What's up with those weird tech startup ads on the subway?

Subway ads once provided respite: a place to avert your eyes to avoid awkward eye contact, read poetry, or remind you to see the latest blockbuster.

Now, New Yorkers face a barrage of bewildering business-to-business ads promoting tech startups with jargon-heavy language that leaves most straphangers scratching their heads.

The Silicon Valley ads are so pervasive that two comedians covered the NYC subway with phony ads for fake AI companies, lampooning the enigmatic originals, per Inc.

Signs, signs, everywhere, signs

Cryptic billboards for startups have proliferated across the Bay Area for over a decade, but their underground infiltration throughout major subway systems is relatively new.

Now they're everywhere:

• The number of tech ads on NYC transit increased 50% year over year in Q1, following a 30% increase in ad spending in 2024.
• Tech companies now make up 15% of all ads on New York transit, and the sector is among the top categories for New York transit, along with medical and entertainment companies.
  
• Some target Wall Street to reach finance workers or convention centers during AI conferences.

A surprisingly low-tech approach for a high-tech industry, the ads are an inexpensive way to reach millions of captive eyeballs — and cheaper than a $3m/year billboard.

• Prices range from $5k to $60k per four weeks for system wide buys.
• Full-train wraps, however, can run $50k-$300k+.
• AI startup Friend spent over $1m on subway ads.
• There are ~3.3m/weekday subway riders for 30-45 minutes each ride.

But is it working?

The success of mattress startup Casper, which used punny subway ads, or real estate app StreetEasy's clever campaigns, may have inspired the current tech wave.

Yet, rather than broadly appealing to consumers, the newer ads are indecipherable to most, targeting a narrow audience — but that can still lead to lucrative contracts or attract investors.

The ads may generate buzz, but they can also backfire.

Some are seen as alienating "B2B slop" and annoying "marketspeak," while others have sparked outrage and critical graffiti, like AI companion Friend or Nucleus Genomics (which welcomes the engagement).

Though if you go back far enough, you can also find people complaining about hemorrhoids ads.

Personally, I wish they'd revive ads for soup, flan, and the litter-hating Etti-Cat. But I guess that's why I'm not in charge.