• by Erik Sass  @eriksass1, February 14, 2011

Today brought news of another big consolidation in the digital out-of-home video marketplace. Outcast Media-PumpTop TV, which operates a DO network serving gas stations and convenience stores, is merging with the Health Club Media Network.

Altogether the combined network will reach 68 million viewers a month at gas stations, convenience stores and health clubs across 120 U.S. media markets. Their consolidated portfolio covers more than 37,600 digital and static displays, including about 11,000 digital displays at 5,000 gas stations, 1,600 digital displays in a number of convenience stores, and about 25,000 digital and static displays in over 4,000 health clubs.

Going forward, HCMN will be run as a division of Outcast. The merger (and planned post-merger expansion) is being partly financed by investments from Parthenon Capital Partners, which is already an investor in HCMN, and Silicon Valley Bank, which is providing financing to Outcast. Outcast previously merged with former rival PumpTop TV.

While the recession and credit crunch put a definite -- if temporary -- damper on plans for expansions, the last year has brought gradual progress in the long-predicted consolidation of the digital out-of-home space.

In April 2010, Access 360 -- which operates a multimedia network reaching young adult consumers through digital out-of-home, online, and mobile channels -- bought Arena Media Networks, with digital OOH assets in major sporting event venues including Yankee Stadium, Wrigley Field and Madison Square Garden.

The combined Access-AMN network, with over 20,000 out-of-home screens in about 100 locations, reaches more than 54 million people per month across 33 big DMAs, including the top 25 DMAs in the nation, per Access 360.

Companies are also breaking new ground. AdSpace, which operates a DO network reaching consumers in malls located in the nation's top DMAs, plans to expand into 40 new malls over the course of 2011. The company claims that the new additions will bring its total monthly audience to 150 million people.

Rival mall advertiser EnVu reported that its EnSpire DO network targeting retail shoppers has been deployed in 100 malls across the country's top 20 DMAs over the last three months. EnVu says that number should grow to 135 malls by mid-February and 225 malls by the end of this year.