Cross-Track
Advertisements
Capture attention with Tube Cross Track Adverts
Cross track advertisements are a staple of the London TFL network. Commuters, visitors and tourists are accustomed to the entertainment, visual spectacle and bold, bright colours of huge-profile promotions and displays that stand out at every station.
The sheer volume of TFL passengers every day and extended dwell times at stations in between services provide a captive, engaged audience, where brands can multiply the impressions they achieve through any other medium.
Displayed in a prime position across the tracks – hence the name cross track – these large posters are immediately visible, adjacent to tube map panels and act as a focal point during each passenger’s average three-minute wait.
What are Cross Track advertisements?
Cross track advertisements are essentially large posters that are specifically designed for tube platform advertising, with frames that gently curve to fit seamlessly into the rounded wall structures. They are placed at eye level safely across the tracks from the platform, in the best possible space and dimensions to command attention.
Cross track promotions leverage the ideal advertising environment - the 272 London underground stations provide, with 11 lines that intersect, often with multiple north, south-east and westbound platforms within every station.
Every 24 hours, hundreds of tube trains navigate the capital, with up to five million people viewing cross track adverts daily. During peak hours, just over 500 services are in action, with large crowds of riders common in rush hour, during high-profile events and holiday periods.
Advertisers can opt for a variety of placements, adding cross track displays within key stations and platforms or even located along the tunnels where passengers waiting to disembark have an uninterrupted view.
How One Day Can Help
One Day is a London Underground Advertising specialist, developing high-response, impactful campaigns for brands of all sizes. Our team comprises senior consultants with the capacity and knowledge to create successful campaigns with precision planning to help achieve your tube advertising aspirations.
Alongside strategic cross-track displays and other TFL advertising placements, we offer comprehensive media planning and digital tracking, ensuring you know exactly how your campaigns are performing.
Our focus is on end-to-end campaigns rather than simply securing prime advertising placements. We work closely with every client, from creative design development to analysing outcomes and returns.
Cross Track Ad Formats
Cross Track 16 Sheet
Cross track 16-sheets are the iconic format for tube advertising – and are also commonly used within urban photography as an integral part of the TFL. Each display is in large format, captures immediate attention from passengers, and is in clear, direct view for the duration of the waiting time between each train.
Cross Track 48 Sheets
Cross track 48 sheets are the next size up and provide a standalone advert without any adjacent displays or promotions to compete with. These underground advertising panels are often used within platform entrances to engage with everyone passing by, creating an impact that rises above the crowds on the platform.
Cross Track 96 Sheets
Cross track 96 sheets are the most commanding of the cross track advertising options and extract the greatest ad recall metrics, taking over the TFL platform. Brands often use a combination of cross track advertising panels in select stations and platforms to develop frequent brand exposure or target certain audience demographics.
Meet the Media Planning Team
Klaudia
Media Planning & Buying
Laurence
Media Planning & Buying
Scott
Media Planning & Buying
Ricardo Seixas, Founder and CEO, One Day Agency
“Cross track tube adverts can be placed across the whole network or in specific stations and platforms. Impactful due to their size, these can be used to target a variety of audiences depending on station. Think about Canary Warf versus Leicester Square.”
Frequently Asked Questions.
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As one of the most in-demand forms of London Underground advertising, cross track ads work so well because they offer something to engage in and consume during routine commutes when there is no other form of entertainment – particularly due to the lack of mobile signal across much of the TFL network.
Here are some of the many compelling benefits of using cross track promotions, either as part of a broader campaign, to reinforce brand messaging shared through digital marketing, or as a standalone promotion that leaves a memorable impression.
Endless use cases – cross track posters are used by myriad brands from every sector. Campaigns range from event publicity and services targeted at Londoners to adverts for tourist attractions, business services and charitable causes.
Flexible advertising placements – we provide a broad selection of cross track sizes, panels, campaign durations and targeted promotions where you’d like your adverts to be displayed in specific stations, platforms or areas of London.
Exceptional brand exposure – the TFL network serves over a billion customers a year as one of the largest, best-known and most-used public transport systems anywhere in the world.
Superb visibility – cross tracks are positioned strategically in the highest traffic parts of the tube system, exposing your graphics, messaging and promotions to extensive audiences during a part of their journey when riders are stationery and present a captive audience.
Cost-efficiency – it would be extremely difficult to replicate the volume of impressions a cross track panel produces. TFL ads often command returns on investment that outperform every alternative form of advertising.
Cross track advertisements can be displayed for extended periods to gain repeat brand exposure, during specific times to promote events or time-limited promotions, or interchanged to focus on new launches and offers.
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The unique nature of the London tube is that the system is used by every consumer group, from children to adults, professionals to parents, and visitors to residents. For example, businesses that use cross track advertising can engage with 1.7 million parents and over 780,000 young adults every week.
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Availability dependent, yes, you can secure premium ad placements in all parts of the TFL network. There are often opportunities for time-limited promotional displays or longer campaigns within the most-used parts of the TFL underground system.
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Cross track tube adverts can work in conjunction with other London Billboard advertisements such as London bus advertising, Black Cab advertising or bus stop advertising. See our ‘advertising in London’ page here for more details.
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