Ryanair says the ads offer marketers an effective way to reach rich consumers who are difficult to influence via more traditional media. InviseoMedia, the
firm which sold the seat-back ads to Ryanair and another European low-fare carrier, claims they provide an average of 40 minutes of "dwell time" during a typical flight. The only way passengers can
avoid the ads is to open the tray or leave their seat.
"It's a good medium, a good audience and they're captive to some extent," says Dominic Stead, chief executive of Inviseo. Among the advertisers onboard are Microsoft, DaimlerChrysler and Hewlett-Packard. But some marketers, while coveting the audience, are also worried about consumer blow-back. "A lot of brands are pretty skeptical about being associated with in-flight advertising," says Ben Cunningham, a media planner at Vizeum, part of Aegis.
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