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METADYNE website
Commercial
Advertising on British Transport
A London Transport
Case Study
Railways in particular have always been short of money.
To improve revenues railways turned to more intensive exploitation of its passengers and free space by deploying bookstalls and advertising hoardings.
At first private contractors were employed to exploit advertising hoardings, paying the railways a proportion of takings for the privilege or concession granted. Soon bus and tram operators followed suit.
The massive British Transport Commission got rid of many of the contractors in favour of selling adverts direct, thus forming British Transport Advertising, and later London Transport Advertising.
Now control of the advertising rights is back in private hands (Main Line rail with Titan Outdoor [previously Maiden] and London Underground with CBS Outdoor [previously Viacom, and prior to that TDI]). Advertising continues to provide a lucrative source of income for the transport business.
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