Nationwide ATMs at three London Underground stations - London Bridge, Canary Wharf and Canada Water - will be the first to run the campaign. It is to be rolled out across 23 underground ATMs during the course of this week says Nationwide. Receipts from the machines will also feature details of the advertiser's Web site.

It is estimated that around 250,000 people will use the machines and see myOyster's advertising during the course of its two-month campaign. Advertising of this kind does not affect the amount of time a transaction takes, says Nationwide.

The launch follows a trial of ATM advertising at Bristol Airport featuring Nationwide travel insurance and Thomas Cook's bureau de change service. Sixty-nine per cent of users claimed to be "delighted or satisfied" that advertising was part of the cash withdrawal process. Sixty-four per cent thought it acceptable to have non-banking advertising on ATMs, and ten per cent said they were more likely to visit Thomas Cook as a result of the advertising.

Software house i-design brokered the deals and designed the advertising for both Thomas Cook and myOyster.

Francis Walsh, Nationwide technology director, says: "Cash machines are an exciting new medium for advertisers, enabling them to target consumers in a new way. Unlike any other form of advertising, consumers keep their eyes on the screen the whole time."

Nationwide, the UK's largest building society, has a 1700-strong ATM network. About 400 of these are NCR PersonaS machines able to carry TV quality images.

Says Walsh: "Any banks who still think that the only way to make their ATM network economically viable is to charge people for withdrawing their own cash might consider advertising as a possible alternative."

In July 1999, Barclays announced plans to introduce a surcharge of £1 for cash withdrawals. Nationwide threatened to sue Barclays and led a campaign resulting in it and other large banks abandoning their surcharging plans.