• by Erik Sass  @eriksass1, June 12, 2008

NBC Everywhere, the out-of-home video network operated by NBC Universal, is expanding its partnership with the Fuelcast Network, which operates a network of video displays in pumps at gas stations.

In addition to bringing NBCU content to another 100 stations around the U.S., the deal makes NBCU the exclusive content provider and ad sales partner for Fuelcast; its official name is now the "Fuelcast Network powered by NBC."

Mark French, the senior vice president and general manager of NBC Everywhere, remarked that "with this expansion, we can now offer our national and local advertisers greater reach into the digital out-of-home marketplace and connect them to a hyper-localized and captive audience at the pump."

Fuelcast's network covers about 600 gas stations with 6,000 screens, in seven top U.S. markets. Fuelcast says it reaches about 12 million consumers a month, via pump displays at gas stations in Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco, San Diego, Washington, D.C., Minneapolis and Miami.

In the world of gas pump-based video, Fuelcast is actually something of an underdog. One of its main competitors, Gas Station TV (partnered with CBS News), is roughly comparable in size, but claims to reach about 30 million consumers a month.

Meanwhile, PumpTop TV, partnered with ABC News Now, says it will reach 100 million consumers a month by the end of 2009. All three networks have plans to expand rapidly over the next few years.