PSACASTING.ORG Launch and Availability to Be Concurrent With Advertising Week in New York, September 21, 2009
NEW YORK & SCOTTS VALLEY, Calif. – The Advertising Council, the nation’s leading producer of public service advertising campaigns, and The MediaTile Company, a world leading provider of cellular digital signage and SaaS solutions, announced that leaders in digital signage industry such as PRN, Reflect Systems, and SeeSaw Networks, have given their resounding support of PSAcasting.org. Also announced, the initial PSACASTING.ORG website is now accepting early sign-ups, and that the fully functional website with all media assets would be available concurrent with Advertising Week in New York, on September 21-25, 2009.
“We are thrilled with the level of interest PSAcasting is receiving from industry leaders and are looking forward to the official launch of the program this fall,” said Tim Davis, Executive Vice President of Media, The Advertising Council. “With PSAcasting in place, we will have a highly automated and efficient means to bring our public service advertisements to the millions of monthly viewers of digital out of home networks.”
Out-of-home digital video displays reach two-thirds of U.S. residents aged 18 or older each month according to a 2009 Arbitron study. Diane Williams, Senior Media Research Analyst for Arbitron, commented, “OOH video as a medium has grown to the point where it reaches a majority of U.S. adults, the last new source of advertising inventory to connect with Americans on this scale was the Internet. The Ad Council is wise to take advantage of this progressive societal touchpoint.” To download a copy of the report: http://www.arbitron.com/study/digital_video_display_study.asp
“As one of the largest digital signage network operators in the U.S., we fully support the Ad Council’s ‘PSAcasting’ initiative,” said Steve Nesbit, President and Chief Operating Officer, Reflect Systems. “Having such a prestigious organization as the Ad Council focus on digital signage is a clear sign that our industry is maturing and that the medium is now recognized as a strategic communications vehicle. This also speaks well for our industry in that we have accepted the social responsibility of being good corporate citizens by including the Ad Council’s PSAs on our networks.”
“SeeSaw is thrilled that Media Tile is partnering with the Ad Council to proactively offer place-based digital video spots for public service advertisements (PSAs),” said Peter Bowen, Founder and CEO of SeeSaw Networks. “The effectiveness of place based digital media in connecting with people in their busy daily lives and the importance of providing critical messages to the public is a perfect marriage. We actively support the Ad Council and our network partners enthusiastically accept PSAs as part the network tests we run with them and are supportive of the Ad Council and its partners.”
“Having the Ad Council support the thousands of digital signage networks through PSAcasting is a clear indication that our industry is now a mainstream medium,” said David Drain, Executive Director, Digital Signage Association. “I strongly encourage all network operators to participate in PSAcasting.”
“Public service advertisements are an important component of each PRN in-store network programming plan,” said Keith Daly, SVP, Content Strategy and Creative Services. “Our retailer clients support important community and corporate initiatives, and they include relevant information and content on a regular basis. Because our networks reach more than 140 million shoppers every week, they are a great communication platform for providing awareness to public interest issues – especially related to health and safety.”
“We are delighted to be front and center in an industry initiative that can positively affect the lives of hundreds of millions of viewers,” said Simon Wilson, CEO of The MediaTile Company. “By creating PSAcasting on the foundation of our MediaCast Software as a Service application, we’re essentially delivering ‘cloud computing’ for public service announcements. This way, large network operators, corporate communicators, and the thousands of independent networks can easily obtain and place public service advertisements into their programming schedules.”
About MediaTile
The MediaTile Company (www.mediatile.com) is a worldwide supplier of award-winning, all-in-one cellular digital signage and kiosk solutions that are remarkably easy-to-deploy and operate. Just add power to MediaTile Digital Sign in a Box™ or Kiosk in a Box™ systems and use the web-based Mediacast Portal to manage and monitor your advertising, informational or interactive communications network. Backed by MediaTile best practices, Return On Message™ (ROM) Methodology, a 99.9% uptime guarantee, end-to-end service and support, and a creative media team, your network will be up and running in record time, with record results.
About the Ad Council
The Ad Council (www.adcouncil.org) is a private, non-profit organization that marshals talent from the advertising and communications industries, the facilities of the media, and the resources of the business and non-profit communities to produce, distribute and promote public service campaigns on behalf of non-profit organizations and government agencies in issue areas such as improving the quality of life for children, preventive health, education, community well-being, environmental preservation and strengthening families.
