OBN adds boards in Maritimes; now truly national

The list of digital screen networks that than can honestly boast about a national footprint in Canada is very short, indeed.

So news that the Outdoor Broadcast Network has added screens in Halifax and Saint John, New Brunswick is a big deal, as it means the LED board network has a coast to coast footprint – not bads considering the boards still cost a lot of money and the company is still only about five years old (note: I used to work with a couple of the execs).

Reports Media in Canada:

The company’s new Halifax video board is located in the heart of the city, positioned on the Halifax Metro Centre, the largest arena in the city, facing the intersection of Duke Street and Brunswick Street. OBN reports the weekly audience for that board is 175,000.

The new Saint John video board is located downtown at Harbour Station on Station Street, the main thoroughfare in the city. OBN reports the board’s weekly traffic is estimated at 250,000.

OBN president Peter Irwin says the company’s goal is to “continue to expand our national network of video boards throughout Canada and to serve the interests of national and regional advertisers. We now offer coverage from the East Coast to the West Coast with the addition of these two important Atlantic Canada markets.”

The OBN national network delivers a total weekly audience of over 13 million across the markets of Vancouver, Victoria, Chilliwack, Edmonton, Calgary, Saskatoon, Winnipeg, Windsor, Niagara Falls, Cambridge, Hamilton, Toronto, Saint John and Halifax.

The big outdoor companies in Canada, such as Pattison and Astral, are just starting to stick their big toes in the water with digital stuff, which means OBN so far has the big LED board pretty much to itself – save a handful in Toronto’s Dundas Square and along the Gardiner Expressway freeway leading in and out of downtown Toronto.

The big guys have the money to not only catch up, but also put in much bigger boards in prime analog locations. However, you have to imagine one of them is thinking, “Let’s take the easy route and buy these guys.”

DSE attendance up 70 per cent from year earlier

The Digital Signage Expo’s move to Las Vegas was one of those gambles that paid off, with 3,400 people turning up – a 70% jump from the year before in Chicago.

Organizer Chris Gibbs told Digital Signage Today that exhibitors were sufficiently pleased the 2009 show should see a 50%-plus jump in the number of booths, which in theory would necessitate a bigger hall, as the it was in looked full to me.

I know not everyone is happy with Vegas as the new home.  Bill Gerba thinks its the wrong place to be and another industry blogger, David Weinfeld, says the city is so amped up with signs everywhere it leaves people with the wrong impression.

I think the city is right. While the proliferation of signs can leave you with a distorted sense of the state of the industry, it also has a lot of best in class work on display. The best LED boards are slapped on the Strip, and some of the work inside the casinos is first class. I wandered into the Planet Hollywood casino on the morning after the show and you can see, very quickly, on the casino floor how good screens can look when fully integrated into a retail design plan.

I took pix, but my SD card decided not save them.

What is less than great, but life, is the actual venue. The Las Vegas Convention Center is massive, but the facilities have some hair on them, the food services prices are silly, the public spaces are cramped and disjointed, and getting a cab when a show breaks up for the day is hard, long work.

I can’t comment on the seminars and speakers. I never get let off my leash.

Reactrix going to the movies

Reactrix Systems has announced a deal with National CineMedia to take its gesture-based interactive technology into theatre lobbies that are part of NCM’s national network.

The deal starts with a pilot and then roll of the STEPscape interactive floor projections and WAVEscape flat panel  displays. The screens will go in the lobbies of theatre affiliates across the U.S.

Through the new deal, reads a press release, NCM will have full sales responsibility and operating control of its Reactrix STEPscape^TM systems in theatres, marking the first time Reactrix has allowed a partner in the U.S. to deploy its floor technology as an independent advertising network.

Through its FirstLook pre-feature program, Lobby Entertainment Network (LEN) and other promotional products, National CineMedia provides advertisers with bundled offerings of on-screen and lobby marketing products that provide multiple ways to interact with theatre patrons. National CineMedia operates the largest digital in-theatre network in North America, the Digital Content Network (DCN)SM, which allows for the targeted distribution of advertising and content to specified auditoriums and lobby areas within its network of more than 1,200 AMC Entertainment Inc., Cinemark USA, Inc., Regal Entertainment Group and other network affiliate movie theatres, including over 13,200 digital screens nationally.

Beginning later in 2008, Loews theatres will also become part of the NCM network bringing its reach to approximately 16,500 screens nationwide.

This looks like a good move for both companies, though it’s not clear from the release who’s writing the cheques to put in the gear. What it gives Reactrix is access to 1,100 venues across much of the U.S., and NCM a new set of pots and pans for its ad sales force.