BT has selected Global, one of the UK’s leading outdoor media companies, as outdoor advertising partner for its street furniture network in the UK, which includes traditional payphones and its Gigabit Wi-Fi enabled digital street units.

The new three-year deal covers print and digital advertising across the network which includes 17,500 traditional ‘KX’ kiosks for print advertising; 500 ‘BT6’ payphones and 500 digital street units (formerly known as InLinkUK). The agreement will also enable BT to work with Global on any new digital street products BT installs in UK towns and cities in the future.

From April, BT’s digital street units will form a significant part of Global’s inventory in their new digital advertising exchange (DAX) programmatic product. DAX is built on proprietary technology from Global and gives advertisers the ability to buy outdoor space programmatically and at scale, with the ease they already have with other media. The digital advertising carried across BT’s network of 500 digital street units will be Global’s leading high-quality roadside proposition. As a result of the new deal with BT, Global will also be introducing news and content from LBC to the unit’s screens, delivering even more value to the local communities served by the units.

Katherine Ainley, MD of Ventures, BT, said: “Today’s deal with Global to support advertising sales across our street network is another milestone in the evolution of our future street strategy. Global has extensive experience of working across traditional and digital media for our existing estate, and have demonstrated a compelling vision for how we can work together in the future to innovate and grow our digital street presence.”

“We are delighted that after a competitive tender process BT has awarded Global their prestigious outdoor advertising sale contract which includes nearly 500 digital street units as well as over 17,500 BT payphones. This three year partnership with BT will provide advertisers with many opportunities to access BT’s national street furniture estate based in key locations across the UK, many in very close proximity to major high streets and shopping centres.

As part of the continued investment in our outdoor portfolio we will be incorporating our newly launched ad platform DAX (Digital Ad Exchange) into the digital street unit screens, enabling advertisers to buy truly dynamic digital outdoor at scale.”
STEPHEN MIRON, GLOBAL’S GROUP CEO
BT recently acquired the digital street unit assets of InLink Limited for an undisclosed sum, bringing nearly 500 digital street units under the full ownership of the company. BT plans to rebrand the InLinkUK service in the near future and will provide further details in due course.

The revenues generated by the digital advertising on the units – which have so far been rolled out across 23 towns and cities – enable the public to access a wide-range of services for free, providing a wide range of economic, social and technology benefits to communities and local councils up and down the country. This includes connecting local residents, businesses and tourists to free ultrafast Wi-Fi, access to free phone calls, mobile device charging, and ensuring that people can contact the emergency services or charity helplines in times of need. Local councils will continue to have access to a proportion of the units’ advertising screen time for free to utilise for their own community news.