Irish and UK transport deals swell TDI ranks

US transport ad agency TDI will almost double in size with the acquisition of a five-year contract for all public transport ads in Eire and its expected acquisition of British Transport Advertising’s buses.

An announcement is imminent on the buyer of BTA’s advertising contracts for 13,000 buses in the UK, put up for sale by the Maiden Group after it acquired BTA in June.

TDI is expected to beat rival Buspack to the contracts, giving it about 70 per cent of UK bus advertising.

The Office of Fair Trading has relaxed its attitude to outdoor acquisitions since the BTA deal and the move is unlikely to fall foul of the regulator.

Maiden is understood to want to use money raised by the sell-off for further acquisitions of regional contractors.

The Eire deal gives TDI one third of the outdoor market in the Republic, through the state-owned transport company Coras Iompair Eireann (CIE).

TDI will sell advertising space in conjunction with the Irish outdoor company Metro Advertising Group. Together they will handle 1,000 roadside posters, 953 buses and 3,060 interior train sites.

The deal also includes Dublin’s Dart transport system and sites in railway stations and on railway bridges. Metro also handles 25 per cent of bus advertising in Northern Ireland.

“This is our first move into roadside advertising outside the States and the next stage of our expansion,” says TDI managing director Jeremy Maile.

“We continue to be interested in the UK roadside.”

Maile declined to comment on TDI’s acquisition of BTA’s buses.