As part of a bold new post-COVID strategy and in line with its commitment to innovation and excellence, Cape Town International Jazz Festival (CTIJF), turned to n-gage.io to digitally transform the way fans experience the festival before, during and after the event.

This case study examines how digital technology can reshape the festival and experience, offering actionable strategies to create meaningful connections with guests, optimise festival operations, and generate new revenue streams.

The partnership marked a major milestone for both parties: it was n-gage.io’s first deployment in the African market, and its first festival deployment worldwide.

About Cape Town
International
Jazz Festival

Celebrating its 21st edition in 2024, the Cape Town International Jazz Festival (CTIJF) has long held the title of “Africa’s Grandest Gathering,” attracting tens of thousands of local and international fans—known affectionately as Festinos—to the heart of Cape Town.

Organised by espAfrika, the two-day music festival is a vibrant celebration of jazz and jazz-related genres, showcasing an eclectic mix of global legends, emerging local talent, and genre-defying artists across multiple stages.

As part of a bold new post-COVID strategy and in line with its commitment to innovation and excellence, CTIJF turned to n-gage.io to digitally transform the way fans experience the festival before, during and after the event.

The partnership marked a major milestone for both parties: it was n-gage.io’s first deployment in the African market, and its first festival deployment worldwide.

With a fully customisable mobile app and a powerful attraction management platform, CTIJF is now engaging fans more deeply than ever—on-site and around the globe—while delivering enhanced value to sponsors and gaining crucial insights into audience behaviour.

The Challenge

As CTIJF looked ahead to its return following pandemic-related disruption, espAfrika identified several opportunities to reinvent the festival experience through digital transformation:

Replacing outdated communication methods with real-time audience engagement tools
Introducing digital ticketing for the first time in the festival’s history
Supporting visitors with interactive site navigation and performance schedules
Providing artist information, media, and soundtrack integration in-app
Increasing value for sponsors through real-time activations and analytics
Building a year-round engagement channel for Festinos and partners alike
Collecting detailed behavioural insights to inform future programming and improve ROI

With a global audience, high expectations, and a complex multi-stage event, CTIJF needed a flexible platform that could adapt in real time, support sponsor activations, and deliver meaningful content to fans, wherever they were.

The Solution

espAfrika deployed n-gage.io’s Software as a Service (SaaS) platform ahead of the 2024 festival, incorporating a branded mobile app and advanced attraction management software into CTIJFs digital infrastructure.

The app allowed fans to immerse themselves in the festival, from planning their visit to exploring the artist line-up, receiving stage alerts, and engaging with sponsor content—all in real-time. The operator system gave festival teams complete control over messaging, performance scheduling, interaction zones, and data collection.

Key features included:

Custom-Branded Mobile App
Fans use the CTIJF app to explore the festival via an intuitive map, receive real-time updates on performance times and alerts, access rich content, and store digital tickets. The app incorporates both GPS and Beacon-based navigation.

Performance Schedules & Personalised Itineraries
Guests could explore artists by genre, time slot, or stage and build their own personalised festival plans.

In-App Push Notifications
Real-time alerts for upcoming performances, special offers, and sponsor activations ensured fans never missed a moment.

Artist Profiles & Soundtracks
Integrated artist bios, media content, and sample tracks enriched fan discovery and enhanced pre-event buzz.

Sponsor Engagement
Sponsors used triggered notifications to drive interaction, distribute rewards, and generate live data on engagement.

Data Insights & Behavioural Analytics

Festival teams gained visibility into crowd movement, most-visited stages, popular artist content, and dwell times.

Year-Round Content & Updates

The app continued to act as a communication channel for fans long after the main event—building loyalty and anticipation for the next festival.

The Results

The rollout transformed the festival experience:

The rollout of the platform was timed to coincide with the return of CTIJF in February 2024, following a multi-year hiatus due to the pandemic. The implementation included staff training, content integration, performance scheduling, and sponsor onboarding ensuring all stakeholders were aligned in delivering a digitally enhanced festival.

Key results to date included:

Thousands of downloads across mobile platforms.
54,000 push notifications sent, connecting fans with artists, updates, and offers in real time.
Strong engagement across both on-site and remote audiences
Individual artist profiles boosted performance attendance.
Sponsors benefitted from in-app promotion, adding value.
Fans able to plan their day selecting stages and artists they wished to see with automated performance reminders and feedback loops.
Interactive walking trails across Cape Town included.
Stronger audience engagement with push notifications, artist profiles, and personalised itineraries helped fans stay connected to the event and discover more performances and content.
Year-round interaction as the app extended the life of the festival beyond the event weekend, offering a direct communication channel for updates, artist announcements, and ticket promotions.
Improved on-site navigation with interactive maps and GPS features reduced confusion, supported crowd flow, and allowed guests to navigate between stages, food vendors and facilities more easily.
Insightful audience data including data on stage popularity, dwell times, and message engagement allowed organisers to make better decisions about future programming, layout, and scheduling.
Increased email engagement with a 52% email opt-in rate, the festival grew its direct marketing database—boosting the impact of future communications and sponsorship offers.
Reduced print dependency as digital schedules, artist information, and wayfinding tools reduced the need for printed materials, supporting sustainability and simplifying updates.
App continued to be used across the 2025 festival with ongoing plans to utilise in 2026.

Client Testimonial

The team at Cape Town International Jazz Festival, praised the introduction of the app:

“We’re excited to be partnering with n-gage.io whose highly customisable platform and mobile app allows us to digitally transform the festival experience, pre, during and post the event for our fans as well as our sponsors and partners.”

“It’s now possible to convey incredible content and interact with our fans in a way that suits them through a personalised experience made possible by next level data insights.”

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“When it comes to the festival itself, we’re really adding value to sponsors utilising the platform’s marketing tools to trigger reaction and engagement in real time, which makes it fun for our Festinos, rewards them and provides exceptional feedback to the sponsor.”

“It’s a great opportunity for us and we look forward to engaging with our fans throughout this year and beyond as we gear up for a fantastic homecoming in 2025.”

Cape Town Jazz Festival
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This case study examines how digital technology can enhance the guest experience at festivals and events, offering actionable insights to create meaningful connections, optimise operations, and generate new revenue streams.

For more information about how n-gage.io can help your festival or event to enhance the guest the experience, gain valuable insights and drive revenue growth request a demo.uest a
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Over 52,000 push notifications
sent to fans

Over 50% email
opt-in rate

through the app

99.9%
uptime

during festival

About Cape Town
International
Jazz Festival