CBS Outernet joins forces with Ripple TV for digital signage content placement

AdWeek is reporting that CBS Outernet (formerly known as SignStorey), have partnered with Ripple TV, giving them access to, "more than 1,500 U.S. locations, including retailers such as Borders, Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf, Jack In The Box and Tully's."

While it does look peculiar coming on the heels of all this news about NBC's digital signage upfront, given that CBS dropped over $70 million to acquire SignStorey just a few months ago I think it's safe to say they've been thinking of ways to best grow their investment. And the deal apparently extends beyond Ripple's reach as well:

"CBS has also formed an alliance with Automotive Broadcasting Network. ABN places car-related content through a private network in over 20,000 dealerships.

"CBS has agreed to let ABN use clips from The Late Late Show With Craig Ferguson, Entertainment Tonight, 60 Minutes and The Early Show."

So what will ABC do next week? :) Actually, a much more interesting question (to me, at least), is what will SeeSaw Networks do? Both of these recent deals have put the big broadcast networks in the driver's seat, and indeed we've seen now that they're more than willing to partner with other existing networks themselves. This could leave SeeSaw in an awkward position since their value-add is being able to make those deals happen seamlessly, but that's apparently a service offering that at least NBC and CBS haven't seemed to need.

Only somewhat related, these articles that feature companies like CBS and NBC seem to draw a lot more traffic than normal. To you newcomers, welcome! If you're just getting your feet wet in the digital signage market, I suggest you check out this digital signage primer to answer some basic questions about the industry.

Tags: digital signage, digital signage upfront, Ripple TV, CBS

NBC's digital signage upfront details disclosed

Of course the original thread on this blog turned out to spawn some pretty interesting conversations, many of which got picked up for a piece on the NBC digital signage upfront on the WireSpring blog. Well, today some additional details were disclosed, but many others still remain under wraps. We know that the event took place yesterday, January 16th, and AdWeek is providing this coverage:

NBC officially rolled out its NBC Everywhere network of digital out-of-home platforms at a presentation attended by more than 200 agency and client executives here on Wednesday.

NBC disclosed the addition of fitness centers and college campuses to the mix. That brings the total to nine nontraditional digital platforms that now carry NBC content that are available for advertiser messages.

Announced at the presentation were deals with IdeaCast (for NBC@The Gym) and with the University Network (for NBC on Campus).

Visitors at 900 fitness centers nationwide which offer IdeaCast provided digital delivery of content and advertising, will get to see programming from MSNBC and CNBC on large screens strategically located within the gyms' cardio areas. Advertisers will be able to run spots within the content or to take part in sponsored-vignettes, such as workout tips, which will air during the program breaks. IdeaCast and NBC will jointly sell the ads.

The deal with University Network allows NBC content to be shown on 180 campuses nationwide where UN has deployed screens in high traffic locations. The in-house NBC Agency will create specific content targeting the college demographic; young stars of the network's shows host the segments. Marketers will be able to buy advertising that appears on a portion of the screen while the content is airing.

NBC also claims to be working on deals for the FuelCast Network (currently at 480 gas stations around the country), supermarket networks in Shop Rite, Albertson's and Path Mark stores, a jumbotron in Times Square, in hospital maternity awards (via the NBC-owned Newborn Channel), and on over 3,000 screens on transit trains across the country.

Of course, for this to work, NBC obviously has had to deal with a lot of the questions that come up in our market frequently: what's the right timing and duration for ads (they're selling at least :15 and :30 spots, and the frequency differs with the venue), and must also have made some decisions about pricing and packaging, none of which have been announced to the public yet.

Tags: digital signage, digital signage upfront, NBC, out-of-home advertising