SOMO vs Firefly: which is bigger in New York?

Not answerable from what is published. SOMO puts a number in writing: 4,000 digital displays on 2,000 yellow taxis, which it calls about 65% of the city's digital taxi-top footprint. Firefly publishes no New York count on any page read on 2026-09-14; its network-wide figure is more than 60,000 screens across 15 markets. A count and a no-count cannot be ranked. Ask Firefly for its New York cab list and set both against the 8,878 yellow taxis on the road per day.

Firefly vs SOMO: what is the actual difference?

Format range and what each publishes. Firefly sells digital tops, static tops, wraps and in-car TaxiTV, on taxis and rideshare vehicles, in 15 listed markets, and publishes measurement work with LoopMe, Foursquare and Reveal named. SOMO sells an all-digital top network on New York yellow taxis, resells CMT's in-car screens, runs programmatic sales through Screenverse, and publishes a fleet count but no study. Neither publishes a rate.

Curb Taxi TV vs Firefly TaxiTV: are they the same product?

No. Curb Taxi TV is Curb Mobility's passenger-screen network, sold across 65+ markets with programmatic access through Place Exchange and Vistar. Firefly's in-car page sells a product it also calls TaxiTV, dated to 2007, with geo-fencing, day-parting and programmatic enablement; which New York vehicles carry it is not stated on the page. In a yellow cab the screen belongs to the cab's technology provider, and the TLC lists two: CMT and Curb.

Which taxi advertising company in NYC publishes prices?

None of the three. Firefly's product pages end in a contact form; SOMO's products page ends in Request a Quote and its partnership announcement offers media kits and rates by email; Curb's Taxi TV page says to get in touch with the ad sales team, and CMT prices per ad on request. The only New York rate card in circulation is a reseller's, Blue Line Media, recorded with its date on the cost page.

Can Firefly, SOMO and Curb all be bought programmatically?

All three state it. Firefly names Vistar, Place Exchange, Broadsign and StackAdapt on its blog and announced a VIOOH integration in April 2026. SOMO states all major pDOOH SSPs, with sales handled by Screenverse. Curb names Place Exchange and Vistar, and the DSPs The Trade Desk, Verizon Media and MediaMath. A programmatic line still delivers on particular cabs; ask which, and how many of the 8,878 on the road per day.

Which NYC taxi top company states GPS on the unit?

Firefly is the only one of the three that states it: "built-in GPS" on its digital tops, on its on-car page, driving neighborhood, time-of-day, weather and data-triggered creative. SOMO offers geofencing by request and does not say how a unit's position is known. Curb's screen is inside a metered cab; its targeting is by geography, daypart, point of interest and rider data, not roof GPS.

Does Curb still sell taxi tops in New York?

No. Curb Taxi Media, the roof business, was acquired by Firefly in June 2021 (OOH Today, 24 June 2021), and curbtaximedia.com served a parked page on 2026-09-14. Curb Mobility's Ads menu today lists Taxi TV, Curb Journey Connect and Curb Creators, no roof product. A buyer who wants the roof and the passenger screen from one seller is looking at Firefly, or at SOMO with CMT's screens.

Comparison record · Three sellers, ten criteria, each cell from the seller's own page · Read 2026-09-14

Firefly, SOMO or Curb: what each New York taxi seller holds

Firefly vs SOMO vs Curb is three different holdings. Firefly sells digital and static taxi tops, wraps and TaxiTV in New York and 14 other markets, and publishes no New York count. SOMO states 4,000 digital displays on 2,000 yellow taxis and resells CMT's in-car screens. Curb sells in-cab Taxi TV across 65+ markets. None publishes a rate card.

Sellers that publish a New York count 1 SOMO: 4,000 displays, 2,000 yellow taxis

Sellers that publish a rate card 0 All three: on request

Criteria compared 10 Every cell read on 2026-09-14

Method: the three companies most often set against each other in a New York taxi proposal, Firefly, SOMO and Curb (with CMT, whose screens Curb's product competes with and SOMO now resells), were read page by page on 2026-09-14. Each cell states what the company's own page says, in its words where the words matter, or records that nothing is published. Firefly, the operator whose campaigns the photographs on this site document, is the first column. This is a comparison of holdings, not a recommendation; the wider roster is on the companies page, and every third-party price is on the cost page.

Firefly, SOMO and Curb, criterion by criterion

Rows are the questions a buyer asks; columns are the sellers. Two of the three are NYC taxi top companies compared on the roof; the third sells the seat. A quotation mark means the page's own words. A cell that says "none published" was checked, not skipped.

Criterion	Firefly	SOMO	Curb with CMT
Who it is	Operator of a digital top network on taxis and rideshare vehicles. Its home page lists New York first among 15 markets. Sells the roof units and, under its own TaxiTV name, in-car screens.	A division of GPO Vallas, a Mexico City media group, launched in 2024 under what its About page calls an advertising partnership with the TLC. Runs digital tops; since September 2025 also sells CMT's in-car screens.	Curb Mobility, LLC, per its footer: a taxi payment, digital-meter and dispatch supplier that also runs Taxi TV. One of the two names on the TLC's Authorized Technology Service Providers page; the other is Creative Mobile Technologies, LLC (CMT), which runs its own in-taxi video network.
Inventory sold in New York	On its on-car page: digital tops; static tops in standard, 2D and 3D formats; full (360°), partial (270°) and door (180° and 180+°) wraps for vehicles with or without digital tops; glow wraps. On its in-car page: TaxiTV. The product pages name products, not cities; New York is on the home page list.	Digital taxi tops on yellow taxis, per its products page. TaxiTV digital displays, CMT's screens, listed on the same page since the September 2025 partnership. Holographic and vehicle projections, LED trucks and wrapped vehicles as activation add-ons.	Taxi TV, the passenger-facing screen inside the cab, per its Taxi TV page; in-app ads and mobile receipts bundled with it as Curb Journey Connect. No roof product on the Ads menu.
Published New York count	None. No cab, screen or fleet count for New York on any page read on 2026-09-14. Network-wide, "more than 60,000 screens", stated in its VIOOH announcement of 23 April 2026, with no per-market split.	4,000 digital displays across 2,000 yellow taxis, on the products page and the home page. Its Las Vegas announcement of 11 March 2026 adds 5,500 in-car TaxiTV screens in New York and calls the 4,000 displays "approximately 65%" of the city's digital taxi-top footprint. Against the TLC record, 2,000 cabs is 22.5% of the 8,878 yellow taxis on the road per day.	None for New York. Network-wide on the Taxi TV page: 15K+ screens, 2.2B+ impressions annually, 65+ major markets; the Journey Connect page prints 2.3B+. CMT: 5,600 passenger-facing screens across 10 U.S. markets, in the DPAA announcement of 3 September 2025; SOMO's products page rounds the same network to 6,000 TaxiTV vehicles.
Screen type and motion	Digital tops: "full motion screens", "highest pixel density on the market", 180 degree viewing angle, no-glare display, HTML dynamic content, 3D and anamorphic creative, as the on-car page states. Static tops: one printed message at "100 percent SOV". TaxiTV: video and display.	An all-digital top network; "video is permitted" across it, per the products page. TaxiTV displays "including audio capabilities". No screen specification (size, resolution, viewing angle) published.	In-cab video with sound: "unskippable" video that "only plays when passengers are in the taxi", static companion banners and QR code capability. Screen size is not stated on the Taxi TV page; CMT states 10.4-inch screens for its own network.
GPS and geo-scheduling	"Built-in GPS which enables sophisticated measurement capabilities", on the on-car page, with messaging by neighborhood, time-of-day and day-of-week scheduling, weather triggers, direction-and-distance-to-store creative and third-party data triggers (pricing, sports scores, lotto results). TaxiTV: geo-fencing and day-parting.	"Complimentary geofencing" by neighborhood, audience demographic, zip code or custom parameter, "by request", per the products page. No GPS statement; how a unit's position is known is not described.	Geo-targeting, day-parting and point of interest, plus payment method, device type, email and phone number as targeting fields, per the Taxi TV page. No GPS statement; the screen sits inside a metered cab.
Programmatic access	Named on its own site: Vistar, Place Exchange, Broadsign and StackAdapt, in a post of 10 February 2026; a VIOOH integration announced 23 April 2026; Place Exchange Programmatic Guaranteed since a 2021 U.S. Open campaign with The Trade Desk. Hivestack is named only for its Toronto launch, November 2022. TaxiTV: "programmatically enabled".	"All of the major pDOOH SSPs", with programmatic sales "managed exclusively" by channel partner Screenverse, per its Programmatic page. Partner logos are shown; no SSP or DSP is named in the text. The DPAA announcement says the joint inventory is available "programmatically via leading SSPs".	Place Exchange and Vistar, and DSP partners The Trade Desk, Verizon Media and MediaMath, named as printed on the Taxi TV page.
Published measurement	A Measurement and Attribution page listing brand study, foot traffic, web conversion, app conversion and retargeting. Named third parties: a LoopMe brand study for a cosmetics brand in four markets including New York (28 November 2024); a Foursquare footfall case study for a convenience store; a Reveal reach and frequency white paper of 6 May 2026.	Its Audiences and Coverage page credits Reveal Mobile as source and states that its market reach figure "is an internal estimate based on similar media statistics". The figures themselves are script-rendered counters that showed no value on a static read on 2026-09-14. No brand study, footfall study or case study published.	Journey Connect page: "52% average boost to campaign click-through rate" and "54% increase in brand recognition", with no study, sample or partner named. Taxi TV page: "compared to other Digital OOH verticals, TaxiTV generated the strongest engagement", unsourced. CMT, in the DPAA announcement: 100% viewability and completion rate, 56% unaided recall, no study named.
Rate card	No. The on-car, in-car and measurement pages end in a contact form.	No. The products page ends in "Request a Quote"; the DPAA announcement offers "media kits, rates" by email.	No. The Taxi TV page says to get in touch with the ad sales team. CMT: price "on a per ad basis", capped at the contracted number of ads, on request.
Published minimum	None published.	None published.	None published. CMT states campaigns "can be as little as one-day".
Markets beyond New York	14 others on the home page list: Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Chicago, San Francisco, Dallas, Austin, Miami, Boston, Philadelphia, Atlanta, Phoenix, Washington DC, Houston, Toronto. Colombia named as a Latin American launch.	One, announced: Las Vegas from March 2026, 1,200 displays across 400 taxis with the fleet operator zTrip, per the 11 March 2026 post, which calls it SOMO's "first major market outside New York City". TaxiTV via CMT: 10 U.S. markets.	"65+ major markets" for Taxi TV, stated without a list. Its rider app: "100+ cities", per its home page.

Two cells could not be filled from a page and say so above: SOMO's audience counters, which its Audiences and Coverage page renders by script and which showed no value on a static read, and any New York count for Firefly or Curb, which neither publishes. Nothing was estimated to fill them.

Where the published figures disagree with each other

Four places where two pages, sometimes from the same company, print different numbers for the same thing. Recorded side by side, not averaged.

Figure	Stated	Also stated	And	What the desk notes
In-car TaxiTV screens on the CMT network	5,500 "in New York", SOMO, 11 March 2026	5,600 "across 10 major U.S. markets", CMT via DPAA, 3 September 2025	6,000 "TaxiTV Vehicles", "10 U.S. Media Markets", SOMO products page	One network, three figures, two geographies. A New York-only count larger than a ten-market count cannot both be right.
Share of the New York digital taxi-top footprint	"Approximately 65%", SOMO, for 4,000 displays	"About 65%", NY Taxi Ads, in a case study recorded on the companies page	Implied footprint from SOMO's figure: about 6,150 displays	Two operators, one market, 130 percent. At most one of the two claims can be true, and neither publishes the denominator.
Firefly screens	"More than 60,000 screens", network-wide, 23 April 2026	15 markets listed on the home page	No New York number on any page	The division is not possible from published figures, and the site does not attempt it.
Curb Taxi TV impressions a year	2.2B+, Taxi TV page	2.3B+, Journey Connect page	No method, no market split, no date on either	Both pages carry a 2026 footer. The two figures are the same network, read the same day.

The denominator for any of these is the TLC record: 8,878 yellow taxis on the road on an average day (NYC TLC monthly indicators, May 2026), not the medallion count and not a vendor's "footprint".

What each seller is for

One cab, two sellers' hardware: a digital top on the roof, a Curb decal on the rear window. The photograph is the comparison in one frame.

Samsung · Digital top · Madison Square Garden, Penn District · 2025

The frame above is medallion 9T92 outside Madison Square Garden. The Samsung creative is on the roof unit; the small green Curb decal on the rear window marks the payment and screen system inside. A New York yellow cab can carry both sellers at once, and usually does. That is the shape of the whole comparison: Firefly and SOMO compete for the roof, Curb and CMT hold the seat, and the three names in this page's title are not three answers to one question.

Firefly

The roof, and the widest format menu of the three. Firefly's on-car page sells digital tops with built-in GPS and triggered creative, static tops at 100 percent share of voice, and 360°, 270° and 180° wraps for vehicles with or without a digital top; its in-car page sells TaxiTV. It is the only one of the three that publishes named measurement studies (LoopMe, Foursquare, Reveal), it names its programmatic partners in text (Vistar, Place Exchange, Broadsign, StackAdapt, VIOOH), and it lists 14 named markets beyond New York. It publishes no New York count, so a proposal from Firefly should arrive with the cab list attached. The wraps are the reminder that its network is not yellow-only: the campaign archive shows them on branded fleets, not medallion cabs.

SOMO

The roof of a yellow taxi, digitally, and a number in writing. SOMO sells one thing on the street, an all-digital top network it counts at 4,000 displays on 2,000 yellow cabs, and since September 2025 it also sells CMT's passenger screens, so a buyer can put the street and the seat on one order. Its programmatic desk is Screenverse, its geofencing is by request, and its measurement page cites Reveal Mobile and an internal estimate rather than a study. Until March 2026 it was a New York-only operator; Las Vegas is its first announced second market. The 2,000 cabs are 22.5% of the 8,878 on the road per day, which is the honest way to read "largest".

Curb

The passenger, not the street. Curb Mobility is a taxi technology company first, on the TLC's provider list with CMT, and Taxi TV is the advertising face of the screen its payment system already puts in the back seat. It sells no roof unit; the Curb Taxi Media top business went to Firefly in 2021. What it sells is an unskippable in-ride video with sound, companion banner and QR code, targetable by daypart, point of interest and rider data, bought direct or through Place Exchange and Vistar, across 65+ markets of which New York is one, uncounted. CMT sells the same seat on its own screens, direct or through SOMO. A buyer choosing between the two in-car networks is choosing between two technology providers' cab lists, and should ask for both.

The TLC layer under all three

The rulebook does not care which seller's name is on the proposal. A roof unit on a yellow medallion taxi is a Rooftop Advertising Fixture under 35 RCNY 67-16, installed by a medallion owner who has paid the annual advertising permit fee, on an approved fixture design; that is the layer under Firefly's and SOMO's tops alike. The passenger screen is the Passenger Information Monitor under 35 RCNY 75-25(d), part of the Technology System from an authorized provider, on which that provider may display commercial advertising; that is the layer under Curb's and CMT's screens, and under SOMO's and Firefly's in-car lines. A wrap on a yellow cab is not an authorized exterior format, which is why the wraps in this comparison run on other fleets. The full rulebook table, section by section with the passenger's right to switch the screen off, is on the taxi top versus Taxi TV page; it is not repeated here.

Frequently asked questions

SOMO vs Firefly: which is bigger in New York?: Not answerable from what is published. SOMO puts a number in writing: 4,000 digital displays on 2,000 yellow taxis, which it calls about 65% of the city's digital taxi-top footprint. Firefly publishes no New York count on any page read on 2026-09-14; its network-wide figure is more than 60,000 screens across 15 markets. A count and a no-count cannot be ranked. Ask Firefly for its New York cab list and set both against the 8,878 yellow taxis on the road per day.
Firefly vs SOMO: what is the actual difference?: Format range and what each publishes. Firefly sells digital tops, static tops, wraps and in-car TaxiTV, on taxis and rideshare vehicles, in 15 listed markets, and publishes measurement work with LoopMe, Foursquare and Reveal named. SOMO sells an all-digital top network on New York yellow taxis, resells CMT's in-car screens, runs programmatic sales through Screenverse, and publishes a fleet count but no study. Neither publishes a rate.
Curb Taxi TV vs Firefly TaxiTV: are they the same product?: No. Curb Taxi TV is Curb Mobility's passenger-screen network, sold across 65+ markets with programmatic access through Place Exchange and Vistar. Firefly's in-car page sells a product it also calls TaxiTV, dated to 2007, with geo-fencing, day-parting and programmatic enablement; which New York vehicles carry it is not stated on the page. In a yellow cab the screen belongs to the cab's technology provider, and the TLC lists two: CMT and Curb.
Which taxi advertising company in NYC publishes prices?: None of the three. Firefly's product pages end in a contact form; SOMO's products page ends in Request a Quote and its partnership announcement offers media kits and rates by email; Curb's Taxi TV page says to get in touch with the ad sales team, and CMT prices per ad on request. The only New York rate card in circulation is a reseller's, Blue Line Media, recorded with its date on the cost page.
Can Firefly, SOMO and Curb all be bought programmatically?: All three state it. Firefly names Vistar, Place Exchange, Broadsign and StackAdapt on its blog and announced a VIOOH integration in April 2026. SOMO states all major pDOOH SSPs, with sales handled by Screenverse. Curb names Place Exchange and Vistar, and the DSPs The Trade Desk, Verizon Media and MediaMath. A programmatic line still delivers on particular cabs; ask which, and how many of the 8,878 on the road per day.
Which NYC taxi top company states GPS on the unit?: Firefly is the only one of the three that states it: "built-in GPS" on its digital tops, on its on-car page, driving neighborhood, time-of-day, weather and data-triggered creative. SOMO offers geofencing by request and does not say how a unit's position is known. Curb's screen is inside a metered cab; its targeting is by geography, daypart, point of interest and rider data, not roof GPS.
Does Curb still sell taxi tops in New York?: No. Curb Taxi Media, the roof business, was acquired by Firefly in June 2021 (OOH Today, 24 June 2021), and curbtaximedia.com served a parked page on 2026-09-14. Curb Mobility's Ads menu today lists Taxi TV, Curb Journey Connect and Curb Creators, no roof product. A buyer who wants the roof and the passenger screen from one seller is looking at Firefly, or at SOMO with CMT's screens.

Sources read for this page

Firefly, On Car Advertising, In Car Advertising, Measurement and Attribution and home page · product statements, market list · read 2026-09-14
Firefly blog, mobility advertising network for national travel brands · SSP and DSP names · 10 February 2026 · read 2026-09-14
Firefly blog, integration with VIOOH · 23 April 2026 · read 2026-09-14
Firefly blog, first Programmatic Guaranteed campaign · 30 September 2021 · Canada's first digital taxi top network · 21 November 2022 · read 2026-09-14
Firefly blog, LoopMe brand study case · 28 November 2024 · Firefly and Foursquare footfall case study · Firefly and Reveal, The Amplifying Effect Part II · 6 May 2026 · read 2026-09-14
SOMO, Products and Solutions, home page, About, Programmatic and Audiences and Coverage · read 2026-09-14
SOMO, Announcing SOMO's Expansion to Las Vegas · 11 March 2026 · read 2026-09-14
SOMO and CMT partnership announcement, DPAA · 3 September 2025 · read 2026-09-14
Curb, Advertise on Taxi TV, Curb Journey Connect, Payments and home page · read 2026-09-14
CMT Media Network · read 2026-09-14
NYC TLC, Authorized Technology Service Providers · read 2026-09-14
Firefly Acquires Curb Taxi Media, OOH Today · 24 June 2021 · read 2026-09-14
NYC TLC monthly indicators CSV · May 2026 · read 2026-09-14

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