SAN FRANCISCO, CA, US—March 8, 2021—CNN is exiting the airport media business and will be shutting down its airport network on March 31, 2021. While airports across the nation scramble to keep their screens from going dark, PRN, an industry leader in out-of-home media, announces the launch of Ascend Media Network. Ascend Media Network offers a fresh modern viewing experience, a highly flexible content and advertising platform, operational excellence, and a dedicated sales team, bolstered by 30 years of experience turning in-venue traffic into advertising dollars.
According to Kevin Carbone, CEO of PRN, “We have been working behind the scenes on this for some time. We’ve lined up an A-list of content partners (networks, sports leagues, travel and lifestyle), and we’re bringing tremendous innovation to the airport media business, including gate-specific destination content, up-to-the-minute local content feeds, premium social, streaming, online video partnerships, mobile integration, and Ascend Media original programing.”
Underneath the hood, the technology powering Ascend Media Network is PRN’S monetization engine — which includes natively-architected custom displays, optimal directional sound, integrated hardware and software, a next-gen content management system, screen-level targeting, dayparting, programmatic enablement and advanced viewer analytics. Rounding out Ascend Media Network is PRN’s advertising sales force, a dedicated group of media sales professionals, specialists in tapping into a broad and diversified portfolio of media budgets including digital, out-of-home, shopper, programmatic, innovation and omnichannel.
With the launch of Ascend Media Network, PRN demonstrates commitment to the airport media space: “Airports who are considering new media channels are in an amazing position to innovate right now. While they need to move quickly, we’re prepared to make it a smooth transition, with airports actually in a better position than before,” Carbone states, adding, “all signs point to airport traffic exceeding pre-COVID-19 levels by 2024. We know this space is primed to Ascend!”
Learn more about Ascend Media at www.prn.com/ascend-media-network.
About PRN
PRN, part of the STRATACACHE family of marketing technology companies, delivers end-to-end solutions providing hardware, software, services and support, driving content to 40,000+ screens for major brands in over 13,000 locations. PRN has over 29 years of success in architecting, deploying, and monetizing multi-stakeholder rich media networks. PRN’s proprietary set of tools, technologies, content partnerships and creative services have been expressly designed to deliver fresh and engaging experiences that delight out of home and retail consumers, engage brands, and deliver maximum value to our venue partners.
Media Contact:
Andrea Poley
Manager, Global Communications
apoley@stratacache.com