Adweek: How GSTV Works With Music Artists and Film Companies
by Meseret Ambachew, Adweek
GSTV's chief executive officer and president Sean McCaffrey says his company reaches 40% of people across the U.S.
The digital OOH company invited MGM Studios' CMO during its NewFronts presentation to talk about the success of its content partnership
Retail digital display company GSTV presented at the IAB’s NewFronts for the third time on the event’s final day, held virtually.
The company touted its reach of 105 million people across the U.S., mainly through displaying content at gas pump stations, which is 40% of adults in the country, according to company chief executive officer and president Sean McCaffrey. With the average consumer pumping gas at least three times a month, the company chalks that up to 15 minutes of time spent with its display.
“The experience itself is outside the home when you use that three to four minutes of dead air,” McCaffrey told Adweek.
Gas prices are at an all-time high, but the alarming numbers haven’t appeared to limit GSTV’s ability to cut content partnership deals, driving its ad business and audience growth. And it’s becoming defter at showing the impact of those deals. Through GSTV’s recent partnership with insights company Affinity solutions, the company found it is 50% more efficient than digital video for campaigns like consumer packaged goods.
Raising the volume on music artists
PG County, Maryland native music artist, Reggie Becton, was invited to speak at its presentation. Becton is in a partnership with Live Nation Entertainment, which currently displays four-minute-long content through GSTV.
Artist Reggie Becton saw his listenership almost triple after his Live Nation video featured at Shell gas stations.
The music artist said he received an influx of messages from friends and fans on his Live Nation spotlight video displayed at Shell gas stations. “It was just like wildfire after that,” said Becton.
According to Becton, within two months Becton’s Spotify listenership nearly tripled, his followership on the platform is now over 255,000.
From small screens to big screens
GSTV also highlighted a partnership with film company MGM Studios, where the company used GSTV’s in-house content studio, Ignite, to create content campaigns for its films.
According to GSTV executive vice president and chief marketing officer, Steve Ochs, after MGM’s video takeover campaign to promote The Addams Family 2, MGM tapped GSTV again in February for its Channing Tatum featured film, Dog.
MGM Studio chief marketing officer, Stephen Bruno, noted the current difficulty of encouraging viewers to go to the movies, but GSTV’s method of unexpected creative—plus the time and place—”helped MGM break through the clutter,” said Bruno.
Insider: A gas station video platform that works with brands like PepsiCo and Heineken is trying to grab retail media dollars — here's its pitch to advertisers
by Patrick Coffee, Insider
GSTV has repositioned itself as a complement to big retail ad platforms like Amazon and Walmart.
The company places ads for the likes of PepsiCo and Coca-Cola at gas stations and has been growing in the pandemic.
Its new pitch deck focuses on how its ads can drive sales at convenience stores and big-box chains.
Scores of retailers and other sorts of companies have jumped into digital advertising to chase some of the $31 billion in ad revenue that Amazon pulled in last year.
GSTV, or Gas Station TV, is a digital video network that places ads for the likes of PepsiCo, Coca-Cola, Heineken, Mars Wrigley, and Johnson & Johnson at more than 28,000 gas stations. As retail media attracts billions from brands and investors, the company is pitching a new ad product called Amplify that connects ad spending to retail sales.
Rockbridge Growth Equity-backed GSTV works with franchisee-owned locations of convenience store chains like 7-Eleven and BP, which lack the scale and resources of giants like Walmart and Target. So GSTV has begun representing them collectively in negotiations with advertisers, ad agencies, tech, and retail companies, GSTV CEO Sean McCaffrey said.
With retail media heating up, GSTV is pitching itself to advertisers that already spend with bigger players like Amazon, Walmart, and Instacart.
GSTV grew revenue at a double-digit rate in 2021 and hired Kristal Walton, a former marketer for SC Johnson and Sam's Club, to build on that growth by focusing on targeting and measurement capabilities as well as the platform's proximity to big retailers, said McCaffrey.
"We reach 40% of US adults as they are spending money and likely to spend more," McCaffrey said. "We show them the last TV ad they see before they walk into retail doors."
McCaffrey said the company avoids data privacy issues by letting its retail partners handle their own first-party consumer data for advertisers.
Below is GSTV's latest deck, which it's using to pitch a variety of companies.
