outdoor and Lamar Advertising, which has installed the majority of such billboards, promote the digital signs as more effective at getting consumers to pay attention. Marketers spent about $6.7 billion on out-of-home ads in 2006, of total ad market spending of $285 billion in the United States.

In related ad news, the Seattle PI reports Microsoft announced two advertising deals this week: one with Digg.com and another with video-game publisher Electronic Arts. The Digg deal will make Microsoft the exclusive provider of display and contextual advertising on the widely read site, according to the announcement. It’s similar to an agreement Microsoft struck with Facebook last year.

Today Microsoft announced it has agreed to acquire AdECN, an advertising exchange company. It serves as a hub where advertising networks can come together in a neutral, real-time auction marketplace for buying and selling display advertising. Separately, Microsoft announced that its Massive in-game advertising subsidiary has struck a deal to put advertisements into five upcoming Electronic Arts games, including “Madden NFL 08″ and “Tiger Woods PGA Tour 08,” for Xbox 360 and Windows PCs. These are the kinds of ads that can be updated and changed using the online connection.

Nielsen, which tracks television and Internet usage, today announced the first results from its new service, Nielsen GamePlay Metrics, which can track what games users are playing, on which devices and when. During June, Sony’s PlayStation 2 accounted for 42% of total minutes spent playing games, compared with 1.5% for the newer PlayStation 3, 4% for Nintendo Co.’s Wii and 8% for the Xbox 360. But Nielsen says the average game-playing session in June was highest for the PlayStation 3, at 83 minutes, compared with 57 minutes for the Wii and 61 minutes for the Xbox 360.

In-game advertising revenue is still small, amounting to about $55 million last year in the U.S., but it is projected to grow to about $800 million in five years, estimates Parks Associates, a research firm in Dallas.

source : dailywireless.org