Large format visuals in live events did not appear overnight. Their roots can be traced back to the early 1990s, most notably with U2’s pioneering Zoo TV tour in 1991, which used large-scale projections to create a “multidisciplinary masterpiece.”
As LED technology developed throughout the 1990s and early 2000s, displays began to see more widespread deployment in sport stadiums and concert venues. Additionally, as LED manufacturing improved and costs dropped, large-format screens became more accessible and what was once reserved for major touring artists and global sporting venues became widely used across retail environments, corporate events, sports and experiential installations.
This shift has expanded what live venues can achieve visually today, with screens becoming integral architectural elements rather than simple backdrop surfaces.
Therefore, a venue is not defined solely by what happens on stage or on the pitch, whether it’s a speaker, a performer or a sporting moment. Stadiums, arenas and major event spaces depend on multi-screen displays and wrap-around LED walls to shape atmosphere and engagement. These tools have revolutionised the ways brands and performers convey their message, express their personality and create impact.
As contemporary audiences also become more influenced by constant exposure to high-quality digital content, their expectations for entertainment have increased. Social media feeds, streaming platforms and everyday digital interactions have normalised striking animation, rich motion graphics and cinematic special effects. These experiences have set a new standard for engaging visual storytelling, one that increasingly influences expectations across other entertainment formats, including live events.
As a result, audiences expect expansive display screens that deliver motion and impact on a monumental scale to match the energy of the event itself. This is where animation makes a difference. It gives these screens life, creating visual moments that engage, resonate and leave lasting impressions.
In this blog, we’ll explore why animation is important for modern stadiums and live venues, the key screen types used in these environments, where animation delivers the greatest impact and how Content Creatures can support your next live-event project.
Why animation is essential for modern stadiums and live venues?
Animated screens have become fundamental to the way modern stadiums and live venues create impact. They are used to expand the spatial possibilities of the stage, with their visuals serving to actively contribute to the storytelling of the experience. By employing movement, colour, sound and timing in a highly organised presentation, animated media has the capacity to evoke strong emotions that deepen the audience’s connection to the story being told.
Furthermore, the dynamic nature of animation influences viewer’s visual attention, breaking through the clutter of static imagery that inundates individuals, drawing attention by piquing curiosity. Because of this, animation is highly effective in enhancingengagement and recall. Research shows that viewers retain up to 95% of a message when delivered through animated visuals, compared to just 10% with text alone. This is due to the interplay of visual cues, creative techniques and storytelling, which embeds the message deep in the minds of audiences.
Animation also builds on the picture-superiority effect, the finding that images are remembered better than words, but in fact goes further by incorporating movement and sequencing that hold attention for even longer. As a result, animation has become a vital tool for ensuring key moments within events remain memorable long after they’re over.
Modern venues also rarely rely on a single screen. Instead, multiple animated displays, involving co-ordinated motion, colour and timing operate as a cohesive visual ecosystem. This cohesion helps ensure information is communicated clearly and swiftly, whether it’scrowd guidance, safety alerts, scoring updates or live data visuals. Since the human brain processes visuals significantly faster than static text, such animation helps audiences remain informed quickly at all times during the occasion.
Animation also serves as a powerful branding tool for performers, teams and sponsors. Screens connect logos, characters and scenarios to them, strengthening recognition and memorability. Research into animated brand logos discovered that when logos are animated in a way that makes them feel alive (agent animation), viewers pay more attention and feel more positively toward these brands compared to logos with simple mechanical movements (object animation). Viewers also find these ‘agent’ animations more engaging and memorable than object animations, processing them more deeply. Therefore, energetic animated logos and other brand-specific elements, when consistently applied across a venue’s screen ecosystem, can help audiences form stronger associations with a brand.
Overall, animation is essential for modern stadiums and live events because it drives clarity, atmosphere, and memorability at a scale static visuals can’t achieve. It transforms every screen into a purposeful part of the experience and ensures audiences stay engaged, informed and emotionally connected throughout an event.
What are the types of big screens used in stadiums & live environments?
Modern venues use a variety of large-scale display systems, each designed to shape atmosphere, guide attention, elevate a sense of spectacle and increase revenue streams. Together these screens form the canvas for animation to add depth, energy and drive emotion.
LED jumbotrons
These large, high-definition video displays are used in a variety of settings, including sports stadiums, concert venues and corporate events, and act as a focal point for audiences to view from a great distance. They’re ideal for high-impact sequences, such as hype videos, player introductions, instant replays and dramatic event openers. Their sheer scale makes them perfect for animation that needs to energise the crowd in a single, unified moment.
Artists, performers or event sponsors often incorporate these screens into their set designs, either through content that reacts to the music, or helps elevate creative story telling.
Mid-tier ribbon screens
These displays encircle the perimeter of stadium and arena stands, ensuring spectators can see the content on these screens clearly from any point in the venue. Ribbon-style animated sequences help energise the crowd, highlight key moments, present live statistics and scores and acknowledge sponsors with clarity and impact. They are an attractive option for venues that require dynamic, continuous and high-visibility displays that reach the entire audience.
Pitch perimeter & concourse fascia screens
These LED screens are positioned along pitch edges, around seating tiers in stadiums or public gathering spaces and are typically used for animated sponsor messaging, real-time statistics and branded elements, such as logo sequences. Animation ensures this content cuts through the visual noise of a busy venue, delivering clearer communication and stronger impact.
Rental stage LED screens
For music events, ceremonies and large-scale performances, and theatre, LED screens provide a highly visible, central backdrop to the stage so viewers can see the visuals clearly from across the venue. They enhance the overall immersive experience by setting the mood, supporting artist and creative storytelling and amplifying the energy of the live performance.
Projection mapping surfaces
Using advanced software and hardware, this technique projects three-dimensional images and videos onto exterior stage structures, such as stage sets, props and architectural surfaces. By warping animated visuals to fit on irregular shaped surfaces, it creates dramatic illusions that transform interior spaces and physical objects into visually striking works of art. This creative technique is one of the few use cases that LED screens can’t match, allowing pixels to be painted onto almost any surface.
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In what event settings does animation make the biggest impact?
Animation plays a defining role across a wide range of live environments, shaping how audiences experience key moments throughout an event. Different settings use animation to elevate specific moments and enhance engagement.
Sports events
From player introductions on giant LED jumbotrons to animated score updates across ribbon boards and perimeter screens, animation drives momentum inside live sports stadiums. This can be seen across major sporting leagues and tournaments, from NFL and NBA games in the US to Premier League and Champions League fixtures, where high-energy sequences elevate team entrances, build hype before kick-off and celebrate goals or victories with crowd-lifting visual effects. These animated moments help turn a match into a full-scale entertainment experience.
Concerts and Music Events
Concerts and music events rely heavily on large LED rental stage screens floor-to-ceiling screens and extended side panels to create a visually coherent world around the artist. Animation transforms these surfaces into narrative tools, extending album themes, visualising lyrics or synchronising colour and movement with the music. It helps give every viewer a clear, connected and engaging visual experience. This approach is evident in large-scale tours, such as Beyoncé’s Renaissance World Tour and Coldplay’s Music of the Spheres Tour, where animated visuals formed a core part of these live experiences.
Festivals
Festivals, such as Coachella and Glastonbury use expansive projection-mapping surfaces, stage LED screens nd wide screen panoramas to establish the visual identity of the event or the performer on stage. Animation introduces narrative motifs, creates transitions between performances and transforms architectural structures into storytelling canvases. This creates a heightened sense of spectacle and a coherent visual journey for the audience.
Retail and consumer spaces
Retail and consumer environments are increasingly designed as immersive, event-like environments, with animation being used to transform everyday locations into moments of spectacle and engagement. Large-scale LED screen installations, walls, and panoramic screens allow animation to shape atmosphere, guide movement and create memorable shared experiences.
High-profile locations, such as Outernet London, demonstrate how wraparound LED environments are used for branded and cultural storytelling rather than traditional advertising. This approach is also well established in regions such as the Middle East and Asia. Dubai Mall and Mall of Emirates regularly use animated indoor screens for large-scale seasonal and brand-led campaigns, and districts like Shibuya and Ginza in Tokyo use large-scale animated and 3D billboards to attract global attention and drive social media engagement.
Brand Activations & Fan Zones
These often feature interactive LED totems, LED walls, standing video pillars and immersive tunnel screens. Animation transforms these surfaces into engaging touchpoints that attract attention, encourage exploration and create memorable moments for audiences through branded experiential activities and photo opportunities.
This approach can be seen in Coca-Cola fan zones at major sporting events, such as the UEFA Euro 2024 Fanzone in Dubai, where live match screenings, entertainment programming and large-scale screens are used to bring fans together in branded environments.
Why Partner with a Specialist Animation Studio?
Creating animation for stadiums, arenas and large-scale environments demands far more than strong creative instincts. These environments are visually demanding, and effective content must be built with an understanding of scale, audience perspective, screen placement and the technical requirements of large-format displays. A specialist animation team understands how these elements work together and how to craft visuals that feel cohesive, purposeful and impactful across every surface. This expertise ensures the story you want to tell is communicated clearly, consistently and at the scale the venue demands.
At Content Creatures, our approach is built on strategic thinking and storytelling through our BetterStory Method. This framework allows us to translate brand messages into animated narratives that resonate in vast environments. It guides every stage of our process, from clarifying your message, defining its emotional takeaway and ensuring each animated frame will strengthen the wider story of your event.
Partnering with a specialist studio also means working with a team who understands the realities of live production: event timelines, rehearsal processes, cueing systems and the technical demands of multi-screen delivery. Stadiums and arenas often rely on multiple screens running in different sizes and resolutions, all of which must remain perfectly aligned. This precision is essential to maintaining clarity and a cohesive audience experience.
At Content Creatures, we ensure animation is built to perform in these conditions; they are crafted to remain consistent, clear and impactful across every screen in the venue.
Explore our case study on how we delivered a single, cinematic visual moment for Nexo’s event across a three-panel LED installation.
You can also read our case study on how we created on-brand screen content for Huda Beauty’s immersive dining experience.
Why Work with Content Creatures?
Animation has the power to transform stadiums, arenas and live events into experiences that audiences remember long after the final moment. If you’re planning your next event, the right visual approach can elevate the atmosphere, support your storytelling and unify every screen in the venue.
At Content Creatures, we specialise in creating cinematic, large-scale animation tailored for high-impact environments. From early concept development to final delivery, we work closely with clients to craft visuals that bring your event to life. We are the content partner to digiLED experts in LED screens who have been designing, sourcing and installing world-leading screens for thirty years. As well as drawing on one another’s unique creative and technical experience, access to The Pixel Depot in Surrey means Content Creatures can carry out R&D testing on high-quality large-format screens throughout the production process.
If you’re ready to enhance your next live event with powerful, motion-led animation:
- Book a meeting with our team to discuss 2D animation, 3D animation or logo animation.
- Learn more about our video content for events here.
There are various types of digital screens commonly used for events and installations, including LCD and LED displays, multi-panel video walls and interactive screens with touchscreen capabilities. Each offers different strengths, for example, high-brightness LED screens perform well in bright daylight, while interactive screens encourage engagement through user interaction. If you’re unsure which screen is best suited to your event, we can help guide you.
Event screens are used to display brand messaging, video content, live feeds, schedules, directions and immersive visuals. They help guide attention, reinforce key messages and enhance the overall event experience.
Choosing the right screen depends on location, viewing distance and content complexity. Larger, high-resolution screens work well for immersive visuals or videos viewed from afar, while smaller screens or touchscreens suit interactive or close-up experiences. If you’re unsure which option is right, we’re here to help point you in the right direction.
Yes. The resolution and shape of a screen affect how content displays, for example, ultra-high definition (4k) screens benefit from detailed footage, while portrait-oriented screens require vertical assets.
Not necessarily. In many installations each screen is treated as a standalone experience because screens aren’t always synced and audiences view them in different ways, at different times, from different distances and for varying lengths. Tailoring content by screen enhances relevance and prevents mixed messaging.
Effective screen content needs to be clear, concise and visually engaging. Short taglines, dynamic motion and high-quality visuals help capture attention quickly. It is good to balance static and dynamic elements, so messages are easy to digest.
Interactive experiences generally require special hardware, such as touchscreens or sensors. Not all screens come with these features built-in, so content strategy should align with the screen’s technical capabilities.
Static content does not move e.g., a simple image or words on a screen, while dynamic content includes motion, video or interactive elements. Dynamic content tends to attract more attention and keeps audiences engaged for longer.
