Backstory
I ran across an app TSX where, in their own words, you can “Upload a 15 second video to the TSX screen and take over Times Square. Every takeover comes with a digital keepsake so you can replay and share your moment in the spotlight.” Cost is 40 dollars and the screen (at 1568 Broadway) is 18,000 square feet.
I’m in! Of course there are guidelines for the video (nothing suggestive, no URLs or QR codes …). I create a pretty harmless video and submit it. Accepted! So at 9:00 pm on February 9th it was displayed to the thousands of people hanging about Times Square. Victory!
Unfortunately I was a skootch optimistic. The digital keepsake isn’t a recording of your video on the Times Square screen but rather a simulation of what it would look like. The simulation is … disappointing. I waited for what I thought was the inevitable upsell – “for $nn we’ll also send you a recording of the actual 15 seconds!” but it never came. Apparently you’re expected to record it yourself or via some NYC proxy. It has a more than a little if-a-tree-falls-in-the-forest feel to it.
Would I do it again? YES! But only after I arranged for someone to be down at Times Square recording it. So here is probably, most likely, almost definitely the video that appeared, probably, most likely, almost definitely, on Times Square at 9:00 pm on February 9th, 2023.
End Result
