MBTA to use digital advertisements to help close budget gap

In a move that could generate about $1 million annually for the T, the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority will partner with media sales company Titan to install “Digital Advertising networks” at four MBTA stations.

“Every dollar helps, and we continue to work towards identifying ways to generate revenue, such as advertising,” said MBTA spokeswoman Lydia Rivera. “This is just another example of creativity to seek non fare revenue ideas.”

Platforms will display series of large, digital-ad billboards “designed to deliver high-quality, compelling advertising, transit and editorial content to the MBTA rider” will initially be placed at Park Street, North Station, South Station and Harvard Square, according to a letter from Titan to the MBTA.

“We believe that the visibility of these Displays, coupled with the captive nature of the transit environment will command a significant premium from advertisers,” Titan wrote in the letter.

With the MBTA’s $160 million dollar budget deficit, revenue from the new digital ads is an “excellent opportunity” for the MBTA, Rivera said.

“This is one of various opportunities that can help us,” she said. “This is something that, if this is well received and we experience monetary gains, we will continue with.”

Titan, which already advertises on MBTA buses, subway car interiors and exteriors, T platforms and commuter rail platforms, serves about 12 major U.S. cities, including New York and Los Angeles.

In addition to installing one three-sided digital billboard about six-feet across diagonally, the company will install six six-foot digital displays and 32 four-foot digital displays, according to the letter.

Titan recommended the MBTA alternate between displaying editorial content such as news, weather and sports scores and advertisements on the screens to attract riders’ attention.

Anthony Villiotti, a freshman in Boston University’s School of Management, said the ads will give T stations a livelier and renewed atmosphere and he is “in full support” of the MBTA’s new measures.

“[The digital ads] would provide excellent advertising opportunities to companies of all natures,” Villiotti said in an email. “It would give the MBTA additional income, charging companies to use the space, and since the MBTA is experiencing financial difficulty, this is a way to get more income without raising prices.”

Villiotti said the ads would make riding the T a more enjoyable experience.

He said, “This may completely revitalize the MBTA and hopefully prevent it from raising the T fares.”