Times Square Meme Billboard / TSX Live

About

The Times Square Meme Billboard is a billboard in New York City's Times Square that's owned by the application and website TSX Live (tsx.live), also known as TSX Entertainment, that allows anyone to put a piece of media (video or image) on the billboard, costing $40 USD for 15 seconds via its feature called PixelStar. TSX Live's slogan is "Take Over Times Square." In 2023, many people paid for memes to be livestreamed on the TSX Live billboard, including ChudBob SoyPants, the Nick Eh 30 Intro and a twerking Captain Olimar amid a slew of Pikmin 4 memes in Times Square. Also, a video of Doctor Eggman cursing out Sonic the Hedgehog was livestreamed on the billboard despite the audio not actually playing in Times Square.

History

The website of TSX Entertainment^[1] was created on October 8th, 2020, according to the ICANN^[2] lookup. Two years later, on August 16th, 2022, the website for TSX Live^[3] was launched.^[2] TSX Entertainment officially announced the launch of the TSX Live billboard on December 13th, 2022, on Instagram.^[5] Its launch was also covered by Business Wire^[4] in an article published on December 27th, 2022. Business Wire^[4] claimed that the billboard and its PixelStar feature were going to go live on January 1st, 2023.

Features

TSX Live is an 8K interactive billboard that relays visuals that people pay to have livestreamed.^[6] The price is $40 USD for 15 seconds of screen time.^[6] The website also has a livestream^[7] section that's an outside camera that runs 24 hours, allowing anyone to watch the billboard at any time (GIF shown below from TSX website^[6]). Other than the billboard, TSX Entertainment advertises as an event space for live music, art and restaurants.^[6]

Online Reactions

Starting in January 2023, various users on TikTok started to post videos of themselves on the TSX billboard. For instance, one of the first known was TikToker^[8] @almightyarcher (known for his Sturdy dance videos in Times Square) who posted a video on January 22nd, 2023, that gained roughly 504,400 plays and 31,000 likes in four months (shown below, left). Going into May 2023, memes started to surface on the billboard, evident in a video posted by TikToker^[9] @weeklynewsnetwork who posted a video that showed Dreamybull on the billboard, gaining roughly 1 million plays and 161,800 likes in two months (shown below, right).

In early July 2023, the TSX billboard gained more frequent memetic usage, such as in a video posted by Twitter^[10] user @kyson_lol on July 5th, 2023, that showed a Garfield meme, gaining roughly 17,800 likes two weeks (shown below).

MY FRIEND ABUSED THE ENTIRETY OF NEW YORKVsNermal</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/_yunikone?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">yunikone @yellofry pic.twitter.com/lztuBv1IgC

— kyson (@kyson_lol) July 5, 2023

ChudBob SoyPants Times Square Billboard

On July 7th, 2023, Twitter^[11] user @TheSillySnail quote retweeted @kyson_lol, suggesting that someone should put the ChudBob SoyPants video on the TSX billboard, gaining roughly 13,900 likes in 12 days. Later on July 7th, Twitter^[12] user @_punkape_ tweeted, "I did it," showing footage of the livestream. The tweet gained roughly 26,100 likes in 12 days (shown below).

i did it https://t.co/rw21ykSxX5 pic.twitter.com/f6Ck5i61l9

— punkape (@_punkape_) July 7, 2023

Pikmin 4 Times Square Billboard

On July 10th, 2023, Twitter^[13] user @dreampachi tweeted a recording of the TSX livestream, showing Captain Olimar twerking to humorously promote Pikimin 4 on the billboard captioned, "I just violated the entirety of NYC incase anyone missed it." The tweet gained roughly 13,700 likes in nine days (shown below). It then led to a series of videos posted to Twitter^[14][15][16] and elsewhere that showed Pikimin 4 memes and promotions on the TSX billboard.

I just violated the entirety of NYC
incase anyone missed it#Pikmin pic.twitter.com/oFg3QehsPD

— Pachi (@dreampachi) July 11, 2023

Various Examples

I cant believe that app that let you spend $40 for 15 seconds of Titantron time in Times Square didnt have a fucking PROFANITY FILTER LMAO pic.twitter.com/EyEhJO5okI

— Jacky the Frost 🇹🇹 🇧🇷 🇺🇸 (@king_of_games34) July 17, 2023

Search Interest

Unavailable.

External References