Montreal-based Newad is building its inventory of indoor digital screens across the country, adding 550 new and replacement faces in Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, Edmonton and Calgary.

Four hundred of the third-generation screens are new placements and 150 will be replacing first-generation models. Once installed, mainly in restaurants and bars, the company will be delivering 1.1 million impressions per week through its digital network, according to Michael Reha, president and CEO, Newad.

The company is planning another 3,500 digital screens across the country over the next three years as advertisers continue to grow in that direction.

‘When we started in the digital advertising space in 1998, very few clients had the capability of creating digital ads that were appropriate for digital place-based media,’ he says. ‘Now, with new technology, clients can create digital material and they can use that material on different platforms: television, online and digital screens. So, for us, it’s a natural move to go from static boards to a digital offering.’

The new generation of screens, as well as having better video and audio quality, are all connected. Where Newad used to have people upload new content to the screens via USB keys, the company can now modify the content on screens across Canada in real time from its Montreal offices.

The 3,500 screens will be spread across Canadian cities, with investments of $2 million in Toronto, $1.5 million in Montreal, $1.5 million in Vancouver, and $1 million each in Edmonton and Calgary.