What Can Go Wrong – Causes of Digital Signage Failure

Gaining a return on investment (ROI) is one of the most important aspects of investing in a digital signage campaign. If the screens do not generate enough revenue to cover their initial cost, it could be argued that your digital advertising campaign has been a failure.

However, establishing the return on investment can be extremely tricky and any revenue increase is often clouded by other issues such as additional marketing of seasonal sales. And when your digital signage campaign starts incurring additional costs, this can make establishing an ROI even more difficult.

In order to prevent additional costs; digital signage downtime and an ever disappearing ROI, it is important to predict and counter potential problems before they occur.

Common Causes of Digital Signage Failure

Downtime

I many cases Digital Signage Failure is simple to correct, especially when it is software related; often a quick reboot of the media player is all that is required to get your content up and running again, however, there are occasions when something affects the hardware causing a breakdown.

Overheating

A common problem with digital signage screens. Often there is insufficient cooling inside the LCD enclosure and once housed the heat generated from the screen can build up causing failure. Ensure whatever LCD enclosure you use has adequate cooling to transfer heat away from the screen.

Cooling fans are important to prevent overheating

Moisture/Condensation

Whilst it is imperative for outdoor systems to be waterproof, often the problems associated with moisture and condensations are ignored with indoor campaigns.

However, many areas where digital signage are installed, whilst technically indoor locations they contain more condensation and moisture than a home environment such as on subway concourses or some shopping mall locations. Often in these areas it is best to consider them outdoor, despite the roof.

Accidental Impacts / Vandalism

Another common cause of digital signage failure is damage caused either accidentally or deliberately. Often a problem in unsupervised areas but can be countered by ensuring there is is adequate protection of the LCD device. Steel LCD enclosures are one solution but also ensuring the screen itself is protected by a shatterproof frontage will also ensure protection.