Going after the footy crowd
November 27, 2006 by Dave Haynes
One of the networks I noticed in that UK digital ad network directory was a firm called Match Day Media, which has hundreds of screens installed in the concourses and other public areas of top tier football stadia across England and Scotland.
These places get a big crowd once and sometimes twice a week for matches, and screens mounted around the facilities provide replays and endless live data for the fans before, during and after the games. Match Day makes its money through advertising in the video window, and there are also graphic ad banners available on the screens.
London-based Match Day has 14 facilities installed, including ManU’s Old Trafford, which has 190 (count’em) plasma screens. They claim a monthly audience of 1.5 million fans.
It would be easy to be skeptical about this network’s fortunes because I have seen screens in other sports and public venues and few people taking notice. And the absence of eyeballs for all but a few hours a week is cause for a little worry.
But these guys counter that very effectively on their web site with piles of stats and a motion-media demo that shows throngs of club supporters visually locked on the screens, answering their own question: “Is anyonewatching?”
Now that may be because of all the other stuff on the screens, like game scores, statistics and replay footage, but you have to think with all that “sticky” content the ads are getting noticed, too. Some major brands appear to have bought in.
Dec 20th 2006. Match Day Media Ltd (MDM.TV) has added the Manchester Evening News Arena (M.E.N Arena) to their network. In a three-year deal, MDM.TV will be selling digital media in the M.E.N Arena. The new offering will go live in January 2007.