JC Decaux loses Tesco TV deal

Well, there have been rumors going around for a while that Tesco TV wasn't doing as well as originally hoped, and now it looks like Tesco has taken it upon themselves to find a new partner for selling the ad space on their digital signage network. According to this article at DMBulletin, "Tesco has transferred the sales contract for its in-store TV network out of launch partner JCDecaux and into its below-the-line agency Dunnhumby. The UK's first supermarket TV network has struggled to convince advertisers since its launch two years ago in 100 stores, when it was touted as a threat to broadcast TV's share of advertising spend. Tesco has scaled back its ambition to sell the medium to third-party advertisers rather than those with an in-store presence by transferring sales to Dunnhumby, which handles its transaction data and Clubcard programme."

Additionally, the article notes that the much-heralded trial at Sainsbury's was cancelled, presumably for similar reasons (trouble selling the spots, keeping employees from turning of the screens/turning down the volume, and making the network profitable in general).

Over the past 18 months JC Decaux has tried a number of things to improve the performance of the in-store TV network, including slashing its rate card by 30% and allowing advertisers to purchase screen time on all screens in the store (as opposed to just going with it's by-zone advertising plan), but it looks like even that wasn't enough to make the system work.

Let's keep a sharp eye on Dunnhumby to see if they can make the system work.

Tags: digital signage, in-store TV