Toshiba Corp. is the official sponsor of the Times Square New Year’s Eve Celebration, the biggest countdown event in the world, with over a million people gathering in Times Square joined by a television audience around the globe of more than a billion. The iconic countdown to midnight was played out on TOSHIBA VISION Times Square, the LED screen atop One Times Square in the center of New York, triumphantly welcoming 2016 at the world’s biggest New Year party.Along with the 60-second countdown, TOSHIBA VISION also screened live music performances from famous musicians. As well as the Toshiba Hourly Countdown sponsor’s content every hour, popular science educator Bill Nye (of the Disney/PBS children’s TV show “Bill Nye the Science Guy”) took to the official stage in Times Square to introduce Toshiba/NSTA ExploraVision the science and technology competition sponsored by Toshiba for students in North America.
There was also a “Japan Countdown” event at the main stage especially for Japanese people living in New York, starting at midnight on January 1, 2016, Japan time (10 a.m. EST on December 31, 2015). The Japan Countdown event featured a countdown animation of calligraphy by Masumi Narita on the TOSHIBA VISION screen.
Moreover, the New Year’s Eve celebration videos on Twitter were seen on TOSHIBA VISION from 7:00 a.m. through 11:00 p.m. During each hour, Twitter also provided tweets from world leaders, celebrities and user-generated content on TOSHIBA VISION.
Prominently positioned below the world-famous New Year countdown ball in New York City’s Times Square business and entertainment district, Toshiba’s massive dual LED signboards, known collectively as “TOSHIBA VISION,” serve a variety of promotional and public-service functions. In addition to illuminating the annual New Year countdown for upwards of 1 billion celebrants worldwide, the Interlocking System connects both boards in brilliant seasonal displays and animated sporting events. TOSHIBA VISION ensures superb domestic and international media exposure, providing the Toshiba brand with unrivalled quantitative and qualitative promotional benefits.
