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Trains 'best place' for adsABS-CBN - Thursday, July 9

Trains 'best place' for ads

MANILA - Advertisers of products and services, advocacies, and even candidacies in Metro

Manila should look into the potential of transit ads, particularly those placed on train cars, to

reach more people.

A study on the travel habits of Metro Manilans, conducted recently by survey firm Nielsen

Media Research, showed that 73% of residents of the national capital region have travelled

using the Metro Rail Transit (MRT) and Light Rail Transit (LRT) systems in the past months.

The “MRT LRT Travel Habits” study also showed that more than half (52%) of Metro Manila

residents above 15 years old or 4.2 million Filipinos are mobile or are out of their homes for 

most of the time.

This made advertising specialists suggest that companies, advocacy groups, and maybe

potential candidates in the 2010 elections, consider outdoor media over traditional media.

Non-Traditional Channels

“If you have a message to send, you won’t reach them (market) through traditional media channels because they are outside their 

home,” Nielsen executive director Jay Bautista said Wednesday during the presentation of the study’s results in Makati City.

The survey interviewed 1,000 train riders—500 from the MRT, 250 from LRT-1, and 250 from LRT-2—in February 2009. It has a margin

of error of 5%. Respondents were chosen using random sampling.

Bing Kimpo, vice president for communications and special projects of Trackworks, the marketing arm of MRT, said the phenomenon

that more Filipinos are spending most of their time outside their home paved the way for the development of out-of-home

advertisements.

Kimpo said advertisements seen on train stations, ticket windows, inside trains and train wraps are noticeable by commuter. “These

are places where advertisers and buyers meet.”

He said the culture brought by the boom in business process outsourcing also made more Filipinos mobile. “We have a more mobile

lifestyle right now.”

Increasing Exposure

The study noted the respondents’ exposure to out-of-home media grew to 68% in 2009 from 62% in 2004.

Exposure to the Internet grew to 32% from 18% during the same period, while exposure to television increased to 96% from 93%.

Exposure to cinema declined to 25% from 36% while exposure to newspaper fell to 25% from 47%.

Despite the increased mobility of Filipinos, advertisers’ spending on out-of-home media or outdoor ads remained low compared to

traditional forms of media.

According to the 2008 Philippine Media Spend Landscape, out-of-home ads account for a meager 2% of advertising expenditures. TV

accounts for 73%, while radio and print account for 18% and 7%, respectively.

For Politicians, Too

When asked whether out-of-home advertisements can be used by politicians to reach voters, Kimpo said so far this is no legal

impediment to using this media to advertise or promote their advocacies.

“There is no law that prohibits politicians from using out-of-home advertisements,” Kimpo said. “When the campaign season starts, we

will follow the guidelines set by the Commission on Elections.”

However, he said, “there are no attempts at this point” by politicians to approach them for possible ad placements on the MRT.

Nielsen’s Bautista said that politicians will soon use outdoor advertisements in their campaigns. “They will explore that because they

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will be reaching the voting population.”

Riders’ Profile

The study revealed that the MRT—which plies EDSA from Taft Avenue in Pasay City to North Avenue in Quezon City—caters more to

the 25- to 49-year-old riders.

“It’s a cross section of Metro Manila consumers,” Bautista said, referring to white collar and blue collar workers.

The two LRT lines, the study showed, are skewed toward the younger age group. Around 30% of the commuters using LRT-1—which

plies from Baclaran in Parañaque City to Monumento in Caloocan City—are students.

Students comprise 42% of the riders of LRT-2, which plies from Santolan in Pasig City to Claro M. Recto Avenue in Manila. The study

noted that almost 1 in 9 LRT-2 riders (9 percent) is a small-scale entrepreneur.

“These are entrepreneurs who travel from Marikina and Quezon City all the way to Recto,” Bautista explained. Recto is the drop-off 

point for small-scale businessmen who go to Manila’s bargain center, Divisoria.

The study revealed that trains influenced the lifestyle of riders. Since some of these trains’ stations are connected to shopping malls,

riders are more likely to go to these malls, with most of them visiting twice a month.

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