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Organization of Company
 12 Months Ended
Dec. 31, 2016
Organization, Consolidation and Presentation of Financial Statements [Abstract]  
Organization of Company

1. Organization of Company

 

Description of Business

 

NTN Buzztime, Inc. (the “Company”) was incorporated in Delaware in 1984 as Alroy Industries and changed its corporate name to NTN Communications, Inc. in 1985. The Company changed its name to NTN Buzztime, Inc. in 2005 to better reflect the growing role of the Buzztime consumer brand.

 

The Company delivers interactive entertainment and innovative dining technology to bars and restaurants in North America. Customers license the Company’s customizable solution to differentiate themselves via competitive fun by offering guests trivia, card, sports and single player games, nationwide competitions, and by offering self-service dining features including dynamic menus, touchscreen ordering and secure payment. The Company’s platform can improve operating efficiencies, create connections among the players and venues and amplify guests’ positive experiences. Built on an extended network platform, the Company’s interactive entertainment system has historically allowed multiple players to interact at the venue, and now also enables competition between venues, referred to as massively multiplayer gaming. The Company’s current platform, which it refers to as Buzztime Entertainment On Demand, or BEOND, was first introduced as a pilot program in December 2012, was expanded commercially during 2013, and the expansion was scaled during 2014. The Company continues to enhance its network architecture and the BEOND tablet platform and player engagement paradigms. The Company also continues to support its legacy network product line, which it refers to as Classic.

 

The Company currently generates revenue by charging subscription fees for its service to its network subscribers, by leasing equipment (including tablets used in its BEOND tablet platform and the cases and charging trays for the tablets) to certain network subscribers, by hosting live trivia events, and by selling advertising aired on in-venue screens and as part of customized games. In 2014, the Company began offering pay-to-play single player games to certain customers. During the second quarter of 2015, the Company made a strategic change in its premium content model by making single player games available on both a free-to-consumer (in exchange for an increased subscription fee) and pay-to-play basis. This change required the Company to delay the general availability of pay-to-play games as it retooled its content, workflow and positioning. As a result, during 2015, the Company generated additional subscription fee revenue from those venues offering free-to-consumer single player games. The Company began rolling out the new pay-to-play single player games during the second quarter of 2016.

 

At December 31, 2016, 2,814 venues in the U.S. and Canada subscribed to the Company’s interactive entertainment network, of which approximately 71% were using the BEOND tablet platform.

 

Basis of Accounting Presentation

 

The consolidated financial statements include the accounts of NTN Buzztime, Inc. and its wholly-owned subsidiaries: IWN, Inc., IWN, L.P., Buzztime Entertainment, Inc., NTN Wireless Communications, Inc., NTN Software Solutions, Inc., NTN Canada, Inc., and NTN Buzztime, Ltd., all of which, other than NTN Canada, Inc., are dormant subsidiaries. Unless otherwise indicated, references to the Company include its consolidated subsidiaries.