Viacom confirmed for £800m London Underground contract

by Mark Banham, Brand Republic 23-May-06, 11:00

LONDON - Viacom Outdoor has been officially awarded the £800m London Underground and Victoria Coach Station advertising contracts by Transport for London.

The confirmation of the news follows on from the outdoor contractor being appointed as "preferred bidder" by the government body to service the advertising contract for the Tube network at the beginning of this month.

The £800m London Underground contract is believed to be the largest of its kind in the world, and will run for eight-and-a-half years. It includes management and maintenance of all advertising locations across London's Tube network, consisting of 33,000 poster sites at 275 London Underground stations, as well as 88,000 panels inside Tube trains. The Victoria Coach Station contract includes advertising rights for the busiest station in the UK.

Viacom Outdoor will now launch a substantial programme of investment in the Tube. The investment programme, of over £50m, will include a range of new digital technologies, including the roll out of digital escalator panels already at Tottenham Court Road station, as well as digital cross-track projection. The full extent of the investment programme will be unveiled in June.

Tom Goddard, CEO Viacom Outdoor Europe, said: "These appointments are a significant part of our European growth strategy and a fitting endorsement of our innovative approach to the outdoor sector. Our investment programme will ensure that we deliver a world-class Tube for a world-class city. I am immensely proud of the UK team's market-beating track record and ground-breaking bid submission."

Andrew Oldham, joint managing director of Viacom Outdoor, said: "London Underground's decision to award these contracts to Viacom Outdoor after a highly competitive tender process is a great endorsement of our approach. We offered a winning combination of innovation, commercial success and unmatchable expertise in running the contract safely and effectively. In short, we offered the surety of a successful incumbent coupled with a fresh new approach."

Viacom Outdoor has been responsible for managing advertising across London's Underground system for the last 12 years.

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