What is Loop TV?  Is it Really FREE?

You may have considered taking advantage of a new entertainment service for your business – Loop TV (Loop).  They promise to be free to use if you allow them to play ads to your customers.  They will provide a free streaming system and access to a seemingly impressive library of music videos, viral and lifestyle content.  The system also allows the business to put a limited amount of their own promotional elements within the content stream.  On the surface, this looks amazing.  Let’s take a deeper look.

Lots and Lots of Content?

At first glance there appears to be a lot of content.  Many different content categories can be easily selected with Loop’s TV-Guide approach to scheduling.  Unfortunately, lots of categories do not necessarily equal lots of entertaining content.  In Loop’s case, it’s a relatively limited supply of content.  At some point, you realize you are watching a lot of re-runs within a 12-hour period.  For employees and business owners alike, this monotony can drain productivity. For customers, it’s boring and familiar.  So, while Loop is an easy-to-use and cheap background entertainment solution, it is not the ideal answer to entertain and attract customers for every business.

Stuck in a Loop?  Ad Overload?

Are you annoyed with the new “free” version of Netflix? Then you will be even more let-down with Loop.  For Loop to be “free” they must show advertisements from big named companies at greater frequency.  Ads interrupt Loop’s limited content offering about every 10 minutes.  Why?  Out-Of-Home (OOH) advertising is a new form of advertising that media buyers are having a challenging time valuing.  Traditional broadcast has Nielsen ratings to validate their ad buy cost.  Magazines and newspapers have distribution reports to justify ad buy cost.  OOH has none of that.  Measurement is determined by the network owner’s self-reported viewership reports.  Media buyers tend to view self-reporting with skepticism and pay less for ad space on an OOH network.  The net result is the audience will see a lot more ads than they are used to on these ad-supported entertainment offerings.

While this may be a reasonable burden to bear in one’s home, your customers will quickly tire of seeing more ads than content.  Consumers don’t leave their homes to watch commercials, they go out to be entertained with something relevant and exciting.  Wait a sec… varietal content with national ads?  Haven’t consumers seen this before?  It sure looks a lot like TV at home.  Couldn’t businesses just entertain with America’s Funniest Videos on Channel 7 and get the same effect with fewer ads?  Therein lies the rub- Loop isn’t much different than the content one could get with an antenna in their home or business.  Consumers are used to choices.  Lots of choices, and interactivity is all the rage for consumers today.  At least at home customers can change the channel but, in your business, their choice may simply be to leave.  With Loop, your customer is stuck in, well, a Loop, and the only exit is the door.

Whose Customers are they Anyway?

With Loop, YOUR customers are really THEIR customers.  When you allow an ad-supported entertainment system like Loop to promote goods and services that do not relate to your business, there is a major disconnect between your business and the customer.  Consumers have been trained for years to identify third-party ads and stop watching them.  A recent Neilsen Retail TV study concluded that TVs showing mainly third-party advertisements create a blind spot in the consumer’s mind.  In other words, your TVs may as well be turned off.  Look at it this way, using Loop is a missed opportunity cost.  You could be promoting YOUR menu items, events, and specials.  Instead, with Loop, your location is focusing a substantial amount of screen time on some other company’s offerings that may not even be sold within your location.  In most cases, that trade-off just isn’t worth it.  Protecting and promoting YOUR brand, the one you spent so much time and money to build, should be paramount.

Interactivity?  In a Business Entertainment System?

Consumers today have many entertainment options available to them.  Studies show broadcast TV viewership is at an all-time low.  According to The Gauge (Nielsen), streaming represented a record-breaking 34.8% share of total television consumption in the U.S., exceeding cable (34.4%) and broadcast (21.6%).  Much of this is due to the interactive element of streaming platforms and the ability for consumers to choose what, when, and how they want to watch content.  Offering interactive opportunities for your guests can be the difference between encouraging your guest to stay longer in your location or having them seek a more engaging experience elsewhere.  This is where companies like JukeVision™ can truly shine.

What is JukeVision, and how can it Help my business Sell More?

JukeVision is a compelling entertainment system that leverages an impressive library of music and music videos.  Their unique system invites customers to interact with that music via an App on their phones.  Music is the number one type of content played on the internet every day, and JukeVision has made all the good stuff available to your business and your customers.  JukeVision’s library includes all the classic rock, hot pop (from the 1980s-2020s), Latin, urban and current music your customers want to play most.  They have professionally curated over 75 unique music/music video playlists that are easily mixed and scheduled for a branded music feel at any time throughout the day and night. Of course, a business can also create their brand-specific custom playlist quickly and easily.  In addition, JukeVision’s tool set allows the owner to refine customer searches to the type of music that fits their brand.  No more Rap 24/7 when you have a rockin’ brand that thrives on Van Halen.  The truly cool element of JukeVision is the interactivity your customers can have. If you allow it.  Customers who have downloaded the JukeVision App can easily search for their favorite songs and play them back.  Your screens show the audience who selected the song, and the customer can even add a safe comment that will appear on your screens.  The music search can either be JukeVision’s entire library or limited to the music selections the owner has determined reinforces the brand of the business.  This fun, interactive experience is free to your customers and will encourage them to come back – with friends.

In-store Promotion that’s easy to use?  Simple Signage™ is here…

JukeVision’s new FlexBox™ system is designed to be an all-in-one solution (music/music video/digital signage) that is quite powerful for such a small footprint.  This one box can be used for all three purposes and users can make changes to one, or all, systems from one internet-connected interface.  JukeVision incorporates a very user-friendly promotion system: Simple Signage.  Put your logo on the screen to reinforce your brand.  Increase product, event, and service awareness with Slide images. Slide images are typically graphics you have posted to your Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter accounts.  JukeVision makes it amazingly easy to import and display those same graphics on your TV screens.  Do you also post videos to YouTube?  Those same videos can be imported quickly into JukeVision as commercials shown between music videos.  Place Tower ads next to music videos for added customer awareness and more sales.  The entire process is performed on any internet-connected device and your entire branded television channel can be created within minutes.  Your screens will reinforce your brand and encourage your customers to buy more in your business.  As an added bonus- customers will typically stay longer while they share their favorite songs with their friends in your location.  As Nielsen has indicated in many studies, sales will increase by up to 35% if your entertainment systems focus on brand specific in-store promotion.  JukeVision’s Simple Signage makes it easy.

What is the Best Content for My Business?

A quick factoid:  Jan 2022; The Soul Publishing:  In the U.S., respondents shared that they’re watching more short-form videos surrounding music (53%) and comedy (51%) now than they were six months ago.

Recently, Millennials have surpassed Baby Boomers as the largest segment of the shopping population.  With that comes a shift in viewing behaviors and preferred content to view within business environments.  What entertains a millennial anyway?  One thing’s for sure, it’s not sports TV, or rather it’s not sports TV alone.  Recent studies from Nielsen, and others, have shown today’s consumer in a business environment is looking for fun, upbeat, and positive content that is relevant to them.  Nothing resonates with millennial consumers more than music and the interactivity they enjoy with their phones.  However, the go-to for 90% of Bars & Restaurants, for example, is still sports content.  A bar hanging on to a sports TV entertainment model is losing some of their client base each year and they are not replacing them with younger consumers fast enough.  Fortunately, sports and music work well together.  A growing trend in Bars & Restaurants is to keep sports on 60% of the location’s TVs and add interactive music services, like JukeVision, to the other 40%.  Unless it’s a big sports day, keep the audio from your JukeVision system on and you will notice you keep your current customer base while attracting new customers.

Is Streaming a Good Idea for Business Entertainment systems?

The short answer is, NO.  Nothing is more frustrating than enjoying entertainment only to have it stop cold-turkey or loop the same content relentlessly.  This happens when your streaming system is no longer connected to the internet.  This is a common occurrence in consumers’ daily lives, but it should NOT happen in your business.  Loop’s free TV is just that – a streaming system.  It may have a small amount of content cached to minimize the effects, but it can take a while before an internet issue is resolved.  During the downtime, your location will suffer through music outages or, worse yet, a few songs repeating endlessly until you mercifully switch your screens to broadcast TV.  JukeVision’s FlexBox contains a large amount of storage in a device that fits in your hand, and it holds all your desired content locally.  So, even if the internet is disconnected, JukeVision continues to provide your customers with an engaging experience that keeps them in your business.

Final Thought.

We all know that free is not actually free.  Especially in business.  There is always a cost.  Loop requires an exchange that is too costly for most businesses: save $150 per month but lose your customer base.  They require your customers to endure a significant amount of third-party advertising which is the kind of programming consumers have been trained to avoid.  Historically, ad-supported entertainment systems have failed miserably over the years.  Several well-known failures include McDonald’s, Arby’s, Carl’s Jr., Taco Bell, Wendy’s, and Advance Auto Parts to name a few.  Repeatedly, consumers have made it clear- they do not want to see at-home TV in businesses they frequent, and they want some control over what is shown.  When consumers have no control over the content being shown on screens, history shows they will avoid those screens, and your business.  Increasingly, thanks to millennials, they will seek a business down the street that has a system like JukeVision’s.  By choosing JukeVision to self-promote on your screens, and allowing for interactivity, you will make significantly more than $150 per month.  Finally, you will be in total control of your screens, and your customers are all yours.