Uniguest digital signage proves its worth at SSE Arena
By AV Magazine in Digital Signage and DOOH, Sports and arenas, UK&I, Venues November 11, 2024 0
Digital signage has played a part in the growth of food, beverage and merchandise sales, in communicating offers and practical information to fans, and in generating buzz on social media.
The SSE Arena in Belfast is Northern Ireland’s biggest live events venue with seats for 11,000 spectators.
The multi-purpose arena is home to the Belfast Giants ice hockey team, and hosts many live music, comedy, and arts events with a broad and diverse range of fans.
The SSE Arena first installed digital signage in 2017 during a major renovation, since when it has become an important tool for generating more revenue, streamlining operations, and making the arena look and feel more modern.
Clara Killen, digital experience manager at The SSE Arena explained, “Since deploying the solution, our food and beverage, and merchandise sales have ultimately grown; digital signage plays a part in that. I also think the fan experience and the investments we've made right across the business impact that as well, but, it's fair to say that digital signage has played its part.
“Fans are now more aware when we release special offers and discounts and we're able to communicate those through the digital signage displays. This alone has helped immensely, creating tangible benefits for us as a company.”
Claire Cosgrave, associate director of experience at The SSE Arena, added, “We rely very heavily on the digital signage to deliver on several key areas for our business. There are the operational benefits. So, if you attend an event in the arena, we utilise the screens to provide health and safety information, and directional signage.
“We also use our digital signage to deliver on our commercial and brand sponsorship activations so that we can show who our sponsors are or promote packages and commercial offerings.”
An obvious, but often overlooked benefit of digital signage is that it is a creative media platform, a solution that allows the venue’s operational team to take advantage of their imagination.
A hugely popular addition to the arena’s game day repertoire is its Wheel of Cams. Using the ability to overlay graphics onto live video streams, the Wheel of Cams selects a dance, such as Bongo Cam, Dance Cam, or Karaoke Cam, and displays low latency live footage of fans in the arena dancing, singing, or ‘playing’ the Bongos on the jumbo screens.
Clara Killen commented, “Moving with the times and changing the layout and configuration of our digital signage has allowed us to be more creative and more engaging with our content.
“Rather than having static menu boards, we have menu boards that come to life, where we can change products, change pricing and be flexible with that. So as we have evolved, we've really decided to move with the times and make sure that we're using the digital signage to its full capability.”
Additionally, the incredible content created by the Arena’s team displayed on the LED and screens around the venue has helped drive their brand awareness through social media.
Claire Cosgrave commented, “We've also noticed that from where we deployed new stretch displays on our concourse, organically, fans started to stand underneath the screens and take selfies when the screen above was showing the artist who was playing that night or the Giants. They are then using that to tag themselves at the Arena, using that on their social media platforms and, almost by chance, this started to become an ‘Instagrammable’ element that we hadn't really appreciated could happen with the screens.”
The SSE Arena has deployed over 150 displays, using the Uniguest SP1 media player, a device built in partnership with BrightSign, powered by its Tripleplay software platform. The arena’s content team use the technology to deliver secure IPTV streams, from Uniguest low latency encoders, and complex digital signage content to every display individually or as groups.
AV Magazine