Setting Up Your First Screen

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.

Turn your TV or monitor into a screen that earns from local advertisers with these simple steps.

Before You Start

Make sure you have:

• A TV or monitor with an internet connection
• The Screen Player installed on the device that drives it — a Fire TV, Android TV or Roku stick, a Samsung or LG smart TV, or a computer plugged into the screen (this is the app that displays the ads)
• Your phone, signed in to the RedSquare app — redsquare.app in your browser, or the Android app (this is your remote control for managing everything)

Why two apps? Think of it like a TV and a remote control. The Screen Player runs on your screen and shows the ads. The RedSquare app on your phone lets you manage bookings, set prices, and track earnings.

Step 1: Add your screen — one trip to the TV

1. Open the Screen Player on your display device. It shows a short pairing code.
2. On your phone, tap Add screen on your dashboard (or go to redsquare.app/add-screen) and type that code — or scan the QR the TV shows, which fills it in.
3. Fill in the short form on the same page: venue type, name, address, whether the screen charges, price per 10-second play, hours.
4. Press Finish setup and allow the location prompt once. Registering the screen, connecting the TV and confirming the location all happen in that one step.

Step 2: Check Your Screen's Settings

Every screen's page has a Settings row (/my-screens/:id/settings/pricing):

1. Price — your price per 10-second play, surge hours, the longest an image may stay up, and whether you approve each booking yourself
2. Content rules — the file formats you accept, and the categories you don't want (alcohol, gambling, politics…)
3. Availability — your opening hours, different hours on some days, and closed days
4. House content — what your TV shows between ads

Step 3: Set Competitive Pricing

• Research local rates: Check similar screens in your area
• Start competitive: Lower prices initially to get your first bookings
• Peak hours: Use surge pricing to charge more in your busiest hours
• One price per play: You set the price of one 10-second play — see How pricing works

Step 4: Go Live

1. Connect a payout account — PayPal or Stripe — on the Get paid step (/onboard?step=payouts). A free screen doesn't need one.
2. Your screen is shown to advertisers on /discover once its TV is paired, its location is confirmed and payouts are connected. There's no switch to flip.
3. Share your screen's page with local businesses — it has a QR code (a scannable square barcode) that opens it.
4. Monitor bookings from your screens home (/my-screens). You're paid when each booking is paid, straight into your payout account.

Maximizing Earnings

• Keep the TV on — or say when it won't be: every play your screen misses is refunded to the advertiser and isn't paid to you. You decide when your screen takes bookings: if the TV will be off or showing something else, pause the screen or mark those days closed
• Accurate hours: set the hours you're really open, and add closed days in advance
• Responsive hosting: reply to messages from advertisers quickly — and if you approve bookings yourself, decide within 24 hours, or the booking is cancelled and refunded
• Clear rules: set your content rules up front, rather than declining ads later

Your screen is now ready to start earning money!