News

FMV fares well with ATM users, advertisers in Australia

brandATM-AU hopes ATM owners will invest in its proprietary technology to bring full-motion video advertising to ATMs after a successful pilot in late 2001.

June 6, 2002

A recent three-month pilot program of video advertising on Australian ATMs attracted the interest of high-profile advertisers and was well received by ATM users, according to brandATM AU, the company which conducted the pilot.

brandATM-AU -- the perpetual licensee of brandATM technology in Australia and New Zealand -- in conjunction with Cashcard, the largest ATM operator in the country, ran full-motion video ads for such high-profile companies as Ford Motor Co. and Kraft Foods on 10 Cashcard-owned ATMs in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Adelaide.

Market research company AC Nielson was engaged to determine consumer and advertiser reactions to the three, five and seven-second ads.

brandATM-AU hopes advertisers will pay to run full-motion-video ads like this on ATMs in Australia.

AC Nielsen researchers intercepted people immediately after they had used one of the pilot ATMs and further qualified them by asking if they had used an ATM at least four times in the last month.

Of those regular users, 63 percent said they preferred video to still advertising, and only 16 percent expressed an unfavorable opinion of ATM advertising.

One of the most common objections was that ads could slow down the transaction, though 75 percent perceived no change in the duration. Of the 23 percent who thought their transaction took longer, more than over two-thirds said they felt positive about the ads once they were assured that they had no effect on transaction times.

Senior members of the advertising industry contacted by Nielsen were also positive, with 19 out of 20 rating the medium as potentially "very or somewhat effective." Thirteen regarded full-motion video as an "important" element of ATM advertising.

According to Peter Aynsley, brandATM-AU's managing director, key features of the technology are that it can be installed in virtually any ATM with a 286, 386 or Pentium processor and it works without interfering with the transaction process.

"We put our own processing unit in the ATM," he explained, because ATM hardware is not designed to handle the large files typically required to run full-motion video.

Similarly, the brandATM hardware includes a 56K modem for downloading the ads independently of the ATM network. According to Aynsley, proprietary video compression technology makes it possible to transfer the files over a dial-up link, an arrangement that also makes it feasible to display location-specific advertising.

The brandATM unit monitors the state of the ATM and displays advertisements at three different stages of the transaction. While the ATM is idle, it plays ads in an attract loop. Many ATM users are already used to seeing still advertising messages at this stage, but "people tend to watch video more than stills," said Aynsley, "it improves your ability to get your messages to customers."

The ads stop as soon as a card is inserted, and normal ATM operation resumes. BrandATM stays out of the way until the "please wait" portion of the transaction, which typically takes eight to 10 seconds. During this time it plays one or more ads, but the screen returns to the main ATM display as soon as the transaction restarts.

A final advertising message can be displayed at the "please remove your card" stage. Advertisers like this model because "there's no clutter [and] no competing ads," said Aynsley.

Aynsley said the level of interest on the part of ATM owners varied. Banks were more concerned about promoting their own brands, while private operators wanted new revenue opportunities. "Time will tell as to which area accelerates the fastest," he said.

The introduction of the system has been delayed, Aynsley said, while modifications are made to accommodate several different NCR ATM models that are common in Australia. The system has also been extended to provide Web connectivity via the brandATM-AU infrastructure, as well as the ability to archive images from the ATM's camera according to the owner's requirement.

According to Aynsley, brandATM-AU plans to begin marketing the system to major ATM owners in the fourth quarter of this year.

Cashcard, which has a 40 percent share of Australia's ATM market including its own ATMs as well as those it manages on behalf of financial institutions and private owners, did not return calls seeking comment on the trial.

BrandATM-AU is 75 percent owned by POSmedia, which also displays video advertising on screens in high-traffic areas such as railway stations and shopping malls. POSMedia paid $500,000 for the rights to the brandATM technology in Australia/New Zealand in April of 2000.

POSMedia had a rocky year financially in 2001, reporting a $6.75 million loss in its annual report. The company attributed the loss, at least partially, to a general economic downturn that hit the advertising industry especially hard. POSMedia also said that the uptake of "out-of-home" advertising had been slower than expected in Australia.

Despite the chilly economy, POSMedia had a warm enough feeling to invest $390,000 in stock and cash for a 5 percent ownership stake in brandATM in August of 2001.