Frequently Asked Questions

We're growing the network. Right now every booking is free and no payment is taken: advertisers are charged nothing and nothing is paid out. Every screen that joins makes the network more valuable for everyone on it, and meanwhile a screen owner can advertise their own business free on the other screens. Paid ad time opens once the network reaches 50 screens and payments are set up. What this article says about paying and getting paid describes how paid bookings work from then.

Quick answers to help you get started.

Is RedSquare free to use?

It's free to sign up, browse screens and install the Screen Player. Advertisers pay only for the plays they book. Screen owners pay nothing to list a screen: RedSquare's fee is 20% of the screen-time price of each booking, and the owner keeps 80%. Payment processing — PayPal's, or the card's — is added at checkout as its own line and paid by the advertiser. An owner can also make a screen free, and then nobody pays anything.

How do I get paid as a screen owner?

When an advertiser pays for a booking on your screen, the money goes straight to the payout account you connected — your PayPal account or your Stripe account — minus RedSquare's 20%. RedSquare never holds it, and there is no minimum to reach first. A PayPal payment lands in your PayPal balance, and you move it to your bank from PayPal; Stripe sends a card payment on to your bank on its own payout schedule. You connect a payout account on the Get paid step (/onboard?step=payouts), which shows the options open right now, PayPal first. Your earnings page (/my-screens/earnings) shows what you've earned and, under Payouts, each payout account and whether it can pay you; every Monday you get an email with last week's share.

Do I need two apps? Why?

If you're a screen owner, you use two things. The Screen Player goes on your TV, or on the streaming stick or computer plugged into it — it's what actually shows the ads. The RedSquare app is where you manage everything: it's redsquare.app in any web browser, on your phone or computer, and Android phones can also install it from redsquare.app/download. If you're only an advertiser, you just need the RedSquare app. One account covers both sides — a toggle switches between the advertiser and screen-owner dashboards.

What kind of screens can I use?

Any TV or monitor with an internet connection, driven by a device the Screen Player runs on: an Amazon Fire TV stick, an Android TV / Google TV device, a Roku, a Samsung (Tizen) or LG (webOS) smart TV, or a Windows, Mac or Linux computer plugged into the screen. None of them is in an app store yet — redsquare.app/setup-redsquare has the install steps for each. Phones can't be screen players, and there's no Apple TV player yet.

How do I know my ad actually played?

Open the campaign from My campaigns (your dashboard, /dashboard). Its page shows how many of the plays you bought have run and the hours they ran in, from the TV's own reports — a play counts once your whole ad has played. You get a notification when your ad first starts playing, and another when the booking finishes. RedSquare counts plays, not people: it doesn't know how many people saw your ad.

What if something goes wrong?

We're here to help! Press the Help button in the bottom-right corner of any page: it suggests articles for the page you're on and has a form to contact us. Screen and payment problems get a reply within 4 hours in business hours; booking and account questions within 24 hours; anything else within 48 hours. The Support page (/support) has your tickets and a chat with our team.

Can I cancel a booking?

Yes, until your ad first plays — once a play has been counted, or the first hour you booked has begun, it can no longer be cancelled. Cancel from the campaign's page and you get back everything you paid, processing included — to your PayPal account if you paid with PayPal, or to your card if you paid by card. Once it has started, any plays that don't run are refunded automatically when the booking ends. The screen owner can also decline your booking until it first plays, and you're refunded in full then too.

Is my payment information safe?

Yes, and RedSquare never sees your payment details. Where the screen's owner takes PayPal, the main button at checkout is Pay with PayPal: you approve the payment on PayPal's own site, and your PayPal login — and the card or bank account behind it — stay with PayPal. Pay by card opens Stripe's secure checkout page, and your card details go to Stripe — one of the world's most trusted payment processors — not to RedSquare. We never see or store your card number or your PayPal login.