• by Erik Sass  @eriksass1, August 13, 2014

Gilbarco Veeder-Root, the world’s largest manufacturer of gas pumps and point of sale systems, is joining forces with VeriFone, which provides technology for secure electronic payments, to create what they claim will be the world’s largest at-pump interactive digital media network.
 
The project is part of a larger deal focused on upgrading electronic payment systems in gas pumps in order to comply with new security rules for electronic payments and keep pace with consumers’ shifting payment habits, including a growing trend of payment by mobile devices.
 
Under the terms of the deal, Gilbarco will transition its dispenser product lines to VeriFone’s electronic payments technology, while continuing to handle software, sales and services for the payment systems. The deal will also merge Gilbarco’s Outcast Media and Applause TV, which deliver video content and advertising in forecourt (pump areas) and station retail areas, respectively, with VeriFone’s digital media and digital network businesses.
 
The new network will continue to deliver entertainment and advertising to drive sales for gas station convenience stores and will incorporate new technology to target consumers based on location and purchase history. Altogether, the VeriFone Digital Network, including Outcast and Applause TV, now reaches over 115 million consumers per month across the U.S., via displays in gas stations as well as other transportation-related venues like taxis.
 
Outcast was acquired by Gilbarco in January of this year and uses Gilbarco’s Applause TV technology. At the time of the acquisition by Gilbarco, Outcast claimed to reach 36 million viewers per month via over 20,000 screens across the U.S., citing figures from Nielsen.
 
The last few months has seen a lot of activity in the gas station video marketplace.

In June, Outcast rival Gas Station TV was acquired by a group of investors led by Rockbridge Growth Equity, a private-equity firm based in Detroit, in partnership with GSTV’s management. Also participating in the deal were Falcon Investments and Michigan Growth Capital Partners, which is co-managed by Grosvenor Capital Management and Beringea.
 
Previously, GSTV secured an investment valued at $50 million from Wayne, a GE Energy business, to deploy the latter’s inOvationTV media platform to thousands of gas stations nationwide. In December 2013, GSTV announced that inOVationTV will be available to gas retailers that purchase Wayne Ovation fuel dispensers nationwide.