Would you rather watch an ad than pay an ATM transaction fee? A New York City-based startup is wagering that most people will answer “yes.”
FreeATM, Inc. will launch seven new “free” ATMs today in the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y., exposing them to approximately 3 million new potential consumers. They offer an intuitively simple alternative to standard ATMs, allowing consumers to watch an ad while their transaction is processing in order to forgo withdrawal or transaction fees.
According to the company, the ads generally only run for as much time – about 15 seconds — as transactions needs to take place anyway, meaning consumers are sacrificing just seconds to save several dollars.
This marks FreeATM’s first move towards possible mainstream acceptance. So far, the company has installed just one ATM in a bar called The Knitting Factory, also in Brooklyn. The ATM was activated on November 4, 2011, but has already serviced around 5,000 people.
In an interview with ABC News, Clint Townsend, FreeATM’s chief executive officer, said some the ATM has attracted many return customers, some of whom have averaged eight monthly ATM usages.
“When people know this is in their community, they’re coming back time and time again,” he said.
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Metro PCS and Yelp are two major companies who have already agreed to sponsor some of the ATM ads.
So what do you think? Can add-based ATMs catch on? Would you be willing to spend an extra few seconds to save an extra few bucks? Let us know in the comments below.
