Digital Signage

Interested in 3D?

2007-06-10T07:22:00.000-07:00

For anyone interested in 3D and how much product development activity is going on in this sector there is an comprehensive newsletter published by Mark Fihn at http://www.veritasetvisus.com/.

Digital signage ad-networks directory - UK

2006-11-23T04:00:00.000-08:00

The Screen Association have released a digital signage ad-networks directory covering most, hopefully all, UK based screen-media advertising networks. The November 2006 edition includes details on 62 networks that together address a footfall of over 340 million people per month in the UK out-of-home environment with media rich digital signage. Entries include:

Description
Category
Number of screens and sites
Footfall, dwell time & frequency of visit
Media sales house
Network owner

It can be purchased as a print version, PDF or subscription, see www.thescreen.org for information.

The directory is updated monthly and future editions will see new networks added as they go live, added details and other additional information.

Audience Measurement white paper

2006-06-08T04:54:00.000-07:00

The Screen Association in the UK have made their white paper on audience measurement available for download from the website. This is an important step forward in the process of creating a standard as with other media.

The white paper provides an introduction to audience measurement in other media and a proposal as to how a standard can be created together with a brief introduction to audience measurement techniques. See www.thescreen.org

Playlog data structure

2006-05-31T10:20:00.000-07:00

I have heard that there is a proposed standard being discussed with regard to details to be included in playlogs. The interesting part of this proposal is that it apparently requires the recording of the start and stop times for every track played.

Immediate reaction - excellent data.

Considered reaction - this is unworkable except for small networks. Lets see, with average track play length of 30 seconds on a network that runs for 12 hours per day that would mean 1,440 references to the track name, 1,440 start times and 1,440 stop times just for one screen. For a reasonable network of 1,000 screens that is going to mean over 4 million data items a day, and that is not even a very large network.

I'll think on this but as it stands I fail to see the justification for such a proposal. Certainly it is not required by people I speak to in the advertising industry - and for data mining it is simple data overload.

I do see that being able to properly report the number of plays during particular periods is useful.

Audience measurement - cost to sectors

2006-05-25T15:43:00.000-07:00

Apparently in the UK, audience measurement research costs the various media sectors roughly the following percentage of gross advertising revenues:

TV 0.3%
Radio 0.9%
Magazines 0.25%
Outdoor 0.1%

It is possible that the Outdoor percentage should be slightly higher as it includes a number revenue areas that are not independently researched at this time. It seems very relevant for the digital signage industry to bear this in mind asa cost of doing business as an advertising medium.

Free trials

2006-05-05T14:26:00.000-07:00

Do companies that seek and secure a free media network trial actually gain anything?

Demanding a free trial may well be muddled thinking. Digital media network customers might feel that vendors should offer a free trial for the privelege of getting a foot in the door but the reality is that this is likely to be a crucial misdirection of objectives:

Selection of a vendor based on a short term financial saving is missing the point as to what a vendor is meant ot be offering, ie an effective communications solution.
A vendor having won the prize of supplying something for nothing is naturally going to be budget constrained thus threatening the outcome of the exercise.

Digital signage networks are a highly effective communication medium and companies are right to invest the time and effort to choose the right vendor, the right systems and develop the right media model. Blowing the opportunity for the sake of a free trial may turn out to be rather costly.

The shopping experience

2006-05-01T02:09:00.000-07:00

Are people increasingly only going shopping because they need to or do they still choose to do it because they enjoy it? Do people actually enjoy shopping on the Internet or do they just find it preferable to a trip to the high street or mall?

These are important questions for a bricks and mortar retailer but aside from the occasional store facelift it appears to be only a few retailers who are addressing the issue of the shopper experience. It is an issue than needs attention.

Creating the right environment and providing appropriate communication in-store is key to improving the retail experience no matter whether people are on a mission or voyage of discovery. When people appreciate the experience they are more likely to come back willingly rather than look for alternatives.

Digital Rights Management (DRM)

2006-04-25T11:37:00.000-07:00

Digital Rights Management (DRM) is intended to protect the legitimate rights and interests of a media owner. So given the ease with which perfect copies can be made in the digital world it is not surprising that DRM is getting a lot of attention.

But is it appropriate for the digital screen-media market? As it stands the answer is a clear no. The issue is one of practicality:

Most DRM is based on consumer applications and there is a fundamental difference in the type of usage, ie personal use on own equipment versus public viewing on a dedicated system.
Media owner originated DRM techniques are likely to vary from supplier to supplier, there are plenty of techniques to choose from. This would be quite unworkable for a distributed media network with a large number of remote media players.
It would inevitably add cost and most likely for no benefit as screen-media networks are invariably closed media systems, there should be no entry points for people to access and copy media.

It seems safe to say that DRM, as it is currently, would be both unworkable and unnecessary in the networked screen-media industry.

Importance of good content

2006-04-25T10:18:00.000-07:00

Creating effective content for screen-media networks is a skill. There is an art to it that benefits from experience and expertise. Poor content can make an otherwise effective digital signage concept look ineffective or worse, so it is worth getting right.

In simplistic terms:

Good content: Great results on a good network
Good content: Ineffective results on a bad network
Bad content: Bad results on all networks.

Standards - audience measurement

2006-04-23T14:18:00.000-07:00

A significant part of the digital signage market comprises advertising networks, these can be in shops, malls, trains etc deriving their income from the sale of advertising space. These advertising networks are progressively taking their place alongside other established media such as television, radio, print, outdoor (posters) and the web as a viable advertising medium.

Whilst this is good news, and certainly these advertising networks are arguably extremely effective, it is also getting more an more difficult for media planners and buyers to understand how to allocate their media budgets. The challenge is having meaningful comparative metrics.

Well first things first and as a positive step in this direction the Screen Association in the UK, www.thescreen.org, is working on a standards proposal. If you are keen on participating or receiving the proposal when it is released let them know.