• by Erik Sass , Staff Writer @eriksass1, October 11, 2013

AdSpace Digital Mall Network has formed a partnership with NowThis News, giving the retail digital out-of-home network access to short-form video news content specifically tailored to Millennial consumers. Under the terms of the agreement, content from NowThis News will appear in 200 malls in the AdSpace network across top DMAs, reaching about 24 million viewers per week.

The NowThis News team will create three types of features of varying lengths for Adspace’s large-format Smart Screens: 12-second breaking news headlines, which are automatically updated in real time; 15-second Instagram edition videos distilling current and feature news; and 30-second news videos that tease additional content from NowThis News, and which can be accessed via smartphone by tapping or scanning an NFC/QR code on the Smart Screen structure.

The deal will also allow AdSpace to offer its advertisers the opportunity to create custom video news content that will appear on the DOOH network as well as the NowThis News social and mobile channels, thus tapping into the native advertising and branded content trends.

This is just the latest in a series of new products and partnerships unveiled by AdSpace as it works to merge DOOH with mobile and social channels.

In March of this year, AdSpace integrated NFC into DOOH displays in 140 malls through a partnership with Blue Bite, whose mTAG platform uses both NFC and QR to facilitate brand-consumer interactions. The mTAG platform allows consumers to download or access movie trailers, mp3s, eBooks, apps, games, maps, promotions and coupons, among other things. Content is location-specific, allowing advertisers to target campaigns by demographic, DMA or mall; users can amplify the effects of campaigns through social sharing.

And in October, 2012 AdSpace launched Clip’d, a platform for delivering mobile coupons to consumers in the retail environment, which allows marketers to highlight sales and special offers, and deliver digital content like movie trailers and TV show previews.