Episode 2 of the STADIUM TECH REPORT PODCAST is live, in which hosts Phil Harvey and Paul Kapustka bite into the topic of in-seat food ordering and delivery, wondering if it’s the next big thing in stadium services, or something that needs to get better before it gets bigger. Take a listen and offer your takes in the comments section below!
Twitter, Live Nation and Aruba are investors in $9 million Series A round for Levi’s Stadium app developer VenueNext
June 24, 2015 by Leave a Comment
Screen shot from VenueNext’s Levi’s Stadium app
While there’s also an interesting story to be mined about lead investor Causeway Media Partners, whose managing partner Mark Wan is one of the San Francisco 49ers’ “one percent” minority owners, the other listed investors offer an interesting take on VenueNext’s potential future beyond its current single client, Levi’s Stadium.
In a press release announcing the funding, VenueNext CEO John Paul said the funds would be used mainly to expand the VenueNext team to support deployments of venue apps for 30 different new clients before the end of the calendar year. Though VenueNext has yet to name a client other than Levi’s Stadium, its upcoming list is expected to include not just sports stadiums but entertainment venues as well, a facet which partially explains the potential investment interest for Live Nation.
Aruba Networks, now owned by HP, is the gear used in the Wi-Fi and beacon networks at Levi’s, which are integrated tightly with the app, so perhaps the Aruba investment is a small way to gain influence at venues still considering Wi-Fi infrastructure purchases. And while we caution that all this is guesswork at this point, Twitter Ventures’ interest in VenueNext is most likely related to the app’s ability to integrate live video, which at some point could conceivably come from the phones of Twitter users via Vine or Periscope. Like we said, interesting partners to have!
Midseason version of Levi’s Stadium app, with clearer icons on main screen
Much different approach
While VenueNext is still a newcomer in the stadium-application marketplace — trailing far behind established players like YinzCam and MLBAM in numbers of deployed apps — its approach to embracing a small number of fan-focused and revenue-generating features like concessions, ticketing, replays and loyalty programs is much different than most stadium apps, which have historically tried to cram as many features in as possible. VenueNext’s top calling card right now may be the in-seat food and merchandise delivery feature it implemented at Levi’s Stadium last year, impressive mainly because of its advertised ability to reach every seat in the 68,500-seat stadium (which worked pretty well for football games but not so much when hockey crowds showed up).
But what may prove more interesting and useful to other potential clients are VenueNext’s integrated ticketing and marketing-analysis features, which not only make it easier for fans to purchase and redirect tickets, but also allows teams to build databases with rich information about fan purchasing preferences.
On both fronts, VenueNext was successful at Levi’s Stadium last season, with the app accounting for more than $800,000 in food and beverage purchases (according to VenueNext) while also registering more than 200,000 unique users, who are all now a part of the Niners’ marketing database. And while the instant replay feature didn’t get as much fan traction as was originally thought, its backbone systems were impressive in action, and were witnessed last season by a weekly parade of IT guests from interested teams.
Originally conceived and funded by Aurum Partners LLC, an investment entity controlled by the Niners’ owners, VenueNext is part of a sports/technology group of investments by Causeway (including SeatGeek), a boutique-ish firm whose partners have a long history in investment and finance, including being owners of the Boston Celtics. Wan will also join VenueNext’s board as part of the investment round, according to VenueNext.
UPDATE: Wan wrote a post on Medium about the investment.
(VenueNext image parade follows. Credit all Levi’s Stadium photos and app screenshots: Paul Kapustka, MSR. Credit John Paul photo: VenueNext. Enjoy!)
First replay tablet app, which adds info about the play
Second replay tablet app, which adds a thumbnail to the replay
Photo of directions function in Levi’s Stadium app.
Probably the first time many fans heard the term “NiNerds” (Nov. 23, 2014)
NiNerd sporting the new neon vest.
John Paul, CEO and founder, VenueNext
Season opener issues: Picture of app late in the first half.
Niners: Mobile app produced $800K in food orders at Levi’s Stadium
June 10, 2015 by Leave a Comment
Screen shot from Levi’s Stadium app showing active in-seat delivery option.
Having a mobile app that allowed for in-seat food and beverage delivery helped produce $802,791 in revenue at Levi’s Stadium last season, according to San Francisco 49ers execs Wednesday.
In a panel presentation at the Veritix Sports Facilities & Franchises/Ticketing Symposium presented by SportsBusiness Journal/Daily in Santa Clara, Niners chief operating officer Al Guido and VenueNext CEO John Paul presented some statistics about Levi’s inaugural season, including the $800 grand number for both in-seat orders and express window pickup orders, which are both facilitiated by the VenueNext-produced Levi’s Stadium app.
According to Guido, the split between the two options was a surprise, with in-seat accounting for 54 percent of the total, against 46 percent for express window pickup. However, he isn’t mad about the outcome, since he said stats showed that fans increased their average spend for delivery orders by two to three dollars per seat by the end of the season.
Though Guido and Paul didn’t mention any concrete new options planned for the upcoming football season, Guido wondered out loud about ideas like dynamic pricing of concessions, such as having half-price hot dogs advertised through the app.
As the data from the inaugural season reveals, in-seat ordering has proven to be a popular choice among fans, leading to increased spending and a more convenient experience. Looking ahead, enhancing the app’s functionality could further boost fan engagement and revenue. One key aspect of this is the push notifications role, which can significantly influence purchasing decisions by delivering timely and relevant offers directly to users’ devices. This approach not only personalizes the service but also encourages higher spending by keeping fans informed about available deals and promotions.
Overall, Paul and Guido said that the Niners had 203,925 unique users of the Levi’s Stadium app last season, including 65 percent of the team’s season ticket holders, who now manage their seats through the app.
Guido also said that if there was one area where the Niners could have done better it was to improve the experience outside the stadium, namely the parking and public transportation services, which experienced numerous problems during the Levi’s Stadium opening season.
“We probably didn’t focus on it enough,” Guido said.
Niners add in-seat merchandise delivery, transit info to Levi’s Stadium app
December 17, 2014 by Leave a Comment
Screen shot of new merchandise ordering feature in Levi’s Stadium app. Credit: VenueNext
While the new features were hinted at during a recent technology summit at the stadium, application developer VenueNext made the upgrades official today. Here are the official new features the app will have by Saturday:
— Now Levi’s Stadium app users can order jerseys, novelties and other 49ers apparel to their seat, anywhere in the stadium, paying with credit card or Apple Pay.
— Faithful49 loyalists can redeem yards to purchase food, beverage and merchandise right in the app.
— Users can also get up-to-the-minute transit information for their ride home with TransitScreen (which includes every possible mode of public transport in real time, viewable on one screen)
Photo of directions function in Levi’s Stadium app. Credit: MSR
We’re interested in hearing from any fans who are at the next games at Levi’s about whether or not the transit feature is helpful; while we think it could be a big timesaver (so far at all our visits we regularly see people getting off the light rail train wondering where to go next) we wonder if enough people are aware of all the functionality in the app. Even Niners CEO Jed York has been somewhat surprised at the light takeup of things like the app’s ability to show multiple camera-angle replays.
Levi’s Stadium Wi-Fi update: Usage down from record, but still strong — 2.4 TB for Eagles game
October 30, 2014 by Leave a Comment
Fans take pictures of opening-day kickoff from southwest concourse. Credit, all photos: Paul Kapustka, MSR
According to statistics provided by Niners vice president for technology Dan Williams, the Levi’s Wi-Fi network carried 2.4 TB of data during the Sept. 28 game against the Philadelphia Eagles, and another 2 TB during the Oct. 5 contest with the Kansas City Chiefs, both sellouts with reported attendance of 70,799 fans. And at an Oct. 24 college game between Cal and Oregon with 55,575 fans in attendance, the network carried 1.5 TB of traffic.
As you might be able to guess from the bandwidth numbers, the Sept. 28 game also had more users on the network, with 22,942 unique users, compared to 21,133 at the Oct. 5 game. For Cal-Oregon the unique user count was 13,508. At the Niners’ regular-season home opener on Sept. 14, there were more than 30,000 fans using the Wi-Fi network, with a peak of 19,000 simultaneous connections. The peak numbers for the later dates were 15,500 for the Sept. 28 game, 14,500 for the Oct. 5 game, and 8,400 for the college game.
In-seat and express food orders stay strong
Screen grab from Levi’s Stadium app showing in-seat food delivery option.
The video-replay feature of the Levi’s app also continues to attract solid interest, with 1,297 unique users watching 5,089 replays at the Eagles game and 1,111 unique users watching 4,986 replays at the Kansas City game. At the college game 234 fans used the replay feature, watching 1,059 replays.
One more interesting stat provided by Williams — the Apple iPhone is the overwhelming favorite device for connecting to the Levi’s Stadium Wi-Fi, with 62 percent share for the Sept. 28 game, and 60 percent share for both the Oct. 5 and Oct. 24 games. Android devices represented 24 percent (Sept. 28), 26 percent (Oct. 5) and 25 percent of all devices, while Apple iPads accounted for 2 percent, 3 percent and 1 percent of devices for the respective Sept. 28, Oct. 5 and Oct. 24 games.
DAS usage also remains strong, but not tops in NFL
On the DAS side of the Levi’s Stadium network we have some stats from AT&T to share (but none from any other carriers). According to AT&T, for the Oct. 5 game AT&T customers used 549 GB of data, which was only the fourth-highest AT&T DAS total for that weekend. Dallas (827 GB), San Diego (716 GB) and New Orleans (598 GB) all had higher AT&T DAS traffic totals for that weekend’s games. (Remember, these are results for stadiums with AT&T DAS networks only, not for all stadiums.) For the Sept. 14 game, the Levi’s Stadium AT&T DAS recorded 673 GB of traffic, according to AT&T.
