NBC Owned Television Stations and tech provider VeriFone Systems are partnering to get more NBCUniversal content on taxicab televisions in several markets, and on gas station pump TVs too.
The NBC stations previously partnered with CMT on the group's taxicab content. The new partnership commences Jan. 1.
The collaboration covers over 12,000 taxis, up from the current 10,000, in nine markets, including New York, Chicago, Boston and Washington. With VeriFone's recent upgrade to 6,800 New York taxis, NBC Owned Stations will be able to offer advertisers "new and interactive functionality, including the ability for riders to make purchases directly from the taxi screen, simply by swiping their credit card through the system or tapping NFC mobile phones on the system already in place for fare payments," NBC Owned Stations said in a statement.
The New York cab content includes not only WNBC fare, but programming from NBCUniversal's news, sports, entertainment and cable divisions too. Advertisers will also have the ability to integrate both mobile and social features into their campaigns, track user engagement and enable riders to select from a range of printable coupons. Marketers will also be able to select the specific daypart or geography they are interested in targeting.
"We have chosen to partner with the industry leader to deliver best-in-class content and our strong sales capabilities to one of the nation's largest collection of taxis and gas stations," said Greg Scholl, President of Local Integrated Media for NBC Owned Television Stations. "We are excited about future growth prospects as VeriFone continues to innovate its products and push into new digital out-of-home sectors."
The pact also gets NBC Owned Stations content onto gas station pumps, where it has not been for several months.
"NBCUniversal is the perfect strategic fit for us as we extend our payment-enabled media platform beyond TaxiTV into other verticals, including our existing client base of over 60,000 gas stations and more than one million retail installations," said Bud Waller, vice chairman of VeriFone.
