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Subway Advertising Gets Moving
By
Jen Chung
Published May 15, 2006
Modified Mar 7, 2008
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By
Jen Chung
Published May 15, 2006
Modified Mar 7, 2008
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If subway train cars can get wrapped in ads, why not the subway tunnels? At least, that's what the MTA is thinking, as the agency test moving advertisements along tunnel walls. The ads, whose technology the MTA says "is amazing," may be tested this summer, and one provider of the technology is Sub-Media, whose placements have been on the PATH (you PATH riders get all the new technology first!). ANIMAL new york had looked at the technology a couple years ago and has a good explanation (and links, like this video) of the technology, which uses light to illuminate a series of still photographs that seem animated from a moving train car (think of a zoetrope or even a flipbook). While Gothamist supports any idea that will give help the MTA not raise fares, we're curious how long service will be disrupted in order to install the technology. Hey, maybe that's why the train service is messed on the weekend!
Do you think the subways are at risk of having too much advertising? Or does it not matter? The Daily News says that MTA is also considering "Projecting silent ads onto walls behind subway tracks that bored riders stare at while waiting on platforms" and "Illuminating the poster ads on the sides of buses at night to reel in the attention of pedestrians." Well, let's hope the ads aren't too distracting for pedestrians.
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Jen Chung
Jen Chung is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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