• by Erik Sass  @eriksass1, July 23, 2007

The place-based video market is expanding at a feverish clip. The latest new product comes from The Wall Street Journal's Office Network, which announced that it will begin installing video displays in the elevators of large office buildings. Previously confined to lobbies and common areas within them, the planned expansion brings the WSJ Office Network into direct competition with Gannett's Captivate Network, the country's largest elevator-based video network.

Jim Harris, Office Media Network CEO, explained: "The expansion into elevators is the next logical step in enhancing our service, delivering the most relevant stream of business news and information for tenants and visitors in office buildings." At 14 inches, its liquid crystal displays are slightly larger than Captivate's 12-inch screens.

Seeking to differentiate its offering from Captivate, WSJ's Harris emphasized the quality of Office Network's programming, which is drawn from the flagship newspaper's market indexes, weather and breaking news editorial content. The WSJ Office Network, which debuted in June 2006, is currently installed in 140 large buildings around the country, with plans to add hundreds more in the near future.

According to Captivate data, the network currently reaches about 2.2 million business professionals a day via 7,300 wireless digital screens. Measurement of the network's audience reach and frequency is based on building tenant information and in-building foot traffic counts. Its content includes a variety of business and general interest news, as well as video ads.

Recently, there have been multiple initiatives intended to render the medium more transparent and accessible to advertisers. Early last week, AdSpace, a mall-based video network, unveiled data from Nielsen suggesting that its video content reaches almost half of shoppers in malls with AdSpace installations.

Then on Friday of last week, Premier Retail Networks--which operates video displays in major retail chains, including Wal-Mart and Best Buy--announced a major content partnership with NBC Universal. Also, a new industry organization--the Out-of-home Video Advertising Bureau, or OVAB--is working with a consortium of advertisers and research firms to develop new audience metrics.