The pub is not just a British and Irish cultural institution, but has become a bit of a global trend too. These days you'll spot the British or Irish style pub everywhere from Spain to Singapore, or from Boston to Bangkok. The same goes for sports bars and even night clubs; these are venues that thrive on atmosphere, social connection, and entertainment.

Wherever your pub or bar is, chances are it's a buzzing hive of social activity. Screens in these spaces are nothing new, but increasingly they’re being used for more than just showing live games. Digital signage is helping venues share messages beyond sports schedules and drinks prices, from DJ lineups to themed events.

We're going to dig into how digital signage for pubs, sports bars, and night clubs can be used more effectively, and how to set up great club or pub digital signage.

How to use digital signage in pubs and night clubs

Digital signage in pubs or clubs basically means using TV screens to display whatever notices you want to use. It can also be used in tandem with live IPTV (internet streaming TV) so you can display other elements on your screens beyond just the game or the news.

Some of the most popular ways to use digital signage across these venues are:

Still using a chalkboard to mark up your best-selling items? Switching to digital menu boards makes it easy to showcase food, drinks, or cocktail menus in a way that grabs attention. For night clubs, this could be bottle service promotions or happy hour deals. 

Updating your menus is simple too; the digital menu board app gives you an easy way to create, edit and design digital menus, or you can upload your own JPEGs, or use something like a Google Slides template.

Digital signage is a powerful way to share upcoming events and keep your regulars engaged. In pubs and sports bars, this may mean quiz nights, live music, or weekend sports screenings. For night clubs, you can spotlight themed nights, guest DJs, or special events to drive more attendance. Professional-looking slides are easy to create with tools like Canva or our QuickPost app, even if you don’t have any design skills.

As well as using digital signage to advertise your own events, you can sell advertising slots to the brands that want to get in front of your customers.

A popular example of this is drinks brands, event sponsors, or even lifestyle brands who might want to highlight a new product, or a promo. Add a QR code and customers can interact directly with your partners while you track engagement with analytics for proof of play.

If your venue is active on social media, it’s easy to repurpose your social content for the screen. Sharing your Instagram gallery or Facebook posts will promote your special features and encourage more people to follow your brand online.

You can also share TripAdvisor scores, Google and Facebook reviews, Yelp reviews and highlight specific feedback or testimonials to help more people not only read your great reviews, but to share their own too.

Read More: How to Use Google review signs on your screens.

Sometimes, screens are there to add to the atmosphere rather than push promotions. In pubs and sports bars, this could mean live sports scores, breaking news, or even traffic updates for guests heading home. 

For night clubs, ambient visuals, countdowns to headline DJs, or live-streamed sets from other venues can keep the vibe going and make the experience feel bigger. You can even stream from YouTube or IPTV channels to keep your screens fresh and dynamic.

Find out other ways to stream live content.

Digital signage can be critical  in the event of an emergency. You can easily connect our emergency alerts app to display information about anything from local incidents to weather alerts and much more.

Read more: Emergency alerts digital signage.

How to set up digital signage for your sports bar or night club

Setting up digital signage in your venue  is as simple as mounting a few TV screens and connecting to your chosen software. Here's how...

Whatever your choice of screen, you will be able to connect it to your software via a wifi connection. We recommend professional grade TV screens as these are built for more demanding environments and all-day displays.

Once you've mounted your screens you'll need to connect to your digital signage software. Devices such as our very own PIXI connect to ScreenCloud right out of the box, making it effortless to get up and running.

TVs with in-built smart software such as LG WebOS, Samsung Tizen or Sony Bravia can also download the ScreenCloud app via their app stores.

If you're looking for the best screens and media players, check out our Hardware Selector.

Once you have your screens set up, move onto your digital signage software.

To set up your digital signage software, you’ll need to download ScreenCloud from your app store of choice. Where you download from will depend on which TV, or device, you’re using:

Once the software is open, you’ll see a pairing code that looks like this:

Head to ScreenCloud create an account (you can always use the 14-day free trial to begin with) enter your pairing code and that’s it, you’re ready to begin playing content on your pub screens. 

ScreenCloud allows you to play any existing content, like your images, videos or promotional posters, simply by uploading them from where they’re already saved, like your laptop or computer. You can also add content from other sources, from Google Slides or from a Dropbox folder.

In fact, there are 80+ free apps in the App Store (included within your account) that let you set up digital signage content really easily.

ScreenCloud makes it easy to get setup with digital signage, and simple to scale. If you need to add new screens, or even connect different locations, simply connect the new device in your ScreenCloud dashboard and you're good to go.

What's more, you don't need to be a professional designer to make great looking digital signage content with ScreenCloud. Access templates for menu boards, announcements and much more in our Canvas app - or connect other popular design apps such as Poster My Wall, Canva and Google suite.

Try ScreenCloud for free with a 14 day trial, or book a demo.

How to set up digital signage for your pub or night club using digital screens and simple software, to promote, entertain, increase reviews and share events on screen.

Digital Signage for Pubs, Sports Bars, and Night Clubs

Digital Signage for Pubs, Sports Bars, and Night Clubs

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