Digital Signage the Global Picture

In such a fragmented market, ascertaining just how big the digital signage market is and how much it is growing is a difficult task. With many digital display installed by local companies, for many of whom digital signage plays only a part of their total business activities, getting any type of accurate forecast as to the size of the digital signage market and its possible future is extremely difficult.

However, recent analysis by several research groups has started to show a correlated picture of both growth and expected size of the total marketplace.

Digital signage is a fragmented market

Out of Home

Digital signage is part of the out of home media sector, which also includes static signage, billboard advertising, posters and other outdoor adverts. This sector is seeing continuous growth year on year and according to industry forecasters will exceed $12 billion in the US alone by 2015—an expansion of nearly 10%.*

A large proportion of this growth is down to the burgeoning digital signage market, which, in some regions now makes up nearly 15%** of all out of home media. Globally, this means that the total digital signage market could be worth $4.5 billion by 2016, *** with over 22 million digital signs displaying advertising, promotional and information content worldwide. ****

Digital Signage Strengths

All these figures make digital signage one of the fastest growing media industries around, and the reason for such is growth is down to the key strengths the medium offers. Digital signage provides advertisers and users the ability to reach large audiences in a more targeted way than traditional out of home media. It’s flexibility, including immediate and remote upload, the ability to display several advertisements or information pages on a single space , offers user appeal, while the  engaging and eye-catching nature of digital signage makes it more effective at communicating.

The falling cost of LCD screens, media players and other hardware, have increasingly made digital signage more accessible. The costs of planning, installing and implementing digital signage continues to fall, and even outdoor digital signage is now available relatively cheaply.

Sources:

* Veronis Suhler Stevenson

** Out of Home Media Center

*** ABI Research

**** Intel