Will Outdoor Digital Signage Replace Print?

More and more screens are turning up in outdoor locations; roadside billboards, bus stop digital advertising and outdoor digital signage screens along the high street are now a common sight in many cities and towns.This increase has much to do with the falling cost of flatscreen technologies like LCD TVs and plasma screens, and in part, due to LCD enclosures that enable these devices to be completely protected in outdoor environments.

• The advantages of outdoor digital signage over print media are manifold but include:
• The ability to run more than one campaign on each screen
• Central uploading in real time – no need for technicians to paste up new adverts
• Flexible and scheduled content – it can be altered or run at specific time to meet differing criteria
• Far more noticeable and engaging than standard print media

With such an uptake and with so many advantages of outdoor digital signage – it begs the question of whether outdoor screens will eventually completely replace print media.

LCD enclosure

Drawbacks of Outdoor Digital Signage

Outdoor print advertising will perhaps never go away. For small campaigns it is low cost and no matter how cheap outdoor screens and their peripheral technologies get, they will never compete with the low cost end of pint media such as the flyer or bill poster.

And many advertisers and marketers have often cited a couple of drawbacks with outdoor digital signage that is preventing them from embarking in this new technology:

• Difficulty in demonstrating the ROI (return on investment)
• Security, replacement and maintenance being an unforeseen and incalculable cost

However, both of these uncertainties are soon diminishing. As more and more people get experience in installing outdoor digital signage the return on investment will become easier to calculate – many people forget the entire digital out of home industry is still in its infancy.

As for problems associated with security, replacement and maintenance – all of which can diminish a ROI – can be almost completely alleviated by investing in a good quality outdoor LCD enclosure.

LCD enclosures are cost effective ways of protecting outdoor screens in harsh and outdoor environments. They are not just protective boxes that protect from the weather and vandalism (although they do this exceptionally well) but also they contain all the environmental elements inside the LCD enclosure to maintain the perfect operating environment for a screen. Because this environment is free from dust, is the perfect temperature and is clean and dry – it will prevent breakdown, failure and will extend the life of many LCD screens.

So, while print media will never disappear altogether, the falling cost of LCD screens and the use of LCD enclosures mean we will be seeing a lot more outdoor digital signage screens in the future.