Advertising at the station: right in the commuter flow
Advertising at the station: right in the commuter flow
Train stations are the hubs of city life: every day thousands of travellers pass through, on their way to work, to the shops or on a journey. That makes the station one of the strongest places for your brand. With advertising at and inside stations you reach a broad audience exactly where it already is, from large-format posters and digital city-light posters to creative floor graphics. The options are wide and adapt to your campaign and your audience.
What makes station advertising work are the numbers behind it. Deutsche Bahn runs around 5,400 passenger stations (DB InfraGO), with roughly 20 million travellers and visitors passing through every day (DB Station&Service). In 2024 around 1.9 billion passengers travelled by DB, and rail traffic reached a record 109.8 billion passenger-kilometres (Allianz pro Schiene).
The biggest hubs concentrate enormous footfall in one place. Daily visitors, as of 2019 (Allianz pro Schiene):
- Hamburg Hauptbahnhof: around 537,000 per day
- Frankfurt (Main) Hauptbahnhof: around 493,000
- Munich Hauptbahnhof: around 413,000
- Berlin Hauptbahnhof: around 329,000
How large digital station advertising can get shows at Hamburg Hauptbahnhof: it holds Germany's largest digital advertising display at around 342 square metres, passed by several hundred thousand people every day.
Which audiences do you reach at the station?
The station gathers audiences that are often hard and expensive to reach digitally, all in one physical place:
- Commuters: 20.6 million employees in Germany commute to another municipality, around 60 percent of all employees, with an average commute of 17.2 kilometres (BBSR, Destatis 2024). 16 percent use public transport, and the share is rising. They come back every working day.
- Business travellers: long-distance rail and main stations reach a working, high-spending audience on the way to meetings.
- Travellers and tourists: large main stations mix national and international travellers, especially in long-distance traffic.
- Students and younger audiences: strongly represented in regional and local rail across the metropolitan areas.
- Shoppers and hospitality visitors: many large stations are retail destinations with their own footfall.
How does station advertising work?
Out-of-home is one of the highest-reach media. Germany's media analysis (agma, ma 2024 Out of Home) shows high net reach for classic poster media and documents hour- and day-precise delivery for digital out-of-home. At the station, repetition adds to reach: commuters see the same site several times a week, and it is this interplay of reach and frequency that decides the impact. What an activation at the station can look like shows in our campaign for Plan International at Hamburg Hauptbahnhof.
The station is part of transport media: advertising continues on the rails, on the train, the S-Bahn, the U-Bahn and the tram. Related places are the airport and the shopping mall.
Sources: Deutsche Bahn / DB InfraGO / DB Station&Service · Allianz pro Schiene (2024) · Federal Statistical Office, Microcensus (2024) · BBSR commuter data (2024) · agma, ma 2024 Out of Home.
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High reach
Train stations are among the busiest places in any city and offer enormous reach. With targeted station advertising you reach an audience at high-frequency locations, for example at the main station.
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A wide range of formats
Whether you want to go large on poster walls, stand out on digital screens or surprise people with creative floor graphics, we offer tailored options that put your message centre stage.
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Direct audience targeting
Advertising at train stations reaches commuters, travellers, shoppers and tourists. You place your message right in your audience's daily routine.
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24/7 presence
Station advertising is visible around the clock: in the morning rush, during the day while shopping or late at night. Your brand stays present and keeps building reach.
Station advertising: what we do
We stage your brand with care and build advertising concepts tailored to your goals. Whether you want to make an impact with large-scale station advertising, place digital ads at the busiest locations or surprise people with original floor advertising, we help you put your brand centre stage.
Our experienced out-of-home team handles the planning, production and coordination of the whole campaign. We know the best advertising sites at stations and how to place your message well. With us you get an end-to-end package for station advertising that gets noticed.
Digital and modern
With dynamic DLCPs (Digital Large-Format City Panels) on the platform you bring your brand to life in motion and reach travellers in a modern, high-attention environment.
18/1 posters on the platform
With 18/1 posters on the platform you reach your audience right in the daily commuter flow. The large-format placement delivers high reach and makes sure your station advertising catches the eye.
Guerrilla marketing at the station
With creative guerrilla marketing at the station you earn maximum attention in unexpected ways and leave a lasting impression on travellers, right where they least expect it.
Pop-up stores and brand activations
Use temporary spaces at the station to make your brand tangible. With a pop-up store or an on-site product showcase you create direct interaction and present your products up close.
Floor graphics: an eye-catcher at the station
With striking floor graphics you turn the floor into a creative ad space that captures passers-by and puts your brand right in the middle of it all.
Advertising at the city's most important hubs
Want to take your brand to the next level and be present where thousands of people pass every day? Then now is the moment to start your out-of-home campaign at train stations. We bring your message to where it gets seen, into the stations that shape city life. Get in touch for a no-obligation consultation and let's plan your next campaign together. Your campaign won't just be visible, it will be impossible to miss.
Frequently asked questions about station advertising
Classic posters such as city-light posters and 18/1 large formats, digital screens and public video, floor graphics, stair branding, plus large-scale special formats and brand activations.
Around 20 million travellers and visitors pass through Deutsche Bahn's roughly 5,400 stations every day (DB).
The price depends on format, station, duration and scale. A single digital slot is calculated differently from a large format running for several weeks or a full station domination. We put together a quote to match your goal and budget.
The stations belong to DB InfraGO, and the advertising space is offered through specialised out-of-home media owners. As an agency we plan and book the right sites for your campaign.
We're your partner for station advertising
Get in touch and we'll plan your ideal presence. We start with a goal analysis, map the best touchpoints, plan the run, hand-pick staff and promoters, produce high-quality materials and deliver station advertising that sticks.
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+49 30 5557 1427Inspirations