Four National Football League (NFL) teams have partnered with Nashville-based CUE Audio to allow the audience to participate in a light show at the 2019-2020 playoff using their smartphones. The entire Superdome can be lit with dancing lights, as seen in the latest video posted by the startup on its Facebook page. The teams that capitalized on the technology were New Orleans Saints, Kansas City Chiefs, Green Bay Packers, and Houston Texans.
CUE Helped Uplift Saints
New Orleans Saints yielded impressive marketing results for incorporating the CUE Audio software directly into their official Saints app; download rates hit an all-time high since the initial week of app release, according to a news release by CUE Audio. Over 50,000 new downloads were achieved during the weeks toward the game. For the home opener alone, light show engagement accounted for 39% of all app clicks. “The reaction to the light show has been incredible. Our fans, administration, and the media has loved it,” said Kyle Campbell, Director of Game Day Entertainment for the Saints. Ira Akers, Co-Founder at CUE Audio, after witnessing the light show firsthand said, “Seeing tens of thousands of the most dedicated fans in sports participate was out of this world.”
How CUE Audio Works
The show required a synchronization mechanism that connects multiple mobile devices simultaneously. Such interconnection was enabled by the use of ultrasonic sound waves. While crowd-sourced lighting solutions have existed for a number of years, CUE Audio’s product is unique in its use of ultrasonic audio and the smartphone as the lighting source. It does not make use of additional hardware and doesn’t rely on a WiFi or cellular connection.
CUE Audio’s Growing Network of Partners
Operating in over 100 major arenas and stadiums, CUE Audio has gained increased adoption of ultrasonic audio in fan engagement with nearly 50 National Collegiate Athletic Association-partner schools and several National Basketball Association teams deploying the new technology.
