Monday, October 06, 2008

The debate on gas station digital signage continues

So just a week after finding out what the WSJ's Brian Carney thinks about forecourt advertising by digital signage network GSTV, sister network C-Store TV seems to suggest that most people don't agree with him. At least, that's how I'd read this quote from a recent press release:
"Our Nielsen Media Research has proven consumers enjoy and value the Gas Station TV experience as nearly 80 percent of survey respondents call Gas Station TV a good source for product information and almost 90 percent state they want to watch again," said Leider. "This type of consumer engagement has demonstrated how Gas Station TV can help gas retailers enhance their image and product sales."
I've stated before that I'm not a fan of these systems personally, and I've heard from a number of you stating similar opinions. But if there are any readers who do like forecourt advertising and pump-top digital screen networks, I'd love to hear from you. Are you one of these Nielsen data points that appreciates gas pump advertising? Let me know what you like about it, what you'd like to see more of, or what you'd like to change!

Tags: , ,

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Ahh .. the sweet scent of vindication - see my previous comment on gas station digital signage :-)

Never thought of myself as being in line with Nielsen data points, but on this I seem to be. One thought though. The release mentions gas retailers enhancing their product sales, but I would think national brands would be a better, and more lucrative, target for these networks. With print readership falling through the floor, you'd think big advertisers would be jumping up and down at the opportunity to put messaging in front of an audience that's (a) captive - at least for a minute or two, and (b) receptive (see press release).

Bill Gerba said...

According to the PR (if you believe such things), this actually puts you in the majority and me in the minority :) I can't believe that's true, though.

I agree with you about the national advertisers - in an environment like that it would seem to make a lot of sense. I suspect the debate about this isn't over quite yet, though.

Anonymous said...

I think it would be more interesting if it was more gas station "digital signage" and not "TV". The audio is annoying and, as always, long format (anything over 10-15 seconds in my book) content and commercials is almost always inappropriate in a public environment. I've joked that since we at Titan have mostly public transit properties now, that gas pumps would be the ideal way to reach "the rest of the people." :-) --Lou

Bill Gerba said...

Hey Lou,

I completely agree, sound is definitely detracting more than adding to the experience. I'm not so sure about the format/duration, though. Since a typical fillup takes more than a minute, it might seem like a better opportunity for longer-format content than an in-store unit would be, for example.