Digital Signage – Some Common Terms Explained

Digital signage is a new industry and as with any new technology it is shrouded in different terms and titles. Even digital signage itself has a myriad of other names: digital advertising, out of home advertising, digital billboards etc.
Many of the terms associated with this new technology are quite self explanatory, however, some confusion still arises when discussing digital signage so here are a few of the more common terms relating to it:

Audience
The people and their demographic profile who have the opportunity to be exposed to a specific digital signage campaign

Captive Audience
An audience who are confined in an area such as a point of sale and therefore have no choice but be exposed to the digital signage campaign

DOOH (Digital Out-Of-Home)
Another term for digital signage

Frequency
The number of times a person might be exposed to a signage campaign or single advert.

HD (High Definition)
A TV screen that is capable of displaying a better quality image of higher resolution than a standard TV

IP65
A European guideline for enclosures of outdoor digital signage an IP65 digital signage enclosure will be waterproof

Landscape
A screen mounted horizontally

LCD (Liquid Crystal Display)
Flat panel TVs that use liquid crystal to display images

LED (Light Emitting Diode)
Tiny light bulbs used as either large LED screens or backlighting for LCD

Narrowcast
Digital signage is described as narrowcast as opposed to broadcast. Narrow and broad refer to the range of audience.

Out of Home TV (OOH TV)
Another term for digital signage

Plasma TV
A flat panel display that uses plasma between two panels of glass which emits light and produces the screen’s image

Portrait
A vertical placed screen