Thomson's Premier Retail Networks, Inc. (PRN), the world's most experienced provider of digital media solutions at retail, has been selected as the exclusive provider of NBC Olympics highlights to retail shoppers during the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, August 8-24. The announcement was made today by Gary Zenkel, president of NBC Olympics, and Richard Fisher, president of PRN.
Beginning August 9, highlights of the previous day's events and information about NBC's programming schedule that night will be broadcast daily to retail locations nationwide - from the Opening Ceremony to the Closing Ceremony. Stunning high definition footage of individual events will play on HDTV screens in more than 5,000 home electronics departments at key retailers. While waiting in line to check out, shoppers will also be able to keep up with some of the key moments from the Games on PRN's Checkout TV(TM) network, available in approximately 2,000 stores.
Beginning August 9, highlights of the previous day's events and information about NBC's programming schedule that night will be broadcast daily to retail locations nationwide - from the Opening Ceremony to the Closing Ceremony. Stunning high definition footage of individual events will play on HDTV screens in more than 5,000 home electronics departments at key retailers. While waiting in line to check out, shoppers will also be able to keep up with some of the key moments from the Games on PRN's Checkout TV(TM) network, available in approximately 2,000 stores.
Our take:
As Annie points out at Digital Signage News, the arrangement could both generate interest in the digital out-of-home industry as well as drive people who catch clips at retail to continue their Olympic experiences online. In addition, it provides PRN with some anchor content that might be sticky enough to attract some additional advertisers (for example, Coke might decide to extend their presence onto the digital screens to encourage impulse buys). While their model hasn't traditionally been to use entertainment content to drive ad sales (except, perhaps at their checkout channel installations, but even then it's unlikely), they have been fairly open to trying new things, and this seems like a particularly natural opportunity to do so, considering how aggressive product marketers are being about associating themselves with the Olympic brand.
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