Looking into advertising on the London Underground can sometimes feel like learning a new language.
4-sheets, 16-sheets, LEPs, TCPs, D6s, cross-tracks and digital ribbons all describe different advertising formats, but if you are new to out-of-home (OOH) advertising, the terminology can make the options feel far more complicated than they really are. This is where the MEERKATs come in – we simplify the options and help you navigate a successful media pathway.
Understanding Tube ad formats
Some of the most confusing Tube advertising terminology comes from traditional OOH poster sizes. Names such as 4-sheet, 6-sheet, 16-sheet, 48-sheet and 96-sheet date back to the way posters were historically produced from multiple printed sheets. Production methods have moved on, but the terminology has stuck. So, you do not need to imagine somebody piecing together 96 separate pieces of paper every time you hear ‘96-sheet’. Today, the number is effectively the name of an established OOH format and gives an indication of its relative scale.
A 4-sheet is comparatively compact and designed to be encountered at closer range. A 16-sheet is substantially larger, while 48 and 96-sheets move firmly into large-format poster territory. Other Tube advertising names describe where the advert appears rather than its size. A cross-track poster, for example, is positioned across the tracks from passengers waiting on a platform. Tube Car Panels are inside trains, and lift and escalator panels (LEPs) appear alongside the escalator journey. Digital media has added another layer of terminology, with names including D6, DEP and Digital Ribbon.
Exact product names and specifications can vary between media owners and packages, but understanding these main categories makes a Tube media proposal considerably easier to decipher.
Platform posters and cross-track advertising
Some of the best-known London Underground advertising formats sit at platform or station level.
4-sheet and 6-sheet posters
The 4-sheet is one of the smaller traditional poster formats you may encounter in Tube and rail advertising. Its relatively modest dimensions mean it is designed to work at closer viewing distances rather than dominate an entire platform. This can make it useful in passenger areas where people walk or wait relatively near to the advertising.
For example, the MEERKATs partnered with Royal Trinity Hospice to deliver a targeted campaign across the London Underground, raising awareness of the hospice’s vital work and encouraging donations. The campaign was planned and bought to coincide with Hospice Week, using Underground 4-sheet formats in select London stations.
A 6-sheet provides a larger portrait canvas and is commonly associated with passageways and other pedestrian environments. Digital versions are also available within parts of the network. For example, in order to inspire people in central London to visit Washington DC, MEERKATworks planned and bought an underground OOH campaign, with carefully selected digital 6 sheet panels at key rail stations.
Both 4-sheet and 6-sheet formats can be useful when a campaign would benefit from multiple placements rather than concentrating the budget into a very small number of large sites. These smaller formats generally reward a strong visual, clear branding and a message that can be understood without requiring someone to stop and study the poster.
16-sheet cross-track advertising
A 16-sheet is a much larger format. On the London Underground it is closely associated with cross-track advertising: posters positioned on the opposite wall from passengers waiting on the platform. This gives the advert both greater scale and the potential for more extended viewing. Passengers waiting for a train may have the advertising within their field of vision for a sustained period, which creates a different opportunity from a roadside advert viewed fleetingly from a moving vehicle. Cross-track formats can therefore work well where an advertiser wants strong visibility within selected stations, particularly when those stations are important to the target audience.
48-sheet and 96-sheet posters
48-sheet and 96-sheets are larger poster formats that can create significant presence across a platform environment. These formats lend themselves naturally to campaigns where scale and standout are important – they can give a launch, entertainment campaign, visitor attraction or major brand message a sizeable visual canvas. But their size does not automatically make them the ‘best’ use of a media budget. A campaign buying a small number of large sites is doing something different from one building repeated visibility through many smaller placements. Which approach makes sense depends on the objective, audience and stations involved.
Escalator advertising: LEPs and digital panels
Escalators provide advertisers with an unusual environment because passengers move through the space at a (relatively) controlled pace. Static escalator panels are positioned alongside that journey and can appear as a sequence rather than one isolated advert. You may see these referred to as LEPs, commonly used for linear escalator panels. Their strength comes partly from repetition; several panels can repeat the same execution or work together creatively, allowing a message to develop as someone travels up or down the escalator.
Digital technology creates further options. Digital Escalator Panels (DEPs) use networked digital screens alongside escalators. Depending on the execution, advertisers can use movement or sequencing across a run of screens rather than treating each panel as an isolated advert.
A Digital Ribbon goes further again, using a connected digital canvas alongside the escalator. These are premium environments available at selected stations rather than something advertisers can simply book across the entire network. The creative possibilities for these can be considerable, but so is the importance of location. A spectacular digital format would not be an effective use of media budget if it is at the wrong station for the target audience.
For example, the MEERKATs planned and bought a variety of Underground formats for Bloomberg Connects – including 16-sheets, 4-sheets, LEPs and DEPs – encouraging viewers to use their free app to access guides for London’s must-visit cultural spaces. The activity covered key stations such as Hyde Park Corner, South Kensington, Great Portland Street, Regent’s Park and Baker Street. Standard and large formats were used to run different creative, alongside Digital Escalator Panels at Baker Street and South Kensington.
Tube Car Panels: advertising inside the train
Tube Car Panels (TCPs) move the advertising away from the station and into the carriage itself.
These are advertising panels positioned inside Underground trains, where both seated and standing passengers can encounter them during their journey. The difference between TCPs and those formats already mentioned above is dwell time. An advert someone sees while walking through a passageway needs to communicate quickly. A passenger sitting opposite or close to a Tube Car Panel may have considerably longer to take in the message.
This can make TCPs suitable for creative that needs to communicate a little more than a very short poster message. There still needs to be some restraint but the format gives advertisers more scope for copy than many faster-viewed OOH sites. TCPs also offer a different type of coverage from buying advertising at particular stations because the media travels with the train.
When comparing costs, remember that in-carriage advertising is bought as a campaign across a quantity of panels rather than as one standalone poster; a low individual panel cost should not be confused with the total investment required to achieve meaningful coverage.
Digital London Underground advertising
Digital Tube advertising comes in several sizes and environments; you will likely encounter D6s i.e. digital screens based broadly around familiar 6-sheet proportions (as in our campaign for Washington DC), alongside larger formats such as D12s and large-format digital displays. There are also major digital placements in prominent passenger flow areas, including large screens and digital gateway environments.
What does digital add?
Digital out-of-home advertising offers greater creative flexibility; campaigns can use motion where the specification allows it, rotate different executions or change messaging without printing and physically replacing a poster. This can make digital very useful for campaigns involving changing information, multiple messages, short tactical bursts or creative that has been designed around movement. But ‘digital’ covers everything from relatively compact portrait screens to enormous station installations. It is better to consider the specific site and role within the plan than treat digital Tube advertising as a single medium.
4-sheet – the unsung hero?
With giant screens and increasingly sophisticated digital installations available, the 4-sheet can look rather unassuming on a media schedule, but that does not mean it should be overlooked. Smaller static formats can pack a punch because of where and how they are encountered, rather than because they fill somebody’s entire field of vision. A well-positioned 4-sheet can sit close to the passenger, carry a simple message clearly and form part of a repeated series of exposures across relevant stations.
Imagine one campaign uses its available budget to buy a small number of premium statement sites. Another uses the same budget to establish a more frequent presence through smaller posters across several carefully chosen stations. The first might be right for a launch where immediate scale is the primary focus, whereas the second might be stronger when the advertiser wants to build familiarity among people repeatedly travelling through particular locations.
Static vs digital Tube advertising: which should you choose?
Static and digital Tube advertising can both play an important role in a campaign, with the best fit depending on the brief, audience, creative and budget. With static Tube advertising, one creative occupies that physical advertising space for the booked period – it can provide a sustained presence as the ad has 100 per cent share of voice (the panel is not shared with any other advertiser) and may allow the budget to be spread across a greater number of locations than a premium digital execution. There are print and production costs to consider and changing the message once posters have been produced is less straightforward.
Digital advertising offers more flexibility; different creatives can run during the campaign, messaging can be changed more quickly and eye-catching motion can create extra visual impact where the format allows it. However, digital screens commonly operate on loops, meaning an advertiser will have a share of the screen rather than continuous ownership of it. Large digital environments can also command a greater proportion of the campaign budget.
What are the cheapest London Underground advertising formats?
There is no single format that can accurately be described as ‘the cheapest way’ to advertise on the London Underground in every situation. Smaller static posters, escalator panels and some in-carriage formats can offer a lower entry point than large-format or premium digital opportunities. But the price of one panel tells you very little about the cost – or effectiveness – of the complete campaign.
Tube advertising costs can depend on the:
- format and quantity bought
- stations or areas selected
- length and timing of the campaign
- available inventory and demand
- production requirements
- way the media is packaged and negotiated
A cheaper individual site may require a much larger quantity to deliver useful coverage. Equally, spending more on a strategically important location could potentially make more sense than buying a larger volume of inexpensive inventory elsewhere.
How to choose the right Tube advertising format
No single Tube advertising format works best for every campaign. The right choice depends on who you want to reach, where you are most likely to reach them and what you need the advertising to do. For some campaigns, that might mean prioritising a handful of high-impact sites at key stations. For others, it could make more sense to use more smaller formats to build repeated visibility across several locations.
You have to consider the passenger journey too; an advert seen across the tracks while someone waits for a train works differently from one they pass on an escalator or sit opposite inside a carriage. It affects everything from the amount of copy you can use to the type of creative that is likely to work best.
Digital can be useful where movement, changing messages or greater visual impact are important. Static can give a campaign consistent presence over a longer period and may allow the budget to stretch across more sites. In many cases, a campaign may use both.
Budget is naturally part of the decision, but a ‘cheaper’ format is not necessarily better value if it does not reach enough of the right people. Equally, there is little point paying a premium for a large digital screen if a more targeted run of posters would do the job better. The aim is to find the best combination of format, location, frequency and spend for the brief, rather than simply choosing the biggest or newest option available.
MEERKAtworks plans and buys OOH and transport advertising for clients right across the UK. We can take a Tube advertising brief, assess the relevant formats and locations, compare the options available and recommend where the budget is most likely to work hardest. Speak to the MEERKAtworks team today and tap into our 20+ years of media expertise for your next campaign.