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Success Story: Turning Traffic Into Gold

Sep 15, 2003  •  Post A Comment

Relaying traffic conditions to rush-hour commuters is a big part of local newscasts in many cities. And those TV stations using up-to-the-minute technology may have an advantage-not just with viewers but also with advertisers.
Advertisers in automotive-related services, food stores and travel and leisure are using Traffic Pulse Networks’ two-dimensional and three-dimensional mapping technology to buy 10-second spots during traffic reports.
Traffic Pulse, a roadside sensor network providing traffic updates in 60-second increments to subscribing TV stations, helps produce and place some of the spots.
“We package TV and radio for advertisers across our network. It is almost always regional or national,” said Traffic Pulse Networks CEO Doug Alexander.
The company, a division of Mobility Technologies, has seen its own sales increase more than 100 percent year to date. Some stations with which it has contracts are Hearst-Argyle-owned NBC affiliate WBAL-TV in Baltimore; NBC owned-and-operated WMAQ-TV, Chicago; Belo’s Dallas ABC station, WFAA-TV; and Tribune Broadcasting’s WPIX-TV in New York.
“Traffic Pulse is a terrific product, and therefore it makes our newscast a better place for our advertisers to be,” said Jordan Wertlieb, general sales manager with WBAL.
After implementing the Traffic Pulse 2-D system in the spring, WBAL snagged Fox Automotive Group as a sponsor of its traffic reports.
“Our product drives ratings, and then that drives rates and advertising,” Mr. Alexander said. “Some stations are doing traffic reports more frequently and longer, and that gives them more opportunities to create advertising around that programming.”