Printworks SkyLights Manchester

Printworks SkyLights is the giant full-motion LED ceiling inside Printworks, the entertainment and leisure complex on Withy Grove in Manchester city centre. The installation covers the venue's internal streets and central courtyard, turning the overhead architecture into an immersive digital canvas with coordinated video, sound, lighting, data and interactive possibilities. For advertisers, this is not a conventional roadside digital billboard. It is an indoor Manchester DOOH spectacular experienced from beneath the screen by people moving between the complex's cinema, restaurants, bars, leisure venues and entrances. Ocean Outdoor is the media operator and the direct route for advertising enquiries.

Printworks SkyLights Manchester sits at Printworks, 27 Withy Grove, Manchester M4 2BS, United Kingdom, Europe. The map opens tilted so you can read the surrounding building massing and approach sightlines; switch the lighting to night to see the environment as the screens are actually seen.

The screen is inside Printworks Manchester at 27 Withy Grove, close to Corporation Street and Exchange Square in central Manchester, Greater Manchester, England. It runs above the public internal routes through the complex, including the three internal streets and central courtyard described when the renovated venue opened in March 2024. This position places the screen within an entertainment environment rather than beside moving road traffic. Viewers are typically walking, waiting, meeting friends or travelling between a cinema, dining, nightlife and activity venues. That can support longer dwell and more elaborate creative sequences than a roadside execution designed for a glance of only a few seconds. The surrounding district connects Printworks with Manchester Arndale, the Corn Exchange, Selfridges, the National Football Museum and Manchester's Medieval Quarter. Manchester Victoria railway station is immediately nearby, while Exchange Square and Shudehill provide Metrolink access. Printworks' own visitor information describes Victoria as its closest railway station and lists Exchange Square, Shudehill Interchange and Victoria Station as the nearest tram stops. Printworks visitor information confirms the address and transport context.

The Manchester digital ceiling billboard is a full-motion LED system designed as both advertising media and venue architecture. Ocean currently lists technologies including DeepScreen®, augmented reality, mixed reality, interactive play, live streaming and real-time reactive content. Not every campaign needs every feature, and availability should be checked against the proposed dates, creative idea and production budget. The most commercially relevant capabilities are: ADI says the broader Printworks refurbishment installed about 1,550 m² of LED ceiling, digital signage and large-format screens across the interior and exterior. That figure must not be used as the size of SkyLights itself: Ocean's current commercial listing gives 1,008 m² across three screens for the ceiling product.

• Full-motion storytelling: Creative can travel across the three overhead sections, reveal scenes as visitors move through the venue or use the apparent depth of the ceiling.
• Perspective-led 3D: Ocean DeepScreen® can create anamorphic or spatial effects designed for chosen viewpoints. A successful Manchester 3D digital billboard ceiling execution needs to be developed for the real geometry, not resized from a flat landscape video.
• Coordinated audio and lighting: Programmable sound and surrounding lighting can extend a visual into a venue-wide moment. Audio is a meaningful advantage here because SkyLights sits inside a controlled leisure environment, but it also requires venue approval and sensitivity to other activity.
• Live and reactive content: Ocean says the platform can use live data, video feeds and interactive triggers. ADI's technical account says the installation integrates video, lighting and audio playout with scheduling and trigger controls.
• Experiential participation: A separate 90 m² gaming screen in the central area can support interactive experiences. It is a distinct display, not part of the 1,008 m² SkyLights advertising area, even when the two are used together in a campaign.

Printworks attracts a mixed day-to-night audience. Daytime exposure can include families, tourists, cinema audiences, shoppers and people using activity or dining venues. Evenings shift toward diners, cinema-goers, groups meeting before events and Manchester's nightlife economy. Event days at the nearby AO Arena, football fixtures, school holidays, film releases and major city-centre occasions can materially change visitor volume and audience composition. Ocean's current location page says Printworks receives up to eight million annual visitors and cites Printworks 2023. It also reports a 4.6-out-of-5 rating for the SkyLights experience from Printworks 2024 audience surveys. These figures describe venue visitation and visitor sentiment; they are not the same as guaranteed advertising impressions, unique reach or views of a particular campaign. At launch in 2024, Ocean reported more than 400,000 DOOH impacts per fortnight for the complex. Because that figure is not presented as a current guaranteed delivery figure on the current asset page, advertisers should request the latest audience schedule, methodology, measurement period and any screen-specific forecast directly from Ocean. Manchester Arndale footfall, Victoria Station passenger numbers and total Manchester city-centre visitation can explain the scale of the surrounding environment, but they should not be added to SkyLights delivery.

DTZ Investors acquired Printworks in 2017 and led the technology-focused refurbishment that relaunched in March 2024. A 2025 DTZ Investors update continues to describe the work as its Printworks project and credits Cushman & Wakefield with ongoing operational delivery. This supports the current division of responsibilities: DTZ Investors is the owner and asset manager, while Cushman & Wakefield is involved in venue operations. DTZ Investors provides the latest first-party confirmation used for this guide. Ocean Outdoor operates the commercial DOOH opportunity. ADI designed, manufactured and installed the LED and AV system and remains an important technical source, but advertisers should approach Ocean—not the technology supplier—to buy media space.

These examples show how SkyLights can work as an immersive venue canvas rather than a resized roadside billboard.

• March 2024Universal Pictures / Kung Fu Panda 4

  The launch campaign in March 2024 was Universal Pictures' trailer for Kung Fu Panda 4. It demonstrated how film content could fill the overhead environment rather than behave like a standard billboard. Ocean's launch announcement also said the original commercial structure offered one advertiser per month on a solus basis. That was a launch arrangement; Ocean's current asset page does not publish a current monthly tenancy or share-of-voice structure, so planners should not assume it still applies. Ocean's launch announcement documents the campaign and the original arrangement.

• 2025Frazzled / The Feeling Ceiling

  In 2025, Frazzled and Revolt created The Feeling Ceiling, an interactive mental-health campaign developed with FlipBook and Ocean Labs. Visitors selected a weather condition matching their mood on a touchscreen, triggering clouds, rain, lightning, fog or blue-sky sequences across the ceiling. It is a useful example of creative designed around the canopy's physical scale and live participation rather than a simple video adaptation. Ocean's Frazzled case study describes the execution.

• Audible / Harry Potter

  Audible later used SkyLights and the separate exterior Screen @ Printworks for a Harry Potter campaign with full audio from the cast recordings. Ocean reported search and engagement outcomes for the combined activity, but those results should not be attributed to SkyLights alone because the campaign used more than one Printworks asset. Ocean's Audible case study explains the combined takeover.

Buy the screen through Ocean Outdoor, the named media operator. Ocean's current contact page lists salesenquiries@oceanoutdoor.com for sales enquiries, and the SkyLights product page also offers a collection and quote-request route. A useful brief should include: Ocean's current public materials do not state a standard spot length, loop length, daily play count, share of voice, minimum booking period or current exclusivity policy. Request those items in writing for the exact campaign window.

• preferred campaign dates and any event, release or retail timing;
• advertiser, product category and campaign objective;
• whether SkyLights is required alone or with the two separate exterior Printworks screens;
• preferred exclusivity or share of voice;
• intended creative length and total number of executions;
• interest in DeepScreen®, audio, lighting, live data, streaming or interaction;
• production status, approval deadlines and required technical support;
• experiential staffing, filming or social-content requirements;
• audience priorities and the reporting needed after the campaign.

There is no public rate card for Printworks SkyLights advertising. Pricing is quote-based and likely to reflect the dates, booking duration, current tenancy structure, exclusivity, production complexity and whether other Printworks assets are included. The media cost may be only one part of the budget. Bespoke 3D animation, spatial adaptation across three screens, sound design, interactive development, live-data integration, experiential staff, testing and on-site capture can add meaningful production costs. Ask Ocean to separate media, creative production, technical activation and any venue or experiential charges so proposals can be compared clearly. For planning purposes, request both a straightforward full-motion option and an immersive version of the same idea. This shows how much of the budget is buying access to the audience and how much is funding the special execution.

Printworks currently publishes opening hours of 06:30–02:00 Monday to Thursday, 06:30–04:00 Friday, and 08:00–04:00 Saturday, with Sunday listed as 08:00–02:00. Individual tenants keep their own hours. These are venue access hours, not a guarantee that advertising runs continuously throughout every open hour. Confirm the SkyLights playout schedule, content transitions, house-content requirements, sound windows, high-intensity show restrictions and any quiet or sensory periods directly with Ocean. The venue warns that the display uses changing light and sound, and some content is tested for photosensitive safety; creative approval should therefore be treated as a substantive production stage.

Printworks SkyLights is only the indoor overhead canopy. It is not: Ocean can package SkyLights with the exterior Printworks screens, but a combined proposal should state the role, dimensions, schedule, audience forecast and creative specification for each asset separately.

• The Screen @ Printworks, the 112 m² exterior display above the Withy Grove entrance;
• Shudehill, Ocean's 48 m² portrait display at the other entrance;
• the separate 90 m² interactive gaming screen inside Printworks;
• Manchester Arndale's facade or internal digital media;
• Exchange Square, Spinningfields, Metrolink or roadside inventory.

SkyLights is strongest when the idea benefits from scale, motion, atmosphere or audience participation. Entertainment launches, games, streaming, travel, automotive, fashion, technology and experience-led brands can use the ceiling to create a destination moment. It can also work for public-interest or cultural campaigns when the creative makes meaningful use of the shared environment. It may be less efficient for a message that needs only a static logo and short line of copy. The premium is in transforming the space. Before booking, ask whether the concept gives people a reason to look up, stay, interact, film or share—and whether those behaviours support the campaign objective.

1. preferred campaign dates and any event, release or retail timing;
2. advertiser, product category and campaign objective;
3. whether SkyLights is required alone or with the two separate exterior Printworks screens;
4. preferred exclusivity or share of voice;
5. intended creative length and total number of executions;
6. interest in DeepScreen®, audio, lighting, live data, streaming or interaction;
7. production status, approval deadlines and required technical support;
8. experiential staffing, filming or social-content requirements;
9. audience priorities and the reporting needed after the campaign.
10. The Screen @ Printworks, the 112 m² exterior display above the Withy Grove entrance;
11. Shudehill, Ocean's 48 m² portrait display at the other entrance;
12. the separate 90 m² interactive gaming screen inside Printworks;
13. Manchester Arndale's facade or internal digital media;
14. Exchange Square, Spinningfields, Metrolink or roadside inventory.