After several month of operation, the HCMC Metro is now offering advertising in the stations and trains.

One of the many interesting aspects of witnessing the first day of operation of the HCMC Metro was to see a metro system with no advertising in the stations or trains.

[Carriage interior with no advertising.]

There were some promotional stands for banks at the metro stations promoting debit cards (for future use as tickets), but apart from that, the stations and trains were a blank canvas.

[A promotional stand for a bank on the opening day of the metro.]

It was a great time to get stock photos of trains and platforms with no advertising, but I kept wondering about how long this would last. Advertising forms an important part of the revenue pie for metro systems, so it was only a matter of time before the ads appear.

[Ba Son underground passage with no advertising.]

I returned to Ho Chi Minh City in July to find that the HCMC Metro is now accepting advertising.

There are poster spaces in the underground walkways, and ad spots are also on the platform barriers. The future advertising spots have a picture of the trains with the HCMC Metro logo as a placeholder.

[Platform advertising at Ba Son Station.]

The placeholder advertisements have the contact number of the advertising agent.

[Platform advertising at Ben Thanh Station.]

Something I noticed about the carriage interiors was that there were no inbuilt advertising screens. Some advertising screens have now been affixed inside the carriages.

[Advertising screen inside carriage.]

Portable advertising screens are now appearing at stations, such as these screens at Ben Thanh.

[Advertising screens at Ben Thanh.]

Note: This site is an independent guide to the HCMC Metro. This site is not affiliated with the metro and thus not affiliated with metro advertising. The advertisements in the stations are by Hoa Sen (Phone 0969 39 89 89).

This is not a paid ad or commission deal for advertising. I am getting emails about advertising so I will use this post to refer to for future enquiries.