iSite Media Makes Sports Arena Restrooms Its DOOH Medium

June 16, 2022 by Dave Haynes

People who have been in the digital signage industry for a long time experience a lot of deja vu – seeing ideas come and go, and then come back again. And again.

Many, many companies have seen restrooms in restaurants, bars, sports and entertainment venues and casino resorts as an opportune location for digital out of home ad networks – putting screens over urinals, embedded in mirrors and even integrated with sink faucets. There was even a company in the UK putting screens right in the urinals – called Viewrinal. Worst AV field service job ever.

Most efforts have come and gone, but it’s one of those media models that keeps making a comeback.

Consider iSite Media Group, a St. Louis, MO media start-up that puts small screens with integrated shelves into washrooms at sports venues. The company has a footprint in the DC area at the arena that hosts the NBA Wizards and NHL Capitals, as well as the venues for the St. Louis Blues and Florida Panthers (NHL), the KFC Yum! Center for the Louisville college basketball team, the University of Missouri’s football stadium and basketball arena, and the University of North Carolina’s basketball arena.

The company says it typically “co-invests” with teams, with iSite putting in the upfront hardware and the teams helping facilitate and contribute to the installation within the venues. Then there would be some sort of revenue-sharing arrangement from ad sales. The company runs a sequence of as many as 20 15-second spots on a main screen, and a smaller one below it – called LED but I doubt it is – that does branding.

The screens are over the urinals in the men’s washroom, but I’m not quite sure what’s done for the women’s washrooms.

Digital OOH is a far more recognized and booked ad medium than it was years ago, when the first media start-ups were selling screens based on places and moments. So ad sales are not the K2-like climb they used to be for the medium. It also helps that hardware and software costs are also, generally, lower than 5, 10 or 15 years ago. But … media sales are still very hard and hyper-competitive.

 

 

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