Striking 10 at Rev Generation: The BCTV Digital Rollout
BCTV | SPORTS & ENTERTAINMENT
The challenge
Bowling Alleys have always been recognized as an untapped marketing for advertising. The central question that faced us was, how can we leverage digital signage to create an ad network that generates revenue for the Owners and Operators, but also gives the Bowler community relevant content to improve guest experience, drive engagement / share of wallet while on-site, and elevate the environment with technology-based experiences, across 1,000+ locations WITH 12-15 displays and end points per venue on average. Throughout this project, we encountered significant challenges that impacted the locations earmarked for digital signage conversion:
Unique Sites, Pervasive Installation Struggles: Each bowling alley presented a unique set of challenges—different facilities, codes, and configurations. This lack of uniformity meant that no two installations were alike.
Endless Forecasting Adjustments: The project took a long time to transition from concept to implementation and during this period, the design specifications changed multiple times – forcing our manufacturing and mounting partners to constantly have to pivot to solve an ever change set of requirements – the best example of this pain point is what started as a plan for primarily wall-mounted displays evolved into a focus on ceiling-mounted solutions.
Delays Due to Other Contractors: One of the biggest hurdles was coordinating with electrical contractors for power installations. This made installation lengthy and expensive. The lack of electricians available at the time also made scheduling and site-readiness a challenge. Not only did this delay the project timeline, but the cost for labor also increased substantially during the COVID, skewing initial budget estimations.
The solution
- The digital signage vision included a fully integrated solution of Samsung Displays, Bright Sign media players, Legrand AV mounting systems, together transforming the entire guest journey and delivering that wow factor a tech-forward environment that elevated the traditional bowling alley experience.
- Average of 12-15 screens per location x 1000 locations to form the BCTV network
Unique LCD display screens served to greet bowlers as they entered, another set of screens lined the pathway to the play lanes as well as the key congregation areas – all designed for advertising. - The content for and to deepen engagement and get bowling fans coming back more often.
- What started as a plan for primarily wall-mounted displays evolved into a focus on ceiling-mounted solutions which opened the space, created better visual impact and aesthetic.
- The Quividi Analytics software/platform was layered in for reporting and verification for people counting for the ad network element. We put in door counters to derive a CPM value – across all sites.
- Quantela funded the effort which meant the Franchisees did not have to outlay cash and they’d be more willing to take on the conversion/rollout.
The results
BCTV is very excited that with just a partial deployment so far of 300 locations [1,500 screens thus far] that they are signing some advertising contracts up to 6 figures and have seen the programmatic sales grown each week beating the previous week this year. All stakeholders are celebrating the both the technology upgrade and the business / behavior and revenue impact across the Owner/Operator and Franchise communities:
- It been a very well received program from the BPAA (Bowling Proprietors of America).
- Business Impact for bowling franchisees Part of the network opportunity includes giving each location several ad slots to sell locally or use for self-promotion. This allows each location to tailor messaging or generate additional revenue from local advertising as well.
- The response from the Bowler Community has been nothing but positive and we hope to continue to deliver a mixture of dynamic content and local bowling center content as we deliver a combo DOOH/CTV style experience.