TECHNOLOGY PLATFORM FOR PUBS PULLS IN THE PUNTERS — AS INVESTORS PLEDGE ALMOST HALF A MILLION TO SCREACH

  • Screach platform gives pubs their own TV channel to communicate with, entertain and engage customers — and attract all-important new ones
  • Crowdfunding investors have bought nearly half a million Pounds of shares in the fast-growing technology
  • 2,200 UK pubs have signed up to Screach following its announcement of a 3-year partnership with BT Sport

London, 19 January 2016 – The technology platform Screach – which allows pubs and venues to create their own bespoke TV channels to drive footfall and sales – has raised nearly half a million Pounds from investors on the Crowdcube crowdfunding platform.

Screach’s cloud-based entertainment and communications platform enables venues to engage more with their customers – by using the latest digital, data-led and app-based technologies through their existing TV screens. Using the estimated 150,000 under-utilised pub TVs, Screach has been proven to increase sales of promoted products by a massive 53%.

Screach has already received £3.7m in funding from professional investors, which has allowed it to test and perfect its technology. It is now crowdfunding an extra £550,000 from smaller investors on the Crowdcube platform, giving them a rare chance to support pubs and a piece of technology that improves the pub experience, drives sales – and can ultimately help pubs survive and thrive.

Reflecting its commercial potential, it recently signed a 3-year partnership with BT Sport, which is currently promoting Screach to its nearly 24,000 pub customers. Since Screach went live last July, up to 70 pubs have been registering every day, with 2,200 pubs signing up in the past three months alone. Screach expects a further 5,000 pubs to sign up to its services in 2016.

Among other things, Screach enables pubs to:

  • Let customers play their favourite songs via an interactive jukebox
  • Run quizzes where people participate via their Screach smartphone app
  • Generate incremental advertising revenue from their TV screens
  • Promote food, drinks and events to the right people at the right time
  • Record and measure footfall via real-time Wi-Fi notifications
  • Learn more about their customers through real-time data analysis
  • Train and motivate their staff, e.g. who pulled the most pints today?
  • Save money by spending less on print costs and other marketing
  • Entertain customers with fun and informative external content

Screach makes its money in two main ways: firstly, through monthly subscription packages paid by pubs (ranging from £38 to £118 per month); and secondly, by allowing brands to run their adverts on its TVs, a revenue stream that Screach shares with the pub itself.

In the words of Michael Hill, landlord of The Strawberry, a pub next door to St James’ Park in Newcastle: “Screach, to me as a landlord, is one of the ultimate business tools to promote my business and product.”

Robert Rawlinson, Founder and CEO, Screach, commented:

“Screach helps pubs by empowering them to drive footfall, increase sales and interact much more intelligently with today’s digital-savvy and mobile-connected generation.

“We had a very successful 2015 and chose crowdfunding as a way to engage with pub-goers and give them the opportunity to not only share in our success but help accelerate the deployment of our product into pubs to make them better places to visit.”