Uses of Outdoor Digital Signage – News and Information

Anybody looking into outdoor digital signage or display screens for public areas, may be excused in thinking that signage is predominantly designed for advertising, branding and promotion; while marketing is obviously a key area for Dooh (digital out of home) as it gives advertisers great advantages over static posters and commercials, there is another key area for using screens in public places: information.

We all live in an information age with the internet, mobile communication, 24-hour rolling news, Twitter and other technological innovations, many people dislike being away from a source of information and news for too long. Even on holiday when people are relaxing on the beach or during other leisure times and locations, you will find PDAs and smart phones being deployed to keep people up-to-date with the latest happenings at home and abroad.

Many locations such as transport hubs, waiting rooms and receptions are now utilizing digital signage as a means of satisfying this information demand. The great advantage of digital screens is that this information and news can be mixed with advertisements or localized information such as railway timetables, news of flight cancellations, advertisements and other self-interested content.

As people are keen to look at, and even seek out information and news, the information provided acts as a hook to get people to view the screen and therefore take heed of the localized or advertising content too.

This is very successful in all sorts of locations. Doctor’s surgery’s can provide important health advice and intersect it with the latest local news, while in transport hubs news feeds can display the latest headlines while also providing crucial news of cancellations and delays.

Many locations for news and information screens are not in the best location for conventional TV devices; for this reason, many of these news and information screens are housed in an LCD enclosure. LCD enclosures are weatherproof and can cope with a wide range of temperature extremes and also protect from dust, airborne debris and vandalism.

A Reuters information screen housed in an Armagard Enclosure at London’s City Pier on the River Thames (Picture thanks to Pixellent)