Location-Based Advertising Coming to New York City Buses

Hey look! An Apple Store! I wonder what they have on sale these days. Hey look! An ad for the new iPod nano and the new MacBook Pro. How convenient.

It may feel a bit like a surreal experience, but that could be exactly what will happen in the near future in the Big Apple. There is talk that the New York City buses will get outfitted with flat screen displays instead of the static ads. Further still, the ads to be displayed on these flat screens will be location-based.

The ads can be targeted based on the neighborhood where the bus is currently roaming. Going even further, the ads could be targeted based on time as well, so the local Starbucks can advertise a hot cup of morning coffee in the AM, but an iced frappuccino in the PM.

The contract, which will see ads on the city’s bus and commuter-train systems, is worth $800 million to Titan Worldwide and spans a period of 10 years. The new ads are currently being tested in Manhattan and will expand to 200 more buses by 2009.