Vegas Sphere Dome Promotes YouTube NFL Sunday Ticket on ‘Exosphere’

Dome
(Image credit: Sphere Entertainment)

LAS VEGAS—Sphere Entertainment Co. has announced that YouTube will premiere the first-ever brand campaign specifically designed for the Exosphere—the fully programmable LED exterior of Sphere in Las Vegas—in support of NFL Sunday Ticket, the premium NFL subscription product that allows fans to watch every out-of-market Sunday afternoon game.

YouTube is the new home of NFL Sunday Ticket, which gives fans access to all live out-of-market Sunday afternoon games throughout the regular NFL season and is available to purchase on YouTube and YouTube TV. To celebrate, YouTube created an animation that transforms the exterior of Sphere into helmets of all 32 NFL teams. 

YouTube’s multi-week campaign started at 9:00 AM PT on  Sept. 1 and runs through the beginning of the NFL season. To help unveil the activation, YouTube Creators including RDCWorld1, Kurt Tocci, Ayokunle Adewuya, Kelly Wakasa, and Jiedel will be on site at the Sphere in Las Vegas to capture content and document the experience.    

“It’s only fitting that YouTube, one of the most respected and important media platforms in the world, is launching the first-ever brand campaign on the Exosphere to support NFL Sunday Ticket,” said Guy Barnett, Senior Vice President, Brand Strategy & Creative Development, Sphere Entertainment. “I can’t wait to see how NFL fans react once they see their team on the biggest LED screen in the world.”

“Using the Exosphere’s larger-than-life canvas for a brand campaign that combines two of the most widely recognized brands—YouTube and the NFL—resulted in an immersive experience that engages audiences ahead of the start of the season and the launch of NFL Sunday Ticket,” said David Hopkinson, President and Chief Operating Officer of MSG Sports, who oversees global marketing and brand partnerships across Sphere Entertainment and the MSG family of companies. “This activation spotlights the immense opportunity for brands on the Exosphere, which has quickly become an iconic global landmark since it illuminated earlier this summer.”

Sphere Entertainment says its new dome hosts the largest LED screen in the world, consisting of approximately 1.2 million LED pucks, spaced eight inches apart. Each puck contains 48 individual LED diodes, with each diode capable of displaying 256 million different colors.

Scheduled to open to the public Sept. 29, the Exosphere lit up its new screen in July and currently displays a wide range of artistic and branded content daily, spanning everything from a morning ritual to impactful artist and brand campaigns, and culminating with an evening lunar display. 

Tom Butts

Tom has covered the broadcast technology market for the past 25 years, including three years handling member communications for the National Association of Broadcasters followed by a year as editor of Video Technology News and DTV Business executive newsletters for Phillips Publishing. In 1999 he launched digitalbroadcasting.com for internet B2B portal Verticalnet. He is also a charter member of the CTA's Academy of Digital TV Pioneers. Since 2001, he has been editor-in-chief of TV Tech (www.tvtech.com), the leading source of news and information on broadcast and related media technology and is a frequent contributor and moderator to the brand’s Tech Leadership events.