HD Ad projections on Tube platforms
CBS Outdoor starts piloting high-def ad images projected on walls opposite the train platforms in the London Underground today.Marketing Week says the “Cross Track Projection system” will be installed at Euston tube station for a five-week trial and the plan is to roll out to 24 London Underground stations early next year.
Would love to see more pix and get a handle on how it is all done. Are the projectors dimmed when a train rolls in or is there some way to shoot the signal over or around the train cars to the wall? Otherwise, wouldn’t people in the subway cars be blinded?
My colleague, Nurlan Urazbaev, dug up a litlle more on the tech side and posted in the BroadSign blog.
There’s also a very interesting CBS Outdoor fly-through video of how the firm sees the future of advertising on the Tube. At the very end, the video at least suggests the projection is killed when the first train car train rolls in.
October 5, 2007 at 12:36 pm
Dave,
I had the same question immediately after I saw the news: Are they going to shoot the projection light through passengers or will it be cut off the moment the train arrives? On any case, I am really curious to see the thing in action. I am looking forward to seeing it in February, when supposedly the full roll-out should be underway.
I think the challenge here is the fact that the Tube is very old and stations are small, so you cannot really project above the train, like they do in newer North American subways.
We have cross platform projection screens at some downtown metro stations here in Montreal, but they are installed high above the platforms (this is new world metro, modern architecture compared to London). And the projection screens here are really not bright enough.
October 9, 2007 at 11:32 am
Hi Dave,
I am the technical designer for the projection system currently used in the Montreal subway system. Although we have the ability to project over the trains in some of our installations, there will be several upcoming installations where we will also have to look for alternatives where we do not have the space to install our screens above the train.
In response to Nurlan’s comment that our projection screens are not bright enough I would like to explain that all though this was the case shortly after our initial installation the transit authority took it upon themselves to upgrade the stations environmental lighting and as a result made our projection look weaker.
I am please to announce that we have begun replacing our projectors with newer models that have doubled the light output on our screens. We hope to have this completed before the end of the year.
Timothy Brannen
Technical Director
Metrovision (Montreal)