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JC Decaux wins Sydney Trains outdoor media contract for 10 years

Out-of-home media company JC Decaux has been awarded the Sydney Trains contract, becoming the main advertising partner across the network of concourses and platforms of train stations for a period of ten years.

JC Decaux revealed the successful outcome of its bid for the contract, which is the largest individual roadside large format contract in NSW, and will significantly digitise the offering as part of sweeping upgrades to current assets.

The contract was previously held by competitor Ooh Media, having taken over responsibility for the assets through its $570 million acquisition of Here, There & Everywhere’s Adshel in September, 2018.

Adshel had extended the contract earlier that year, having won the Sydney Trains contract when it last went to tender in 2013 alongside APN and S&J Media.

The contract will commence from 1 December, with new developments to begin from 1 January at the earliest.

JC Decaux mock up of Wynyard Station

JC Decaux CEO Steve O’Connor told Mumbrella that once the developments have been made, that he expects 90% of revenue across the network will come from digital displays. “For advertisers this means incredible diversity of digital creative opportunities within the rail environment in both portrait and landscape ratios.

“We will be able to engage high dwell-time audiences with dynamic digital creative, full-motion video and even audio-visual content on digital cross-track assets. In time, we will be looking to make all digital assets available on both a Direct IO & Programmatic basis.”

On losing the contract, a spokesperson for Ooh Media said: “We’ve had a great relationship with Sydney Trains over many years, and put in a bid commensurate with the revenue opportunity this tender represented. While we’re disappointed we weren’t renewed, it will not have a material effect as no single contract represents more than six per cent of our revenues.

“Our network provides advertisers with significant reach of over 98 per cent of Sydney’s metropolitan area without any Sydney Trains assets, demonstrating our very strong presence due to our extensive retail, office, street furniture, hospitality and billboard assets.”

As part of taking on the contract, JC Decaux will more than double its current digital roadside footprint in NSW, reinvigorating the 1,500 displays across the network.

Its development of the network will include new high-definition audiovisual XTrackTV screens at ten of Sydney’s busy commuter hubs including Circular Quay station, as well as new digital roadside large-format portrait and landscape designs.

King Street, Newtown mock up

In a media release, O’Connor added: “The sheer scale, quality and impact of our new portfolio across Sydney Trains’ stations and surrounding roads, presents a wealth of new advertising opportunities for brands to connect with people travelling around Sydney.

“The reach of this network extends not only across Sydney’s CBD, with over 40% of all new sites falling within the City of Sydney, but through to North Sydney, Chatswood, Parramatta and into regional NSW. This is a triumphant win for JCDecaux and testament to our long relationship with Sydney Trains, as well as our experience in this market.”

Various new assets will include high-impact 4.5m x 2.5m digital video screens never before used in rail concourse areas. These will be above the York Street escalators in Wynyard, capturing the thousands of pedestrians walking through to Barangaroo each day.

Meanwhile, existing portrait digital assets will be replaced with close to 300 new 75-inch screens, providing high resolution, quality viewing of campaigns.

O’Connor said: “Post lockdowns, as people jump at the opportunity to finally make the most of their newfound freedom, we expect to see rapid audience return to the road and rail environments, making it the place to be for advertisers to connect in the real world.

“In 2019, pre-COVID, Sydney Trains recorded 420 million journeys per year. We are set to see people get out of their homes and travelling outdoors again, whether that’s back into the office, being a tourist in their own city or visiting friends and family.”

The contract win will soften the blow of JC Decaux losing the City of Sydney street furniture contract, which will begin its transition over to QMS Media from November after significant delays.

Revolution360 will take on additional bespoke assets including street furniture for Sydney Trains

The Sydney Trains contract announcement also saw a win for bespoke out-of-home and street poster provider Revolution360, which was awarded a 7+ year deal for over 700 unique placements of bespoke road-facing advertising assets.

VMG chief executive officer, Michael Fishwick, said: “We’re delighted to have been awarded this coveted contract with Sydney Trains and to be partnering with them to create bespoke and affordable advertising spaces accessible to all businesses regardless of size.

“Revolution360 is committed to evolving our sector of out-of-home. In the last year alone, we’ve launched our own proprietary data platform for clients and partnered with independent verification company Seedooh.”

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