Toshiba is the official sponsor of the Times Square New Year’s Eve Celebration. The iconic countdown to midnight was played out on TOSHIBA VISION Times Square, the LED screen at the top of One Times Square in the center of Times Square, triumphantly welcoming in 2016 at the world’s biggest New Year party. The TOSHIBA VISION screen atop One Times Square and six mobile LED screens throughout Times Square featured New Year’s Eve content and entertainment for the more than one million-plus expected revelers including hourly practice countdowns, live and prerecorded video clips of musical performances from Carrie Underwood, Luke Bryan, Demi Lovato, Wiz Khalifa, Charlie Puth, revelers, and celebrities.
As well as the Toshiba Hourly Countdown sponsor’s content every hour, popular science educator Bill Nye (of the Disney/PBS children’s TV show “Bill Nye the Science Guy”) took to the official stage in Times Square to introduce Toshiba/NSTA ExploraVision, the science and technology competition sponsored by Toshiba for school students in North America.
There was also a “Japan Countdown” event at the main stage especially for Japanese people living in New York, starting at midnight on January 1st, 2016, Japan time (10 a.m. EST on December 31st, 2015). The Japan Countdown event featured a countdown animation of calligraphy by Masumi Narita on the TOSHIBA VISION screen.
Moreover, the New Year’s Eve celebrations videos on Twitter were seen on the TOSHIBA VISION from 7:00 a.m. through 11:00 p.m. During each hour, Twitter also provided tweets from world leaders, celebrities and user-generated content on the TOSHIBA VISION.
Times Square New Year’s Eve Celebrations This countdown event is the biggest in the world, with over a million people gathering in Times Square and a television audience around the globe of more than a billion. One Times Square, where TOSHIBA VISION is installed, is the stage for the famed “ball drop,” where a crystal time ball descends in 60 seconds, starting at 11:59 p.m. EST. Simultaneously, TOSHIBA VISION will be hosting the traditional 60-second countdown.
The 1-million-strong crowd gathered at Times Square will chant out the countdown in a deafening roar, climaxing with confetti exploding into the air. The partygoers will embrace each other as “Happy New Year” appears on the screen with the final “0” of the countdown, their celebrating voices ringing out all over New York to welcome the New Year.
