Thursday, January 27, 2005

Digital Signage Classes in Education Institute

The New England Institute of Art in Brookline has relaunched its Multimedia & Web Design program and given it a fresh new name: Interactive Media Design. New courses have been added to include emerging technologies such as digital signage and DVD authoring, as well as Flash classes.

This is great news for the Digital Signage industry believers.

Read the article.

Monday, January 24, 2005

New InfoTrends/Cap Ventures Study - Digital Signage Forecast

A follow up report to Cap Venture's 2002 "Narrowcasting in Public Spaces" is now available. The 2002 report was primarily focused on retail applications.

The new report is named "The North American Commercial Digital Display Market". The new study is more broadly focused on commercial displays applications - aka narrowcasting.

InfoTrends/CAP Ventures expects the narrowcasting market to grow at a CAGR of over 20 percent, rising from $452 million to $1.3 billion by 2009. According to the analysts' market sizing and forecast, the largest single revenue component for this industry is -- and will continue to be -- external advertising revenues, which are expected to grow from $161 million in 2004 to $857 million in 2009, a 40 percent CAGR.

Key findings in the new study are:

  • Sales of hardware, software, installation and integration services, and support for all commercial display applications totaled nearly $1.7 billion in 2004.
  • For networked display systems in retail and public spaces, network operation / management services and advertising revenues generated an additional $413 million.
    This industry is expected to demonstrate a CAGR in excess of 25% over the next five years.
  • The list of industry vendors continues to change as companies leave and enter the industry, but is increasingly becoming segmented into a few leaders and a larger number of companies still working to create traction and critical mass. Webpavement was included in the initial 2002 and most recent study.
  • Over the next five years, cost-effective LCDs will be the most popular technology for digital signage applications because of their longevity, reliability, low power consumption, and attractive price point.

The study is available here. Price $14,995 US Dollars.

Monday, January 10, 2005

Digital Signage Advertising Pricing

Potential digital signage network operators frequently query Webpavement on how to price ad space on their digital signage network. Our retort usually varies based on the application and the network operator's business plan.

Traditional Out-of-Home advertising products (i.e. outdoor billboards, airport posters) use the CPM method. CPM is basically the cost per thousand impressions. Television advertising also uses the CPM methodology. The number of travelers for an airport and the number of viewers for a CATV show has the research to show the thousands of likely eyeballs.

CPM measurement assumes that each passer-by views a billboard within sight. Or a television set tuned to a particular station -- these commercials assume captive humans are watching them and not getting a snack from the fridge. However, as of January 2005 - Digital Signage can't measure eyeballs either.

Breaking away from the CPM pricing methods is Internet advertising. With Internet advertising such as Google's adwords or Yahoo's overture services - impressions are counted - but they come free. Internet advertising charges advertisers based on cost-per-click (aka. clickthru). This model is apparantly effective based on the success of Yahoo and Google's revenues.

Webpavement remembers exhibiting at @adtech - an internet advertising conference - in year 2000. Numerous pricing models were debated on the show floor and since that conference - the Internet advertising industry seems to be maturing and standardizing on click-thru's. Internet advertising pricing model debates started in the late 1990's and are all pretty standard now. We would venture to say that it took a good 5 years til the right advertising model emerged.

What will the Digital Signage advertising pricing model become?

First we must say that digital signage must be assessed differently than the above advertising products. A digital sign has more advertising inventory than most of the above advertising businesses. Further, ads can be placed nearly instantaneously. Many other factors differentiate a digital sign from other advertising offerings.

Advertising pricing for digital signage is a good question that can be debated. Webpavement is leaning on a pricing model that employs dynamic rate cards based on supply and demand. Our software package for digital signage supports this pricing model. Policies and procedures are recommended by Webpavement where you utilize dynamic rate cards based on your supply. Further, we assist our customers in building a model that maximizes their initial return on investment while leaving their network open for dynamic pricing.

More details to come on this topic.

Blog Posts - Now Accepting Comments

Webpavement has enabled the ability for you to comment on any digital signage blog post. The Webpavement digital signage blog is now open access.

Instructions for responding to a blog post:
  1. Click the Comment link below the post.
  2. Click 'Post a Comment'
  3. Type in your comment then click "Publish Your Comment"

We are always open to blogging about any issue relevant to digital signage. Send an email to blog@webpavement.com for suggestions.



Tuesday, January 04, 2005

Webpavement wishes you a Happy New Year 2005

Webpavement employees were flipping through the TV channels New Years Eve to catch a glimpse of Times Square's newest Electronic Billboard - powered by Webpavement.

We saw it numerous times and it felt good to see our products in action! CNN had the best viewing angles to the GMC sign.

Finally, we'd like to welcome new customers Pfizer St. Louis, Kellog Co. and Robins Air Force Base. Thank you for choosing Webpavement. More on these new customers is in our news section.