Digital Signage Revenue to Triple in Five Years

Digital signage revenue is expected to triple over the next five years, according to research. Currently worth $1.3 billion, the digital signage industry is set to grow to almost $4.5 billion by 2016 say analysts ABI research (Alliance Business Intelligence).

A spokesman for ABI said:  “Digital signs have a more compelling impact than some forms of traditional media. Digital signage has redefined the model for out-of-home advertising through the deployment of signs at malls, airports, and banks, among others; signs that deliver content in real time, or content that has already been stored and scheduled for delivery at the most appropriate time.”

The use of screens as out of home media, both indoors and as outdoor digital signage has steadily grown over the last decade. The rise of digital signage can be attributed to several causes, from the falling costs of LCD TVs, growing use of protective enclosures for screens, to a growing realisation of the effectiveness of going digital–compared to static media.

Digital screens are now found in a myriad of locations, as ABI suggest, from retail locations to transport hubs, but with so many screens already in existence, it can be difficult to imagine where the additional 200% increase will come from.

Outdoor Digital Signage

One area where room for expansion exists is in the outdoor digital signage market. Currently, outdoor screens make up only a fraction of the digital signage market due to several factors, including an increased cost due to needing protection for the device, need for planning permissions and more complicated networking; however, as outdoor locations can generate far higher audience figures than indoor systems, increasingly more and more advertisers are looking to outdoors.

And its not just advertisers that are investing in outdoor digital signage, either; retailers are moving screens outdoors to provide a more direct promotion of their goods and services and service industries such as restaurants, bars, hotels and theatres use outdoor screens to replace menu and information boards.