Spotlight on digital signage at the Rio Olympics

Digital signage is playing an integral role at the Rio Olympics – unlike anything we’ve seen before at a large-scale sporting event. In terms of scale, there’s really nothing more massive than the Olympics. The sheer volume of athletes and spectators is overwhelming. To further complicate matters, from a geographic perspective Olympic events are often separated by many miles. Of course this presents some challenges in terms of how organizers deliver content to the spectators, and digital signage paired with a reliable and effective network management solution are playing an important role in helping organizers overcome these challenges.

Beyond the Olympics venues themselves, digital signage played an integral role in how people around the world prepared for the Olympics, and how they’re viewing them now that the games are underway.

Just a few weeks ago, Australian team organizers utilized digital signage to reveal which of their athletes would carry their flag in the opening ceremonies. An Australia-based outdoor advertising company facilitated the announcement, revealing that Anna Meares would have the honor of carrying her country’s flag when the games open. The company – APN Outdoor – manages a nationwide network of outdoor signage, which provided the ideal vehicle to simultaneously honor Anna’s distinction in communities throughout Australia.

And there are other examples of content management systems (CMS) providers packaging content such that businesses across the world are able to deliver Olympics updates to their patrons. One such company – Screenfeed – is delivering Olympics medal count information, pictures from the Olympics, as well as a dynamic social feed to track the latest breaking news from Rio in six languages. This linguistic diversity speaks to the global nature of the Olympics’ audience, and the need to curate and deliver content to viewers throughout the world.

And rest assured our players are hard at work behind the scenes at the Rio Olympics. In particular, BrightSign hardware is driving content to a vast network of athlete-facing digital signage, displaying information to keep the athletes informed about when and where to be – ensuring that the competition runs smoothly and that all athletes are well informed.

These are just a few examples of how digital signage is making it easier than ever for viewers – either in Brazil or at home – to share in the excitement of this year’s Olympics. It’s a proud moment when our industry can bring the world together in such a unique and festive way to enjoy one of our oldest sporting contests.

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Jeff Hastings

Jeff Hastings joined BrightSign as CEO in August 2009. He brings a wealth of experience in digital media and technology. Prior to BrightSign, he served as Corel’s president and general manager of digital media, responsible for developing and implementing all aspects of the company’s digital media strategy. Prior to joining Corel, he served as general manager at Pinnacle Systems, the consumer division of Avid, where he was responsible for all aspects of the company’s global operations. Prior to joining Pinnacle, Jeff Hastings was COO of M-Audio, another Avid company. He was responsible for taking M-Audio’s highly regarded tools for computer-centric musicians and professionals and expanding their reach into the consumer market. Before this, he served as president of Rio, the company that pioneered the MP3 space by introducing the industry’s first MP3 player. Jeff Hastings holds a bachelor’s degree in computer science from Purdue University and holds eight U.S. patents.

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