Westin Hotels and Dave & Busters Are Turning to Viral Videos When Sports Aren’t on TV

Restaurants and bars have live sports at night and on weekends to rely on as entertainment for their patrons, but what to show when there’s not a game on during the rest of week? That question became a business idea called Chive TV for Resignation Media founders and brothers John and Leo Resig, who today are announcing Westin Hotels and Dave & Busters as their newest clients.

Like other Resignation Media clients such as Royal Caribbean, Fox and Hound and Champs, Westin and Dave & Busters’ customers will be watching viral videos on screens throughout those retailers’ facilities. The licensed clips, which often contain wild stunts and pratfalls, come from original content from The Chive, a Resignation Media web videos property, as well as YouTube creators.

“All the content is family-friendly and intended to make people laugh,” said Leo Resig. “The entire product is designed to keep butts in barstools longer with no audio required.”

Westin’s Austin, Texas, location is using Chive TV at its bar, around the pool and all of its 300 rooms, and the hotel chain’s parent company, Marriott, plans to test the system in Milwaukee. Dave & Busters is also trialing the program in the Texas capital. As another example, Chive TV is on every one of Royal Caribbean’s 25 ships.

For such endeavors, Resignation Media fronts the cost of the content, the hardware, the ad tech, analytics, etc.

“All we ask in return for providing free streaming devices to venues is that they keep Chive TV on at least one screen at all times,” Leo Resig said. “The content is leaps and bounds better than muted [ESPN] SportsCenter or CNN and makes a great complement to having the big game on other TV.”

As of now, there is no third-party advertising yet via Chive TV, though Resignation Media is looking at bringing over current sponsors from theCHIVE.com. The initiative looks to expand the company’s digital revenues to the out-of-home realm.

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