Here is a video of the Digital Signage Expo in Las Vegas 2009. Digital Signs are everywhere! Companies that produce digital sign content & hardware were on display in Las Vegas. These digital sign expos are becoming more and more extravagant each year. Such a trip to see the industry progress since we started watching [...]
Friday, December 11, 2009
Many people use shockwave flash for digital signage displays, which produces an SWF file. This is an adobe technology. Some say the EULA may prevent the flash player’s legal use in digital signage. I have a question for everyone. Please let me know what you think about the following statement: I read this today: Flash [...]
Friday, December 11, 2009
Last week we looked at a list of digital signage services to find out which tasks companies tend to outsource, versus handle internally. Today, I'll break down that survey data based on network size, looking at how those with small network experience, large network experience, mixed experience and no experience responded to the questions. This data could be valuable for service providers who are trying to decide which companies to market to. Likewise, it could be useful to network owners and operators as a way of comparing their decisions to similar (but potentially competing) companies. We've got a lot of graphs and charts in today's article, so once again if they're not showing up correctly for you (e.g. in your email inbox or your RSS reader), surf on over to http://www.wirespring.com/blog to get a better look. So, how do big and small digital signage networks handle their service needs? If you missed last week's article on digital signage services, you might want to give it a quick read-through, since it presents some top-line findings that we'll be exploring in more depth today. Let me point out one quick thing before diving into the results: there are some slight numerical differences in the results between this week and last, due to rounding errors in Excel and a peculiarity with how the spreadsheet treats blank values in certain formulas. For the most part, these errors are small (less than 3% or so), and in any event they don't change the high-level findings or analysis presented in last week's article. With that out of the way, let's take a look at the charts for each type of digital signage service: Digging into the numbers As you can see, there really isn't much variance in the responses from each of the experience groups, which I found quite surprising. After all, a 10,000 screen, 500-venue advertising network is quite different from, say, a 2-screen employee breakroom application. I was really expecting to see more distinction between those with only-large and only-small network experience, but those variances simply didn't show up. Understandably, the group who admitted to having no experience working with digital signage did tend to have different answers than the folks who have done projects before. Whether this indicates a lack of understanding of the marketplace or just a different set of expectations based on some domain-specific knowledge is hard to say. Most of the time, though, even the no-experience people were within a few percentage points of those with some experience under their belts. However, there were a few areas where the groups displayed more diversity in their responses: Nearly 80% of those working with large digital signage networks handle their content management in-house, versus 74% of small networks and 70% of those who have done both. Those respondents who had only worked on large network projects were slightly more likely to outsource their project planning (11%), versus just 3.5% of those who had only worked on small network projects. Likewise, those handling large and mixed projects were more likely to outsource logistics management (35%), versus only 21% of those working exclusively on small network projects. While those with both large and small network experience generally tended to answer more similarly to those with large network experience only, one exception is in the network/operations area. Those with mixed experience were markedly more likely to take care of that service in-house (76%), versus just 63% of those exclusively working on large projects, and 64% of those exclusively working on small projects. Not surprisingly, small network managers were significantly more likely to handle installation services themselves (though it was still only 30% of them). Only 20% of large network managers handled such tasks in-house. Those with mixed experience were split between these two at about 24%. Things to cover in future surveys While I got a lot of positive feedback about this survey and its content in general, there were a few common themes in the suggestions that I received. For example, many people asked for a greater focus on content-related costs, including typical production costs, rework costs, and the like. Another popular area of focus was on hardware, with numerous folks asking for a study of pricing for components like directional audio systems, cellular modems and plans, and measurement peripherals. Still another group wanted a look at more business-y items like equipment financing and leasing, costs associated with customer attrition, and related site fees. And then there was one guy who said "Monkeys. Lots of monkeys. And pie." I'm not quite sure how I can help that last respondent (except perhaps to recommend that he check the dosage of his medication), but for the rest of you folks with requests, I'll certainly begin planning some future surveys to cover these important matters. There's clearly still a lot of confusion and complexity in our market, thanks to both the variety of skills that must be brought to the table, and the wide range of corporate disciplines that have attempted to take on digital signage projects. My goal for future surveys is to continue bringing the relevant data into the open, which should help increase confidence among potential customers and increase the size of the pie for everyone. Well, I'm finished studying this data for a while, but it certainly has been an educational set of articles (for me, at least). As many of you have been asking, yes, an update to our annual digital signage cost estimate is coming up soon -- either later in October or early in November. To compile the annual budget numbers, I definitely plan to use the data from this pricing survey in conjunction with my usual method of gathering industry-wide pricing (which largely consists of emailing and calling a lot of people). But thanks again to everyone who filled out the survey and left comments during the past few articles. I've learned quite a bit from the experience, and hopefully you have, too. Did you enjoy the way we published the survey results? Would you like to see them presented in the form of a downloadable report, a slide presentation, a video, or a podcast? Leave a comment and let us know. Click here to leave a comment What's WireSpring's Blog All About? WireSpring provides hardware, software and services for digital signage and kiosk projects. But our blog is a labor of love. Our posts cover everything from case studies to creative briefs, and are authored by some of the industry's most well-respected leaders.
Friday, December 11, 2009
Screenfeed is a digital signage content aggregator and provider. You can choose from a number of channels with various subjects of interest, and you can subscribe to the service for a lower cost than if you were to do your own in-house digital signage content creation. Here is how it works… First, you browse our [...]
Friday, December 11, 2009
We’ve been pondering this question recently, and realized that the answer is probably multi-pronged, and that there is no one-size-fits-all solution. Getting data to your digital signage screens is a critical piece of the system, and we believe it must be done in ways that depend on the type of content. Here is a quick [...]
Monday, December 7, 2009
Like many other digital signage software providers we see the growing trend for users to create dynamic content for their displays using these powerful off the shelf tools. By leveraging these 3rd party applications resellers and end users alike can easily create dynamic content without purchasing or learning proprietary applications.
Thursday, December 11, 2008
I taught a POPAI webinar about how to create effective content for digital signage networks (and some readers may have seen the short version that I presented during the Digital Signage Expo or my related article on the importance of keeping your content simple). I learned so much about what makes good content while researching this presentation [...]
Friday, September 26, 2008
All major companies involved in content production, edition and delivery attend the fair (with the exception of Apple; they have some meetings around the city and a strong presence through the i-Phone which is everywhere). Key-subjects include high definition, new media, 3D, tapeless production workflows, digital asset management and digital signage (i.e. digital public points [...]
Saturday, August 9, 2008
GREAT post by Mr. Gerba, CEO of WireSpring. http://www.wirespring.com/dynamic_digital_signage_and_interactive_kiosks_journal/articles/Customizing_digital_signage_content_for_key_audience_segments-580.html A few days ago, I gave my spiel about making great digital signage content to a customer that has been unsuccessfully trying to grow their retail signage network. They had a good footprint, well-placed screens, and the support of an enthusiastic retailer/partner. But for all that, [...]
Thursday, August 7, 2008
STATE COLLEGE, Pa. — BroadSign International Inc., a provider of software-as-a-service (SaaS) solutions for managing digital signage networks, and AccuWeather.com have partnered to offer real-time data feeds to viewers of BroadSign-enabled screens. The integration allows any of over 140 digital signage networks running on BroadSign’s platform to display a wide variety of news on their [...]
Monday, August 4, 2008
ATLANTA — Digital Signage Expo is now accepting nominations for the Digital Signage Expo East (DSEE) 2008 Content Awards. Awards will be given for creative content emanating from all end-use sectors in digital signage, interactive technology and out-of-home networks. What you need to know Digital Signage Expo East September 16-18, 2008 Philadelphia, Pa. Pennsylvania Convention [...]
Monday, August 4, 2008
Leading news and content service provider AHN (http://www.allheadlinenews.com) announced the addition of the Lifestyle & Arts and Celebrity Profiles to its current cast of entertainment news services. (CNS) provides around-the-clock coverage of the latest news coming from the world of art, books and broadway with concert reviews, updated bestsellers lists and exclusive interviews with stars [...]
Sunday, August 3, 2008
Unlike other TV networks, CBS is taking its commitment further. Owning networks—or, at the very least, signing exclusive sales agreements with networks—allows CBS to control not only content but all inventory, a plus for advertisers. “CBS is more serious about the space than their competition—they aren’t just looking to rep space,” says Daniel Wilkins, president [...]
Sunday, August 3, 2008
IBC2008 will address the wave of media technology convergence that is melding once disparate services, technologies and industries into a cohesive amalgamation of devices, ranging from the mobile phone, handheld devices, PCs and television to digital signage. During its conference program (Sept. 11-16) and at its exhibits (Sept. 12-16) in the RAI in Amsterdam, IBC2008 [...]
Sunday, August 3, 2008
The title of this post says it all: digital signage (and other out-of-home media) networks must guarantee viewer privacy, unequivocally and without exception. This needs to happen automatically, without requiring consumers to opt-out of anything. The fact that the matter is even up for debate right now is astonishing to me. Granted, I’m a bit [...]
Friday, August 1, 2008
In today’s economy, many communication mediums are experiencing slow growth, but the market for digital signage is on the rise. According to an InfoTrends study, the value of the industry is going to more than double from $1.1 billion in 2006 to over $2.5 billion by 2011. That’s because digital signage is about more than [...]
Friday, August 1, 2008
TAIPEI, TAIWAN, July 30 2008 – CAYIN Technology, the professional supplier of digital signage solutions, releases the web-based application software, xPost, which offer a powerful suite of content editing software: meetingPost, wayfinderPost, and lobbyPost, to create rich contents for digital signage in different vertical markets. CAYIN xPost, the web-based application software, offers a combination of [...]
Thursday, July 10, 2008
Wherever you look nowadays there are more and more advertising posters being converted to digital screens. Whether in the form of plasmas in pubs, LCDs in shopping centres or touch-screen kiosks in department stores it is obvious that they are here to stay. The adverts and information content on the screens will have been put [...]
Thursday, June 19, 2008
2008-06-19 07:26:36 – In addition to its many users world-wide The Venetian Macau Resort Hotel also now uses Digital Recalls’ Free Digital Signage Software. Full instructions, and the ability to use your own equipment and internet/ LAN connection make this an inexpensive option for even the smallest business. In addition to their many users around [...]
Why spend thousands on an expensive digital signage solution? With Iomega StorCenter, a wireless digital picture frame and a little creativity, your business can enjoy all the benefits of a digital display at a fraction of the usual cost. Learn how!
Saturday, December 12, 2009
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