Advertising around MARTA’s transit system is expected to get significantly flashier in coming years.

That’s thanks to a contract recently approved by MARTA’s Board of Directors with Intersection Media to manage all advertising space at rail stations, and on buses, railcars, streetcars, and paratransit vehicles, the agency reports.  

MARTA's contract will last 10 years, with two one-year options. It will see 200 new digital displays added throughout the system, plus ad space on 60 electric-vehicle charging stations at nine different locations.

The deal will also cover digital ad screens on MARTA’s new railcars, which are set to begin arriving in 2023.

It's considered a revenue-generating arrangement, in that Intersection Media has guaranteed MARTA a 70-percent share of ad revenues—with a minimum annual guarantee that’s expected to total $60 million over the life of the decade-long contract. (A clause was included to void the cash guarantee in the event of “residual COVID-19 issues or other significant events,” MARTA officials note.)

More than 50 ad firms expressed interest during MARTA’s solicitation period, and 15 attended a pre-bid conference this past summer.

Intersection Media and one competitor that submitted proposals were evaluated on cost, industry experience, advertising program creativity, features and services, and local and national sales capacity, according to MARTA. The company’s diversity and inclusion initiatives, along with their mobile advertising integration capabilities, were other factors considered.

A contract for MARTA bus shelter advertising is separate and won’t expire until next December, MARTA officials noted.

“MARTA has prime advertising space, much of which is mobile and seen by tens of thousands of people every day,” MARTA’s senior director of marketing and sales, Jennifer Jinadu-Wright, noted in an announcement today. “Intersection [Media] impressed us with their creativity in using these spaces and their revenue generating abilities.”

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