For those of youy who don't know what this business is, NTN Buzztime is a trivia service that you see on TVs in bars, much like the Who Wants to be a Millionaire TV show or the movie "Slumdog Millionaire." Kind of an easier Jeopardy where at least you get possible answers.
As we get ready to drive up to Donovan's Reef in Twin Lakes, Wisconsin, to play our weekly round of NTN and get on the top twenty board as we do most Thursdays.
I came across NTN Buzztime's first quarter profit statement. In short, they lost $300,000, down to $6 million. A big part of this loss was the drop in sites offering their services, now 3,888 from 4.041 the same period last year.
CEO Michael Bush says they are working on stronger venue relationships.
HOW NTN COULD DO BETTER (But they'd never listen to me)
It sure would be nice if they did this. Granted, in the bar and restaurant business, there is going to be lots of turnover as businesses close and open. But what the company shouldn't be losing are the places that have their service and then drop it because so few people are playing.
This is in large part due to NTN's selling their service and then leaving the places to get people playing. Most places don't have any idea how to do this. NTN representatives should work with bar owners and show them the ropes and tricks to get customers playing. This instead of, "Here it is. See ya later."
A big thing they can do is train the bartenders. These folks are the key. On more than one occasion, we've gone into places that we saw had NTN, asked the bartender for a board and that person had no idea what we were talking about.
This isn't going to get people playing.
I've Got More to Say at a Later Date. --RoadDog
YOGI BERRA SAYS: I always thought the record would stand until it was broken.
No wonder that duck gets so upset.
Being an account of some things I'm interested in, what I'm doing, and reflections on my past, especially music.
Listen to this man. Seven years of college, you know. Trying to reason with 2020 and, now, 2022.
2 comments:
I'll have a post on this later today, but the sad thing about this is that NTN Buzztime has already developed a lot of online training material. There is an entire BuzztimeGames YouTube account http://www.youtube.com/user/BuzztimeGames dedicated to helping businesses run the system, and explaining the benefits of the system. That account only has 5 subscribers. With all of the sites that NTN Buzztime has, it should have thousands.
I agree that the online training material is a good thing, even if it isn't used like it should be.
However, it should be up to the person who sells the business the NTN to make sure they get it operating and know how to use it.
A little one-on-one goes a long way, even in this digital world.
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