Transit is the fastest growing out-of-home (OOH) advertising medium, increasing by 7.3% in 2023 (OAAA). But why are bus, shelter, and bench ads becoming increasingly popular? Let’s dive into five reasons why transit advertising is thriving, and why you should consider this medium for your next campaign.
1.) Transit Advertising Has A Low CPM
Cost per 1,000 impressions (CPM), is a popular metric to gauge how many times your advertisement is seen by the public. For many advertisers, the goal of their campaign is brand recognition or recall – so it is important for their ad to be seen by many, for the lowest cost possible.
That’s where transit advertising shines. According to a 2022 Solomon Partners study, transit shelters had the lowest estimated median CPM out of all surveyed media options, at just $2.18 per 1,000 impressions! If you’re looking to get the biggest bang for your buck, consider shelter advertising.
Low CPM is just one of the many reasons that transit advertising continues to grow in popularity but is especially important for advertisers looking to reach the largest population for the lowest cost.
2.) OOH Advertising Is Viewed Favorably By The Public
Unlike digital, radio, television, or other invasive formats, OOH advertising does not interfere with the viewer’s task at hand. This contributes to the public viewing OOH formats like transit advertising more favorably than the aforementioned options, according to the OAAA.
Additionally, transit advertising brings art and creative campaigns to streets and cities across the nation. The Harriman-Jewell Series, an Adsposure advertiser in Kansas City, has full wrap buses all over the Kansas City area sharing their brand and the arts programs they offer. Tracy Ingle, Director of Marketing and Public Relations for the Harriman-Jewell Series shared, “When I first found out that we could be on the entire bus, it was really exciting for me, because our main goal with using the bus is to get name recognition. To have big, huge, beautiful images of our artists driving around Kansas City with our logo all over the bus [is exciting].”
And the public loves seeing the Harriman-Jewell Series bus. “We’ve actually been at the Folly at a performance getting ready outside, and we saw the bus drive by and everyone gets really excited,” said Ingle.
That’s why transit is on the rise – the public looks for, and enjoys, these creative campaigns!
3.) Transit Advertising Reaches a Diverse Population
Advertising on public transportation reaches populations who are not easily reached by traditional media. If you’re looking to reach the largest population possible with your campaign, adding transit allows you to target people who may not be on social media, watch television, or listen to the radio. Public buses are on the streets throughout the community – and cannot be skipped or turned off like other formats.
Reaching a diverse population is crucial for many of our Adsposure advertising partners. Joyce Brown, Vice President and Media Director at Singleton Partners, who oversees advertising campaigns for a number of nonprofit and government agencies, shared that her clients choose to advertise on public transportation because they are able to ensure that their message is reaching the communities that they serve, without the boundaries that exist for digital or television advertising.
If you’re looking to reach the greatest number of people in your campaign’s target population, consider adding public transit to your marketing mix.
4.) OOH and Transit Drive Online Activity
Out-of-home advertising doesn’t just expose the target audience to your business, it drives them to act.
As per Comscore’s research, a significant proportion of consumer actions resulting from ad exposure can be attributed to out of home advertising, accounting for 29% of the total. In contrast, television and video ads contributed to only 22% and 17% of consumer actions, respectively. When considering advertising channels for your business, out of home options like transit ads drive more engagement – which means greater business opportunities for you.
Additionally, out-of-home advertising drove this level of engagement with only a 4% share of the total advertising dollars spent in 2021, suggesting that OOH delivers exceptional value compared to other mediums.
Check out the video below to learn more about how out-of-home advertising can drive online activity!
5.) Transit Focuses On The Community
Transit advertising – including bus, shelter, and bench advertising – allows advertisers to give back to the community through revenue sharing programs, and investing in the city itself and people that live there. Transit authorities across the nation rely on advertising dollars to produce additional revenue that can be reinvested into the transit system.
Additionally, transit advertising isn’t just beneficial to the transit authority, it also provides advertising opportunities to nonprofits or other organizations who are looking for a high impact, low cost marketing option. These organizations advertising on transit are stretching their dollar further and staying true to a mission of giving back by investing in the community.
The Fort Worth Hispanic Chamber of Commerce saw the impact of bus advertising firsthand with their “Hecho en Fort Worth” campaign, “We’re so grateful for them [Adsposure] because they’re amplifying our message as a nonprofit and what we’re trying to do for a business community that at that point was really suffering, and allowed us to have a very positive moment for our businesses,” Annette Landeros, President and CEO of FWHCoC said.
We are proud to provide an avenue for organizations of all kinds to reach their target audience through affordable advertising – just like we were able to do in Fort Worth with Trinity Metro and the FWHCoC.
Add Transit Advertising To Your Next Campaign
Don’t miss the bus – add transit to your next marketing campaign!
At Adsposure, we believe in public transit advertising – because that’s all that we do. Let the Transit Advertising People help you drive brand recognition and impressions for your organization. When you’re ready to witness firsthand why transit is the fastest-growing OOH advertising medium, reach out to our team of media sales professionals!