NYC Yellow Cab Roof Rights Acquired

SF-based Firefly says it holds rights to nearly half the yellow & green cab rooftop ads

Publicly-listed holding company Ballantyne Strong (NYSE American: BTN) announced on August 4th that it completed the sale of its Strong Outdoor taxi rooftop assets to San Francisco-based startup Firefly. As part of the deal, Ballantyne increased its strategic investment and ownership position in Firefly as well. BTN will also recognize a non-cash $5m gain in its Q3 results as a result of the transaction (for reference BTN FY 2019 Adj. EBITDA was $1.4m on $63m of sales) .

Taxi Rooftop Investment Started in 2018

In early 2018, Strong Outdoor outbid previous ad operator Curb Mobility for the rights to ~3,500 yellow taxi rooftops (Note: about 9,000 of 13,587 licensed yellow cabs have roof ads). Strong’s strategy was to upgrade old static taxi-top ads to high-resolution digital screens, which could tailor ads based on location. Brands, including American Airlines, Air France and fashion designer Zachary Pell, bought in to the idea and began to run ads on the upgraded rooftops. In May 2019, S…