Hong Kong’s MTR launches full-scale pDOOH advertising on Metro network

Leading OOH media company in Hong Kong MTR Corporation has announce the full launch of their programmatic digital out-of-home (pDOOH) offering across the MTR network (Covering Kwun Tong Line, Tsuen Wan Line, Island Line, South Island Line, Tung Chung Line, Tseung Kwan O Line and Disneyland Resort Line), with 418 digital panels in 51 MTR stations in the city.

It is reportedly Hong Kong's largest DOOH inventory available for programmatic trading, offering advertisers high flexibility to reach their target audience among MTR passengers every day.

As a pioneer and leader in the DOOH market, MTR advertising began its digital transformation in 2018, and became the world's first metro network to launch a unique, audience targeting and media-selling platform.

Now it ushers in a new era in trading as the first metro in Asia to offer programmatic DOOH, starting at MTR Sheung Wan Station in early January 2022, extending to the whole Island Line in March, and accomplishing full coverage of MTR advertising digital network in April 2022. 

MTR advertising is utilising this new technological media trading solution to meet the new expectations of its clients and to increase the competitiveness of MTR DOOH in the market. The new pDOOH offering gives advertisers considerable flexibility to optimise playout for maximum efficiency and to accommodate a flexible range of campaign budgets, ad duration and shares of time. Advertisers can choose among different trading models through a private marketplace (PMP) and can trade by either guaranteed price & impression (GPI), guaranteed price (GP) or non-guaranteed (NG) floor price via their demand-side platform (DSP), based on CPM (cost per thousand impressions).

MTR advertising strategically partners with VIOOH, a leading supply-side platform (SSP), who trades with over 35 DSP partners globally, including Hivestack, The Trade Desk and Yahoo etc. 

Teresa Fung, Chief Media & Business Development Manager, Hong Kong Transport Services, MTR Corporation, said, "We are excited to be the first metro in Asia to offer Programmatic Digital Out-of-Home as it is further enhancing our digital transformation journey.  We believe that programmatic DOOH is the latest market-driven solution to cater to marketer's needs to target specific audience(s) efficiently. Together with smart technology, MTR advertising provides a flexible and effective platform for advertisers to showcase their digital creativity and facilitates dynamic and engaging advertising campaigns. This not only brings greater commercial value to advertisers, but also optimises passenger journeys with new experiences and meaningful engagements."

Shirley Chan, Managing Director, JCDecaux Transport, said, "With the rapid development and growing demand for DOOH, programmatic trading has become an irresistible trend. We are excited that MTR advertising is achieving another important milestone by connecting to the programmatic digital ecosystem. MTR advertising programmatic trading can deliver brands greater efficiency, transparency, brand-safety, and measurable advertising, while also linking brands to the right target audience at the right time and right moment, in the right location, and with the right message to optimise deliveries of clients' campaigns across the MTR network successfully. Our passion and aim are to enhance the position of MTR advertising as the pioneer in OOH digital transformation and we are confident that advertisers and agencies will seize this irresistible new opportunity." 

Jean-Christophe Conti, the Chief Executive Officer at VIOOH, added, "We're thrilled to participate in this programmatic offering across the MTR network in Hong Kong. It's an exciting time for the digital out of home industry as programmatic adoption takes off globally, especially in Hong Kong where 94% -- as cited in State of the Nation - The Future of Digital Out of Home (April, 2021) -- of media agencies and leading brand executives stated they plan to integrate programmatic DOOH within the next 18 months. This reiterates to us that the future of pDOOH in this region is looking strong and it's a big opportunity for the DOOH industry."