UPshow

Scene: A bar crowded with groups of young people being social with friends and family, posting, tweeting, hashtagging, taking selfies alone and in groups. The 8 zillion TV monitors overhead show something that no one is paying attention to.

Action: All of the 8 zillion TV monitors flash an image of a group selfie taken seconds earlier in the restaurant, and suddenly, everyone in the bar is looking at the monitors either pointing to friends in their group who are on the screens or waiting for their photos to show up.

More action: Patrons begin blasting out the TV photos to their social networks around the world using the bar’s own hashtag and other social media IDs. In effect, the patrons are creating an online commercial on behalf of the bar, and promoting the venue where their photo appeared to their followers. Perhaps most importantly, they stick around eating and drinking to catch their latest seconds of fame on TV.

Chicago-based UPshow is what’s on TV. Growing in the last three years from four screens in Chicago to 3,100 locations with 9,000 active screens nationwide, UPshow is beaming from the favorite places where a shareable moment occurs: Chicago-area bars and restaurants, The Ledge in the Willis Tower, the gym.

Backed by an A List of Chicago’s venture investors, UPshow offers businesses and attractions three services for their under-exploited TVs: user-generated content from within the venue; digital signage for ads that pop up, and a robust library of social media TV feeds for variety of topics, such as sports, news, pop culture as well as Pluto.tv’s top video channels.

Businesses pay UPshow a monthly subscription that rises quickly from $50 a month depending on Upshow’s menu of services, including marketing and analytics tools.

Next scene: Doctor waiting rooms, hospitals and any venue where customers hang.