• by Erik Sass , January 16, 2008

The definition of place-based video will have to be expanded to include things that aren't strictly "video." For example, in Canada a company called SideTrack is installing long rows of LED signs inside train tunnels that look like a video ad to passengers when the train moves.

The first such train tunnel display, in Winnipeg, Manitoba, appears as a 10-second video ad for Fiat. The displays can deliver ads up to 15 seconds in length. It's part of a global network of digital ad platforms operated by SideTrack that allows the same video ad to appear simultaneously in a 450-meter tram tunnel at London's Heathrow Airport. Like other electronic signage, the digital network allows multiple images to be displayed; the Heathrow display is also being used by Unicef and Microsoft.

SideTrack is operating or installing similar displays in airports in Boston, San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York, Toronto, Rio de Janeiro, Mexico City and Monterrey, Mexico. It's also negotiating contracts to expand the network to other major metropolitan airports.

In-tunnel motion picture advertising has been around for several years, including ad displays used by Coca-Cola on the Atlanta subway system created by MotionPoster, a SideTrack competitor, in 2001. However, the medium was adopted much more quickly in other countries, and is only now becoming common in the United States.