Gilbert Brings Another 80 Jobs Downtown and ......

[JBMcB]

it, most assuredly, is not a growth business. One would be most foolish to depend on gas Station TV to be of any consequence.

They must have had some heavy angel capital to buy a good-sized street level office in Birmingham, right on the main strip. Then the retrofit costs for all the pumps, a content distribution network, specialized LCDs that work in the cold... The whole idea is insane. Sunoco tried almost the same thing a decade ago and it failed miserably [[remember talking pump handles?)

[Khorasaurus]

They must have had some heavy angel capital to buy a good-sized street level office in Birmingham, right on the main strip. Then the retrofit costs for all the pumps, a content distribution network, specialized LCDs that work in the cold... The whole idea is insane. Sunoco tried almost the same thing a decade ago and it failed miserably [[remember talking pump handles?)

I'm not sure it's "insane." Every time I've seen it, it works pretty well and provides entertainment while the gas is pumping. So clearly they have the technology figured out. They have some sort of contract with ESPN to do sports updates and HLN to do news updates.

But here's why the business model really works - around 80% of the content is advertising to a captive audience. So long as the technology doesn't require constant maintenance by GSTV personnel, all they have to do is install it and then collect advertising revenue.

I agree that it's not going to grow into a giant business, but I'd rather have it based here than in California or something, and if they're going to be in Metro Detroit, it's great to have them downtown!

[JBMcB]

But here's why the business model really works - around 80% of the content is advertising to a captive audience.

The problem with that is, everyone I see standing in front of one of those video pumps is looking at their smartphone.

[southen]

The problem with that is, everyone I see standing in front of one of those video pumps is looking at their smartphone.

i tend to ignore them and cant recall the last time i actually looked up at one when pumping gas, but i know the gstv "jingle." you can ignore them if you want but unless you are wearing noise canceling headphones something is going to reach you.