Entertainment brands and airport out-of-home advertising are not a new pair. This holiday season, however, staple names previously associated with cable and satellite TV are launching campaigns across JCDecaux airports as part of broader strategies to compete in the world of streaming.
MS NOW: A New Identity, Supercharged By Airport Reach
MSNBC has officially rebranded as “MS NOW,” a transformation that took effect on November 15, 2025, as the network was spun off into new company Versant, separating it from NBC News after nearly 30 years. The new name “My Source for News, Opinion and the World” is supported by an extensive, multimillion national marketing push built around patriotic branding and familiar faces to reinforce their “Same mission, New name” tagline.
Busy airport hubs like Los Angeles International Airport deliver mass, high-quality reach with a strong concentration of business travelers, frequent flyers and international visitors who are heavy news consumers and key opinion leaders in their households and workplaces. In a single, premium environment, MS NOW can reintroduce itself at scale, reassure existing MSNBC viewers about the new name, and position the brand as a real-time companion for people who need to stay informed while on the move.
JCDecaux airport advertising not only offers brands the benefits of mass reach but reinforces messaging with high impact and high frequency built into our networks. Our iconic and oversized digital spectaculars announce the new identity across all terminals in LAX to reinforce a consistent visual identity that will create familiarity for viewers watching at home and on their devices. For a rebrand, this kind of mass, high-credibility reach is critical to accelerating awareness, reducing confusion, and building familiarity fast.
DIRECTV: Free Holiday Streaming, Activated In Transit
In parallel, DIRECTV has evolved from a satellite-first provider into a flexible, app-based streaming platform, delivering live TV and premium content via internet-connected devices. Around the holidays, the brand is leaning into free trial-based streaming offers, using festive creative to position “free TV streaming” as a simple way for travelers and families to sample DIRECTV under their “Streamsgiving” initiative.
Airports are the ideal environment to activate this message. During peak holiday travel, DFW, LAX and other major hubs see surging passenger volumes and longer dwell times, creating more moments when people are receptive to entertainment and willing to try new services. Airport media can carry clear, direct calls-to-action—such as QR codes and short URLs—that invite passengers to unlock DIRECTV’s free streaming on the spot, turning downtime into “try-time.”
With JCDecaux’s premium digital inventory, DIRECTV can pair emotive, seasonal storytelling with performance-oriented formats: large screens to highlight the breadth of content and the “free streaming” promise, supported by information-rich creatives designed to reach travelers in moments of high-dwell time. By activating across all three of our airport-wide digital networks in these two busy airports, DirecTV guarantees that their message will touch every moment of the travel journey and make the most of the airport’s unique emotional mindset.
Together, MS NOW’s rebrand and DIRECTV’s holiday streaming push illustrate how airport advertising can both build brand equity at massive scale and trigger real, measurable engagement in the moments that matter.