Gojek to affix digital ad screens to back of motorbikes in Jakarta

Commuters stuck in traffic in bustling Jakarta will soon be treated to a new form of distraction—in the form of colourful ads on digital screens affixed to the back of Gojek's fleet of motorbikes.

The two-wheel digital out-of-home (DOOH) solution is called GoScreen, and has been designed as a low-cost advertising option specifically for micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs).

A prototype image of the solution shows a large digital screen attached to the back of a motorbike where the top box is usually located. Its unclear how the screens will impact commuters hitching a ride on Gojek's bikes.

Advertisers will be able to place ads on the travelling screens programmatically through Gojek's advertising business arm Promogo, a Jakarta-based adtech company which it acquired in 2018. Promogo offers advertisers the ability to place sponsored body wraps, rear windshield designs, and digital screens across Gojek's fleet of vehicles. Promogo developed the GoScreen solution, and will manage the ad placements for advertisers.

Advertisers placing ads through GoScreen will be able to choose between static and video ads, and will be able to target ads around location and time of day, monitor impressions in real-time and re-target relevant consumers through an online dashboard. GoScreen is compliant with the Interactive Advertising Bureau Tech Lab’s Open Measurement SDK certification, the company said.

GoScreen addresses the "key pain points" that brands face with out-of-home advertising today, including the inability to target their campaigns and measure performance, according to Gojek's chief commercial officer Antoine de Carbonnel.

It also provides a "promising new source of revenue" for the wider Gojek business.

GoScreen's starting price is IDR 10 million (US$711) for 250,000 potential consumers.

Gojek driver-partners who opt to partake in GoScreen will earn income for every ad placed, pegged to the distance they cover with their vehicles. De Carbonnel would not disclose details on how the driver-partner rates are calculated, but said that drivers have the opportunity to earn "up to 15-20%" more on top of their regular income.

While the low-cost solution is targeted at growing Gojek's portfolio of small-to-medium sized clients, it will be available to brands of all sizes. During the pilot phase, major brands including Disney+, Samsung, Aqua and Sosro tested the solution.

GoScreen will be launched in Greater Jakarta before rolling out to other parts of Indonesia. De Carbonnel told Campaign Asia-Pacific the company is aiming to have at least 20,000 screens on the road by the end of 2021.

Moreover, while the solution is currently limited to Gojek’s two-wheel vehicles, the tech powering the solution can be deployed across many types of supply, De Carbonnel said.

Its unclear how this new digital advertising format will be regulated. Roadside restrictions for digital out-of-home screens are common in many countries in the interest of driver safety. For example, Malaysia has restrictions on the brightness and the use of video for roadside digital billboards.

Indonesia appears to be more lax when it comes to DOOH—in fact, the government has been actively pushing for the wide deployment of digital OOH screens in Jakarta in recent years to improve the aesthetic of the capital city. In Jakarta, OOH operators (in this case, Gojek) are required to pay fees and advertisement taxes to the local government. Gojek said that GoScreen complies with all applicable regulations in Indonesia.