Israel’s Most Popular Playhouse Using Street-Level Window Screens To Drive Awareness, Ticket Sales

January 13, 2022 by Dave Haynes

Putting screens in full-length windows that face the street can present a bunch of technical challenges – the biggest ones handling glare and heat build-up from the sun. But there’s also a big challenge in making the screen infrastructure tidy and like it all belongs there.

This is the ground-level lobby of the new home for the Beit Lessin – described as Israel’s most popular theater. The playhouse in Tel Aviv recently relocated to a new site, and one of aspirations of the facility was to market productions and attract walk-up ticket purchases, by having screens visible from the sidewalk.

“To achieve its ambitions and demands,” says PR on the project, “Beit Lessin Theater partnered with PPDS, the exclusive global provider of Philips digital signage and professional TVs, together with global digital signage specialist, Screens TV, and NoviSign, for a custom solution to meet their unique needs.”

To attract audience walkthrough, a suite of 4 x 55” Philips H-Line UHD displays were strategically placed facing the street from the panoramic glass front of the theatre. These ultra-high brightness displays were selected for their vibrant image quality in direct sunlight, ensuring maximum effectiveness and beautiful picture quality in any condition. The displays, which can be fully remotely managed and controlled, also provide peace of mind to the theatre, with FailOver technology meaning displays will always remain active.

Inside the theatre, 21 x 55” Philips D-Line displays equipped with built-in media players were selected and used to create an inspiring ‘wow’ effect for guests entering the auditorium.

With these displays, guests can learn about current and upcoming plays, as well as programme scheduling and ticket collection info. Custom software by NoviSign was configured to connect the entire suite of displays, allowing the theatre’s staff to update content instantly and easily throughout the day with both manual control and automatic scheduling.

Putting digital signage screens in windows is pretty common, but people around the Pro AV/digital signage space have seen plenty of examples of what not to do. What’s interesting about this one is how the integrator, and possible the architects, schemed in a horizontal band that has the mounting system and cable management, so these screens kind of float. It’s very tidy.

If I am reading the PR right, there are four high-bright screens facing out, and four more conventional pro displays facing inside – part of the 21 55-inchers sprinkled around the venue.