The Best & Worst Things to Show on Laundromat TVs
Studies show that 85% of people in the United States do their laundry at home, but that still leaves 15% of people, a considerable chunk of the population, that largely depend upon local laundromats to do this essential household chore.
Moreover, doing the laundry at a laundromat is very different from other chores outside the home, such as going shopping, where customers are actively participating in getting the food that they need. Doing your laundry at the laundromat involves a lot of sitting around and waiting for the washing and drying machines to do their thing.
As laundromat owners, it is important to differentiate your establishment from the other laundry businesses so that customers choose your laundromat over the competition.
A lot of this differentiation has very little to do with the actual machines that a laundromat has and a lot more to do with how the laundromat owners create an environment in which people do not mind spending a considerable amount of time waiting around.
So, one of the best tools that a laundromat has at its disposal is a TV or multiple TVs around the business that can keep the customers entertained while they wait for their clothes to be cleaned and dry.
Of course, there is some television content that is better suited to laundromats than others, and that is what this article is all about. Below, we go over the best and the worst things to show on your laundromat TVs so you can keep your customers entertained and make sure that they continue to choose your business time and time again.
The Best Things to Show on Laundromat TVs
1. Music Videos
Some of the best content that you can show on your laundromat TVs is music videos. Music videos are highly entertaining and do not require too much attention on the part of the viewer.
Moreover, music videos appeal to a broad audience. Now, it is definitely up to the owner when it comes to the decision of whether to play music videos with accompanying music or to just display the visuals.
It might seem counterintuitive that you might show music videos without music, but music videos are generally very visually pleasing, so they can be very entertaining even without sound.
Some people might not want to listen to the music that you choose to play, so displaying music videos without the music could be a way to please some customers while making sure that you are not bothering other customers. Of course, you definitely have the option of playing music videos with the music, and this is very likely to go over well with your customers.
The Loop TV media player has a bunch of pre-downloaded playlists that are tailor-made to appeal to broad audiences, so this could be an incredible way to entertain your customers without putting together your own playlists or letting Youtube play with the risk that some videos might play that may be viewed as inappropriate by some of your customers.
Another benefit of choosing to play music videos with a Loop TV media player is that you avoid the risk of violating copyright protections. Many people do not know this, but prominent organizations, such as ASCAP, work hard to make sure that music by their member artists do not get played in commercial settings without due compensation.
Luckily, Loop TV has already taken care to get the rights to the music videos in their playlists, so you do not have to worry when it comes to entertaining your customers.
2. Kids Programming
Often, parents need to bring their children to the laundromat, and the parents’ lives will be made a lot easier if their kids are entertained. Parents usually have the capacity to entertain themselves or at least feel more comfortable with longer periods of inactivity.
Anyone with children knows that this is often not the case with their kids. So, making sure that the children in the laundromat are entertained means that the parents’ lives will be made a lot easier. There are many options when it comes to kid's programming. At the same time, there are certainly some types of kid’s programming that you will want to avoid.
A great option for kid’s programming is educational content. There are many television shows that are specifically geared towards providing entertainment to kids which is also edifying. A great place to find this kind of programming is PBS Kids, which offers many different educational programs that most parents will be happy for their children to watch.
While we are still in the “best things to show” second, it seems appropriate to note some types of kid’s programming that is best to avoid for your laundromat TVs. These would include most non-educational cartoons.
This is not a judgment one way or the other on cartoons like Spongebob and the like, but the fact is that many parents do not want their kids to watch these kinds of television shows. When it comes to kid’s programming it is best to play it safe to make sure that everyone is happy.
3. Nature Documentaries
Nature documentaries are a great choice for laundromats because they can be entertaining to both children and adults. Nature offers endless sources of fascination, and luckily there are many filmmakers that have made a career out of bringing the wonders of nature to our screens. Nature documentaries can be exciting, inspiring, edifying, and just plain fun to watch.
Moreover, nature documentaries are not like feature films where you have to watch the documentary from the beginning to find it entertaining. Since people will be coming in and out of the laundromat at different times, this aspect is very important.
You can start watching a nature documentary at any point in the documentary and you can be sure that you are well-poised to find entertainment from what is being shown. Nature documentaries are another example of media that can be shown without sound.
As previously discussed, you may decide that you do not want to have the sound from your TV playing so as to not disturb the customers that are not interested. Luckily, with nature documentaries, the images on the screen speak for themselves.
Again, this is an example of the best of both worlds: entertaining people who want to be entertained while not bothering the other customers who are not interested in what is being shown on the screens.
4. Advertisements
Okay, hear us out. We are not saying that you should simply play advertisements on a running Loop TV. But the fact is that your business can actually be making an alternative source of revenue from displaying advertisements on the screens in your establishment.
When you use the Loop TV media player, it already has pre-downloaded advertisements that play in between the other great content that you are showing on your screens, and the best part is that you can get paid for showing these advertisements.
If you were going to show cable on your TVs, your customers would be seeing advertisements anyways, but this is your establishment, and you should be getting compensated for the advertisements that people see when they are in your business.
So, although this recommendation is not the most “entertaining,” it is a recommendation that can really help your business's bottom line without negatively affecting the customer experience.
5. Extreme Sports
Another great source of content that occupies the same role as music videos are extreme sports. These could include anything from motorbike racing to skiing long jumps. The reason that extreme sports are such a great option for entertainment in a laundromat, in contrast to traditional sports like football or soccer, is that they are generally more entertaining for people who otherwise have no investment in a sports team.
When people watch soccer, they often find much of their joy in the experience of rooting for a team they support or follow. But with a laundromat, there is no counting the number of team allegiances, not to say the amount of people who simply are not interested in traditional sports, so it's best to avoid traditional sports.
Extreme sports can be highly entertaining to people who would not even identify themselves as people who like sports. Because it is so entertaining, it is a great option for content displayed on screens that will be viewed by so many different people.
6. Sitcoms
There are a lot of TV shows that are best avoided for laundromat TVs (as we will discuss below), but in general, sitcoms are a pretty safe bet when it comes to light entertainment.
Shows like Seinfeld appeal to a broad range of customers, and if the programming doesn’t keep people completely engrossed in what they are watching, it may still offer pleasant background watching and even garner a few laughs.
When it comes to sitcoms, you will definitely want to gravitate toward programs that are family-friendly. You defeat the purpose of showing anything on your TV at all if it is going to offend your customers. Nevertheless, lighthearted sitcoms can be a great choice for laundromat TVs.
7. Tips
You are not required to show only entertaining content on your laundromat TVs. You can also use these screens to inform your customers with information that is relevant to the task at hand.
You can integrate into your playlist instructions on how to use the machines, as well as useful tips about the heat and washing settings on the machines. Many people do not know what the best settings to wash their clothes are, so this kind of information will likely be much appreciated.
The Worst Things to Show on Laundromat TVs
1. Political Content
One of the absolute worst things to show on laundromat TVs is political content. This includes political talk shows, as well as broadcasts from news stations that are considered political.
The reason why this type of content is some of the worst that you can show on your laundromat TVs is that the United States political climate is incredibly polarized, and politics is an extremely touchy subject.
If you are playing a news broadcast that is from a station that some of your customers disagree with, then they are likely to associate the views being expressed on your TVs as views that are held by the laundromat management or owners.
This will alienate many customers, and those customers that feel alienated are likely to take their business elsewhere the next time that they have to do their laundry. There is of course a fine line when it comes to determining what kind of news will be interpreted as political and what kind of news will not.
In general, weather programs are safe, and many local TV stations may be viewed neutrally by the vast majority of customers. Still, if you can help it, it is best to steer away from the news and play some of the content we recommended in the list above.
2. Narrative Movies and TV Shows
In many settings, there is absolutely nothing wrong with showing movies or narrative TV shows. However, in a laundromat, people are coming and going, and coming into a movie that is halfway through is not going to be very entertaining.
Moreover, people have strong tastes when it comes to movies and TV shows, so it can be very difficult to choose what movie, and often the choice will be wrong. Above, we noted that sitcoms can be a good choice for television, and this is because they are made to provide entertainment to a broad audience and they do not require prior investment in characters to get all the jokes. So, other than sitcoms, narrative movies and TV shows are best avoided.
Creating the Best Laundromat Environment
As we noted before, many people depend upon laundromats to do their laundry. Typically, doing the laundry is not many people’s favorite pastime. It can feel like even more of a chore if they are not in the household but are in a laundromat where they do not have access to all the things they usually have to keep entertained and engaged.
That is why it is important to create an environment that people enjoy being in, and one of the best ways to do this is to provide entertainment with laundromat TVs. If you follow our recommendations, you can be sure that your customers will appreciate it.