Exhibit A · one cab, one evening rush. The numbers below are what it actually earns you.
Taxi advertising · the real-reach worksheet
Taxi advertising's real math, the part vendors leave out.
Taxi-top advertising is real but oversold: vendors quote a huge impression number, but only a small fraction becomes genuine reach. This worksheet runs one day of roughly 25 digital taxi tops down the funnel — impressions to real reach — so you compare on cost-per-memory, not the headline CPM.
Vendors sell you a big impression number. This worksheet runs one day of roughly 25 digital taxi tops down the funnel, line by line, to the real reach you actually buy.
Net real reach 1.4% of the quoted number. 6 primary sources · Geopath & Digital Signage Today funnel · estimate, not a quote
Cost & Real-Reach Estimator
Estimate your real reach
Pick a city, a format, and a fleet size. We will show you the cost, the raw impressions vendors quote, and the memory-adjusted reach you actually buy.
- CPM
- —
- Cost per memory
- —
- Fleet discount
- —
Why the gap
An impression is not a memory.
Out-of-home vendors sell "impressions", every person who could have seen the cab. But an opportunity to see is not attention, and attention is not recall. Industry funnel data shows the drop-off is brutal: of the people a moving ad passes, only a tiny fraction walk away remembering the brand.
- 100%Impressions (OTS)
Everyone the cab drives past. The number on the rate card.
- 30–50%Actually visible
Speed, angle and clutter cut the rest before anyone looks. Geopath
- 25–40%Conscious attention
Of those who could see it, only some actually process the ad.
- 0.4–2%Remember the brand
The real reach. And good creative swings cost-per-memory up to 5×. Digital Signage Today
That is not a reason to avoid taxi advertising. It is the reason to buy it on real reach and cost-per-memory, not the impression count. See the full breakdown →
The split vendors blur
Exterior is broad and shallow. Interior is narrow and deep.
Rooftop tops and wraps reach a whole city, but most people only glance. Interior and rideshare screens reach far fewer people, but those riders are seated, captive, and verified.
| Format | Reach | Attention | Cost / cab / 4wk | Audience |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Taxi top (digital) | Broad | Glance | $200–400 | Street |
| Full wrap | Broad | Glance | $500–2,000 | Street |
| Interior screen | Narrow | Captive | $200–500 | Captive |
| Rideshare tablet | Narrow | Captive | CPM $15–30 | Captive |
Pricing: industry ranges estimate · reach behaviour reported. Full method on each guide.
The guides
Everything, costed and sourced.
- 01 How Much Does Taxi Advertising Cost? Cost Real 2026 prices by format and city, with fleet discounts and a cost-per-memory estimate, not a sales quote.
- 02 Does Taxi Advertising Actually Work? Effectiveness The impression-to-memory funnel: why only 0.4 to 2% of "impressions" become brand recall, and how to read the real number.
- 03 Taxi Top Advertising Format How rooftop ads work, static versus digital, what they cost, and how many impressions a cab really delivers.
- 04 Taxi TV & Interior Screens Format Reaching the captive rider: in-car screens, attention time, and why interior reach is narrow but deep.
- 05 Taxi Wrap Advertising Format Full and partial wraps: production cost, impact, and when the premium format is worth it.
- 06 Rideshare Advertising (Uber & Lyft) Channel In-car tablets, Octopus, Uber and Lyft media networks, verified passenger impressions, and what it costs.
- 07 Taxi Advertising by City Cities Costs, reach and rules in NYC, London, Dubai and more, including the regulation fees vendors skip.
Advertising on taxis? You're in the right place. Running a taxi fleet's own marketing is a different topic, and a different site.