Business Media China (BMC), a wholly-owned German company, has become the first foreign company to get involved in the outdoor advertising business in China's railway stations.

 

Under an agreement signed between BMC and China Railway Century Media (CRCM), a subsidiary of the Beijing Railway Bureau, BMC will have exclusive operation rights for outdoor advertising at Beijing West Railway Station, Beijing Central Railway Station, Tianjin Railway Station and Shijiazhuang Station for six years.

 

"The move breaks the long-standing monopoly of railway projects by state-owned enterprises," said Director Zhang Jie of CRCM advertising department. He refused to disclose the cost for the transfer of exclusive rights, saying it was a business secret.

 

Zhang admitted that BMC was introduced to spur sluggish advertising business at the four stations. Over the past two years, annual aggregate advertising income was 50 million yuan at most. BMC's projection, however, is 150 to 200 million yuan.

 

BMC Project manager Liu Yining said that the projections were based on a massive renovation plan ahead of the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

 

Under the plan, more than 80 percent of existing 20,000 square meters of advertising space - billboards, electric signs, flat screen TVs - will receive a face-lift. Up-to-date facilities such as neon arc lights and laser shows will be installed to create stronger visual impact.

 

Upon completion, the four train stations are expected to present a new look and a more people-oriented design to facilitate passengers, Liu noted.

 

Sources close to the deal said that what appealed to BMC was that Beijing's train stations, which are key gateways to the 2008 Olympics venue, had not been affected by last May's outdoor advertising overhaul.

 

Dozens of outdoor advertising facilities were dismantled last year for fear of defacing the city landscape, turning Beijing's railway stations into "prime resources" for more and more advertisers.

 

Currently, the four stations receive about 90 million passengers annually. Traffic flows are expected to surge during the Olympics, according to a study by the Public Opinion Institute of the People's University of China,

 

"The advertising revenue of these four railway stations could hit 150 to 200 million yuan, but such figures are impossible without revamping", Liu said.

 

He said that BMC was highly interested in the China market. When it went public at the Frankfort stock exchange in Stuttgart, Germany years ago, the German corporation had included "China" in its name to stress the "China Concept".

 

Apart from BMC, a number of other foreign media companies are also keen on China's public transport advertising opportunities. The US media giant Viacom, for instance, has taken over advertising on all buses run by the Beijing Bus Company.

 

(Xinhua News Agency August 26, 2006)