The morning press - digital signage news for May 14

Seems like it's been a slow news week! Here are some recent interesting clips from the web:

• Digital Out Of Home Media Sales Added To Signagelive Platform - Remote Media have teamed up with Media Plus International to enable advertisers to deploy media assets to signagelive networks straight from the Advantage media sales platform.

• Vast arrays of TVs for patrons help eateries channel profits - "What seems to resonate with customers is the ability to feel a little bit like you're in your own living room - only on steroids - where you've got news, sports, cartoons, or whatever it is you like, and you can select what you want to view when you're there," [McDonald's franchisee Mark Watson] said.

• NTN Buzztime, Inc. Announces First Quarter 2008 Results - Revenue from continuing operations decreased by $0.5 million or 7% to $7.2 million for the first quarter of 2008 compared to revenues of $7.7 million for the first quarter of 2007. Net loss from continuing operations for the first quarter of 2008 was $2.3 million compared to a net loss of $0.8 million for the first quarter of 2007. Although the customer site count declined by only approximately 4.5% comparing the 2008 first quarter with the equivalent period of 2007, revenue decreased by a higher percentage due to the longer-term effect on recurring revenues of a net decline in sites over recent quarters.

• AirMedia Group Q1 profit surges; Guides Q2 Revenue - The Beijing, China-based company’s net income for the first quarter surged to US$7.28 million from US$1.87 million in the previous year. Net income attributable to ordinary shareholders was US$7.28 million or US$0.05 per share, compared to US$1.52 million or US$0.02 per share in the year-ago period. Net income per ADS was US$0.10, up from US$0.03 in the prior year. Adjusted net income increased to US$8.46 million or US$0.06 per share from US$1.93 million or US$0.03 per share last year. Adjusted net income per ADS rose to US$0.12 from US$0.06 in the preceding year.

• Adspace Mall Network Expands to Tennessee - The Rivergate Mall, CoolSprings Galleria, and the Hickory Hollow Mall in Nashville have joined the Adspace Mall Network, the largest in-mall digital advertising network in the country.

Tags: digital signage, digital signage news

Looking for more digital signage info? Check out WireSpring's Kiosk and Digital Signage blog for in-depth industry analysis and even more news about the digital signage industry. While you're there, feel free to read up on our digital signage software and services

MegaPhone brings a new kind of connectivity to digital signage

I meant to blog about this months ago, but kept forgetting. Thankfully, Nate Nead picked it up,reminding me in the process :) MegaPhone is essentially a middleware platform that uses regular phone touch tones instead of SMS messages to allow users to interact with some kind of application over the Internet. Check out this demo:

In my mind, there are a few key advantages of this kind of tech over SMS-based applications. Among the most notable are:

• Once you've dialed into the system, your interactions are near real-time and are immediately reflected on the application screen
• Many different actions can be handled simply with different keypresses instead of having to type different shortcodes or SMS messages
• Because it's a voice call, it works with any phone, including regular old landlines
• Because it's a voice call, you could also have an IVR or even a live operator assist the user or help him to navigate through various options

Granted, connecting an Internet-based interactive application with a touch-tone phone system is nothing new (our IP PBX system has had similar capabilities for years), but having a company dedicated to providing this middleware for digital out-of-home projects is pretty cool. While the company has spent most of its time in large audience venues like arenas, I'd expect to see their stuff rolled out to other social environments sooner rather than later, especially if their cost structure is reasonable.


Tags: digital signage, megaphone, digital out-of-home

Put a little green goodness in the digital signage world

In the film L.A. Story, Steve Martin plays a television weatherman whose life is chaos but finds truth when, backed by a haunting Enya score, an electronic billboard on the LA Freeway speaks to him, quoting Shakespeare and giving cryptic messages about the meaning of life. One of the film’s main ironies is the way the digital billboard offers more emotional comfort than any of the actual humans in Los Angeles.

Since the film came out in 1991, it’s not as though digital signage has had more great movie roles or even good celebrity press (though you can decide for yourself whether or not you'd like to see a future like that portrayed in Minority Report). While there are certainly people outside the industry who see great things for digital signage, hype and love of technology is not going to be enough to sustain the industry, in particular because it is such a public product. Here in Pittsburgh, recent debate about a proposed electronic billboard in our downtown area mobilized community groups against the project not because they objected on aesthetic grounds, but because neither the corporation proposing the sign nor the city government consulted the neighborhood about whether it fit with local development goals. Add in the fact that proper licensing and bureaucratic procedures weren’t followed, and you have a public relations mess.

There’s a lot to be said for making digital signage more congruent with community needs. And since sustainable, ecologically-sound design is on the rise, it seems pretty natural to suggest that the digital signage industry might want to align itself with the good and the green now. Here’s a laundry list of possibilities:

• Energy consumption: Present energy-saving possibilities up front, before consumers ask for it: Take advantage of newer LED technologies that adjust screen brightness to day and night conditions. Use newer components designed for longer lifer and lower energy consumption, some of which are free of heating and ventilation costs. Consider a backup power system to reduce impact on existing power networks. (Solar-powered systems are already in greater use outside the United States.)

• Low impact design: Consider simple design elements to “green” the impact of the digital sign: LED configurations can be tilted to reduce upward light pollution. Signs that “fit” the environment are often seen as community enhancements rather than detractions. Marketing teams could work more overtly with architects, builders, and city planners who have LEED certification or experience with environmental design.

• New technologies: For example, there are new greener light tape systems that provide accent or backlighting for POP displays. Using encapsulated phosphors to produce light without generating heat requires only a tiny amount of power and minimal operating costs. Other energy efficient backlighting systems are on their way to production.

• Green components: The tech industry is starting to heed consumer’s concerns about the manufacturing process, too: Although the components of digital signage are surprisingly less hazardous than most technology, consumers don’t know this. Creating within-industry standards and fact sheets about the carbon footprint of digital signage might be worth the up-front research. In terms of the computer elements, it is possible to build digital signs with components free of problematic elements like mercury, lead, and cadmium. (we see this in Apple’s move to more eco-friendly digital screens and the new Eco-TV). Even hard drives are going green. The industry has yet to examine the full feasibility of incorporating recycled components (metals, vinyl, rigid plastics, and inks) into commonly used sign materials.

• Community relations: Although organizations like the OAAA have been involved in public relations for years, more can be said about how digital signage enhances community safety, provides information, and disseminates news. Digital signs already provide law enforcement aid, disaster or emergency information, and new traffic routing. But there are more possibilities: Bus station shelters as kiosks with digital billboards can provide up-to-date info on bus arrival, traffic, and news. Making contributions to environmental and community causes also helps offset the carbon footprint of new digital signs and enhances the customer’s reputation. Promoting and engaging in environmental and educational projects fosters the industry’s image as a whole. Consider the informational kiosks explaining the Everglades Reclamation Project to local students and residents, giving them up-to-date and ongoing information about how the environmental project will affect their lives:

• Industry self-monitoring: The OAAA has developed a set of environmental standards for all types of outdoor signage, which is a great start, but the digital signage community could do more on its own: carbon footprint monitoring (including comparative data on the carbon footprint of alternative advertising methods, such as paper products, copy machines, and flyers), promotion of green manufacturing and production approaches, and even an LEED-type seal of approval are three possibilities.

I'm just scratching the surface of what's possible right now, let alone a few years into the future when electronic ink and other new technologies make electronic signs even greener. But the industry isn't doing itself any favors when it comes to capitalizing on going green. We have some great -- and unique -- advantages at our disposal. Let's use them!

Tags: digital signage, electronic billboards, green

POPAI promotional pricing produces plethora of premier players

eh, you say?

An interesting thing happened a few weeks ago. We got together on a big conference call to discuss standards for digital signage business and technology and... people are actually doing stuff!

I know it's a bit early to get optimistic (and people who know me would generally remark that it's not in my nature anyway), but we've got a big group of companies involved -- most of the key networks and tech firms -- the calls so far have produced actionable tasks and reasonable goals, and despite the sheer size and complexity of the project, we're actually getting organized.

On the marketing end of things, our digital signage advocacy group is putting together a full roster of webinars (and if I have my way, some of them will actually be free), we've got a sample annotated RFI coming out, and we've started a new blog to gauge industry opinion and get more POP and retail marketing guys involved in the conversation.

We've also convinced them that it's essential to get as many companies on board with the same industry association... NOW.

So they agreed to drop their membership price until May 15th in hopes that we can convince those people who want to make a difference in the digital signage community to sign up and get involved while we have all of this momentum built up. So far, results have been good. But anybody that might have something to contribute should check out this deal before it's over.

If you're a content creation company, digital advertiser, network aggregator, logistics company, hardware supplier, software company or anybody else involved with digital signage, I definitely recommend you think about joining POPAI. Aside from free access to mountains of research data and heavy discounts to various shows, conferences and webinars, you'll also be able to rub elbows with the digital signage glitterati, those superstars of the indus...

ok, I can't even type that with a straight face :) However, you will find a bunch of like-minded people who are passionate and very vocal about the industry, and who, combined, are probably working on most (if not all) of the interesting projects going on out there today.

Sound like something you might be interested in? Yes? Then email Berk Cotter (bcotter@popai.com) or give him a call at 703-373-8819, but do it before the 15th, since prices will revert back to their normal levels after that.


Questions? Concerns? Doubts?

Leave a comment below and I'll try to answer them from my perspective as an active member for the past three or four years. And no, I'm not being bribed to write this stuff. I just want to make sure that we have everybody on board before the really heavy decisions start getting made.

The morning press - digital signage news for May 7

Here are some of today's interesting clips from the web:

• Lightscape Technologies forms strategic partnership with Ogilvy & Mather - Lightscape, an operator of outdoor LED billboards and provider of LED solutions, announced that it has signed an agreement with a unit of Ogilvy & Mather Group, a leading global advertising agency, in order to secure advertising contracts for Lightscape's growing LED media network in China and Hong Kong. The agreement establishes a framework through which Lightscape will offer its portfolio of large-scale, high-resolution LED billboards to clients of Ogilvy & Mather as they develop their advertising and media-planning strategies. In addition, Ogilvy & Mather will refer suitable new LED billboard locations to Lightscape, which will subsequently be developed by Lightscape to further enhance the breadth of its network.

• TNS rejects WPP buyout offer; Nielsen may be next - TNS, the research company that has been pushing into the ratings space via digital TV set-top data, has turned down a $1.87 billion buyout offer from WPP Group. Nielsen Co., TNS’s biggest competitor, is believed to be preparing an even heftier offer, writes MediaPost.

• Fujitsu to provide comprehensive digital media solutions - Fujitsu Transaction Solutions Inc. today announced that it will work with partner TELentice Global Inc. to market Fujitsu’s new, comprehensive Digital Media Solutions (DMS) to retailers. Fujitsu and TELentice have developed a system that combines the hardware, software and services required to create, deploy and manage chain-wide, multi-media information campaigns.

• PumpTop TV becomes largest TV network at gas stations - With nearly 6,000 LCD screens mounted on the fuel pumps at more than 550 U.S. gas stations, PumpTop TV has emerged as the nation's largest gas station television network.

• Titan Worldwide launches internal T-TV digital screen network - Titan is putting its money where its digital mouth is. The world's largest privately held Out-of-Home advertising sales company has launched an internal video network of 23, 40-inch, broadband-connected LCD screens for its 800+ employees in 20 offices around the world.

• PRN to sell ads on shopping-cart screens - Premier Retail Networks (PRN) is to link its in-store screen-advertising platform to Cabco Group's TV-enabled shopping carts, and sell airtime on them. The two companies will establish “a seamless connection” between the Cabco TV Kart screens and PRN's platform, they said. The screens are fixed in specially-designed shopping carts (pictured) and serve to entertain children seated in the lower area of the carts as well as to deliver commercial messaging to the adults pushing them.

Tags: digital signage, digital signage news

Looking for more digital signage info? Check out WireSpring's Kiosk and Digital Signage blog for in-depth industry analysis and even more news about the digital signage industry. While you're there, feel free to read up on our digital signage software and services

What makes place-based media great?

Place-based media veteran Mitch Oscar has an insightful blog post on MediaPost's TV Board about what's really poised to make digital out-of-home the next big thing. His take:

Over the years I’ve consulted for a number of place-based companies, such as Hotel Networks, Juke Box Network, Burly Bear (college) and Captivate, and taken meetings with myriads of others. A word of caution. Scale is great. Metrics are even better. Don’t get me wrong. It is what the media community always clamors for. But in my opinion, it’s the place in place-based media that is of primary importance to the marketer. The ability to connect with a community in a specific location and own the space....

In my estimation, place-based media offers a value proposition unique to our media community — and I cannot impress upon its members the significance of owning an environment for a marketer to share with the inhabitant for the period of time they cohabitate.

I know a lot of you are already preaching the same gospel, but isn't it nice to know that either (a) you're not crazy, because somebody else is spouting off the same thing, or (b) maybe you are crazy, but at least you're not the only one?

Tags: digital signage, place-based media

Monetizing empty space with digital signs

Mediapost had a pretty neat article on monetizing vacant storefronts yesterday, noting that as big and small retailers alike close their doors thanks to a tanking economy and/or shifting customer interests, new businesses have arisen that use storefront windows to show big vinyl, paper or digital signs, effectively turning them into giant, centrally-located ads. The article notes:

"Ground-floor digital displays are ideal for just about any brand that wants to reach people on the go," adds [store window advertising company WindowGain COO Prem Hira]. Benefits specific to digital displays include real-time information. For example, the Boston.com spots actually pull news, weather, etc. from the boston.com web site.

The economy's loss may well be a boon for companies like WindowGain. The International Council of Shopping Centers predicts that store closings may total 6,500 for 2008, or about 1% of existing stores, which would be the highest since 2001.

It's easy to see the appeal for ad buyer and real estate owner alike. For the ad buyer, there are few better places to make an appeal than at eye-level. And the sizes of the displays that can be used are limited to the sizes of the store windows: in other words, they're huge, and very eye-catching. For the real-estate owner, they get to (potentially) make some money at a low cost and low risk, using assets that might otherwise simply be posting a loss.

On the other hand, I once heard a story (not sure if it's true or not) that several of the buildings in Times Square are actually empty inside. As the story goes, the landlords and building owners have found it so lucrative to simply sell their facades to advertisers, that it's not worth the hassle of getting tenants, collecting rent, handling build-out costs and generally dealing with the insides of the buildings at all.

It's a little scary when advertising becomes the primary revenue source for a very staid, traditional business like that. I guess it's better than going bankrupt, though :)

Tags: digital signage, out-of-home advertising

The morning press - digital signage news for April 30

Here are some of today's interesting clips from the web:

• CBS Acquires Int'l Outdoor Advertising Group - CBS acquired International Outdoor Advertising Group, the leading out-of-home company in South America, for $110 million cash. The deal expands CBS Outdoor's presence in Latin America, adding more than 17,000 advertising faces in in Argentina, Brazil, Chile and Uruguay.

• Redgate Media acquires MediaShell - MediaShell is a leading out-of-home advertising company that specializes in poster networks in office buildings, shopping malls, and residential buildings. The company covers over 500 locations each in Beijing, Shanghai, and Shenzen, with an additional 1,200 locations in Guangzhou, giving it a solid reach to China’s most affluent demographics, both at home and in the workplace.

• D-Link Enters Digital Signage Market - D-Link will offer solutions for wired and wireless in-store media networks. Special hardware and chipsets in the digital displays will allow configuration of a system of networked display stations managed by a back-end content server. Wither Cisco goes, D-Link follows, I suppose.

• Digital Signage Advertising en Route to Becoming a Multi-Billion Dollar Industry - According to NSR the industry, which has the majority of deployments and revenues globally from retail, hospitality, healthcare and transportation verticals, is poised to grow from an estimated installed base of about 210,000 sites in 2007 to more than 850,000 sites during the period from 2008 to 2013.

• Electrograph and Minicom partner for digital signage solutions - The agreement gives Electrograph resellers direct access to Minicom’s remote management, distribution and extension systems and strengthens Electrograph’s position as the number-one distributor of digital signage AV displays and accessories.

Tags: digital signage, digital signage news

Looking for more digital signage info? Check out WireSpring's Kiosk and Digital Signage blog for in-depth industry analysis and even more news about the digital signage industry. While you're there, feel free to read up on our digital signage software and services

VisionChina Media announces 2008 Q1 results

When we examined VisionChina Media's IPO in December of last year, I noted that while the company's filing statements gave us excellent insight into the transit-sector digital signage market in China, it was impossible to derive an accurate cost-per-slot or CPM figure because they didn't indicate how much revenue-generating airtime they were actually selling.

Today's update clears that up quite a bit, and further shows that if you have the wherewithal to install 40,000 screens in China, you too could have the opportunity to make boatloads of money. Take a look at some of these numbers:

• Total revenues in the first quarter of 2008 grew 304.5% year-over-year and 13.5% quarter-over-quarter to $13.6 million, out of which advertising services revenues grew 326.0% year-over-year and 13.2% quarter-over-quarter to $13.2 million.

• Net income in the first quarter of 2008 was $5.4 million, a decrease of 5.42% from $5.7 million in the fourth quarter of 2007, and a significant turn-around from a $0.36 million net loss in the first quarter of 2007. Excluding the three new exclusive cities that were included in the Company's network, net income for the first quarter 2008 was $5.5 million.

• As of March 31, 2008, the Company had installed 48,719 digital displays on buses, subways trains and subway platforms, compared with the 41,410 at the end of 2007.

• Average advertising service revenues per broadcasting hour grew 4.1% quarter-over-quarter to $493 dollars per broadcasting hour from $474 per broadcasting hour in the fourth quarter of 2007, and compared to $184 per broadcasting hour in the first quarter of 2007. This increase was a result of the full implementation of the rate card increase in November 2007. Excluding the three new exclusive agency cities that were included in the Company's network in the first quarter 2008, average advertising services revenues were $543 per broadcasting hour in the first quarter 2008.

• Network capacity, which is measured by total broadcasting hours, reached 25,980 hours in the first quarter of 2008, compared to 23,908 hours in the fourth quarter of 2007 and 16,212 in the first quarter of 2007.

• On average, the Company sold 6.24 advertising minutes per broadcasting hour in the first quarter of 2008, compared to 8.69 minutes per broadcasting hour in the fourth quarter of 2007 and 3.81 minutes per broadcasting hour in the first quarter of 2007. The decrease of minutes sold per broadcasting hour from the fourth quarter 2007 to the first quarter 2008 was due to expected seasonality in the first quarter. Excluding the three new exclusive agency cities that were included in the Company's network in the first quarter 2008, the Company sold 6.43 advertising minutes per broadcasting hour in the first quarter of 2008.

So as you can see, by only filling 10-15% of screen time with ads, the company is able to generate a significant amount of revenue (thanks to the insane quantity of both people and screens in the network), leaving them with room to grow while still providing enough non-commercial content to keep the screens useful and entertaining to viewers.


Tags: vision china, digital signage, advertising

Nielsen to report ratings for digital signage networks

From the MediaPost Digital Out-of-Home Forum in New York comes news that Nielsen, "plans to introduce TV ratings 'pocketpieces' for a variety of place-based television networks." Pocketpieces, which sound like they should be similar to Arbitron's PPM system, are in fact just small reports (i.e. they'd fit in your pocket), that are published weekly in the print and TV biz, but would probably start out as monthlies for digital signage.

Interestingly, the reports will be published on a per-network basis, squashing any early hopes for an authoritative, consolidated perspective for the industry, but that's certainly on the table if the various pocketpieces gain some traction. The article notes that, "the first of the pocketpieces--one for health club video network IdeaCast--would be released in the next 'two to three weeks,' and that another for Gas Station TV would follow shortly after. By September, he said Nielsen would be publishing pocketpieces for as many as 10 place-based television networks."

Readers hoping for a Nielsen-certified approach for handling the measurement of the media may also be disappointed to learn that:

Unlike television and online--where Nielsen manages big consumer panels to measure those media's audience estimates--Lindstrom said the place-based media network reports would reply primarily on compiling and modeling third-party data, such as membership data from health clubs, or transaction data at retail outlets of gas station pumps. He said this would be coupled with primary Nielsen research conducted by telephone that would ascribe demographics and other important information to the gross audience estimates. The method is similar to what Nielsen has been utilizing for the cinema advertising industry for several years, and the advent of Nielsen pocketpieces has helped that medium grow its share of advertising budgets.

So the news is good, but not as good as it could have been. However, where there's money, there's services -- it's one of those laws of the free-market economy. Thus, Nielsen can use the relatively low-cost, low-investment pocketpieces not only to make some quick money up-front, but to also gauge the industry to see if it's ready and willing to buy some higher-end services.

Anybody want to venture a guess as to which other digital signage networks will be honored with Nielsen coverage in the next 12 months or so? Will aggregators like See-Saw ever be able to convince them that their heterogeneous "meta-network" can/should be tracked as a single entity? So many questions....

Tags: digital signage, advertising, measurement

The morning press - digital signage news for April 23

Here are some of today's interesting clips from the web:

• Industry Standard highlights Channel M, Ripple, Danoo and others - Retailers are starting to invest in interactive displays which can show dynamic ads inside stores to better target customers who are stuck waiting in store lines. From the gas station to the coffee store, these displays are popping up everywhere. Pretty soon, look for an ad display in your bathroom. (joke, for now). Actually, it's not... we had a customer that was installing screens above urinals and in toilet stalls back in 2005, believe it or not.

• CBS Outernet and others join OVAB - New member companies include: Arena Media Networks (digital signage advertising in sports and entertainment venues), CBS Outernet (in-store digital video networks in grocery stores, pharmacies, and other retail locations), and Zoom Media (an indoor network provider to over 5,000 venues, including fitness centers, indoor soccer facilities, bowling centers, family entertainment centers, restaurants and nightclubs).

• Minicom looks at the cost ramifications of player placement in digital signage networks - While both media "player in back room" and "player at screen" technology are popular choices for the "last mile" of digital signage networks there are significant differences between the two which have major repercussions on TCO. The new white paper shows that extension technology in a ten screen Digital Signage network over a three year period can save over $10,000 dollars in service costs. Not surprisingly, the best TCO comes from using equipment that Minicom sells! I actually like their stuff and have used it in numerous deployments, but take the "research" findings with a grain of salt :)
  

• Future Media picks up 3 more Indian retail chains - Future Media, the media company of Future Group, in an aggressive sweep has picked up media rights of three players in the retail space – My Dollarstore, R-Mall in Mulund and Oberoi Mall in Kandivali. Future Media is in the business of creating media opportunities in spaces of consumption, within and outside the Future Group.

Tags: digital signage, digital signage news

Looking for more digital signage info? Check out WireSpring's Kiosk and Digital Signage blog for in-depth industry analysis and even more news about the digital signage industry. While you're there, feel free to read up on our digital signage software and services

Notes from the AD:TECH conference

I wasn't able to make it over to San Francisco for this month's AD:TECH conference, which is a series that focuses on all sorts of digital marketing/advertising trends and goes from city to city every month. Fortunately, there's a wealth of quality reviews and commentary on the web, and I thought it might be useful to try and aggregate some of the best bits here (along with the source lists for your perusal, of course).

First up is this blog post by Brian Smith over at ComparisonEngines.com. He took some pretty decent notes during the roundtable/panel discussions on digital out-of-home marketing, which makes for interesting reading. Even without going to the conference (and having been to plenty of similar ones in the past), it was quite easy to get the gist of each person's presentation. Measurement and ROI still apparently rate heavily as topics of interest, and it's always interesting to hear the diverse answers you get about these "hard" subjects.

DMNews comes in next with a summary of the entire show (which of course covered much more than just dOOH and in-store stuff, of course), and starts with a quote from Jeffrey W. Hayzlett, chief development officer and corporate VP at the Eastman Kodak Com­pany, who was also the opening speaker. His note: "The big thing to think about these days is how to align your brand in a digital world." Of course he got into behavioral targeting (online and offline -- scary), as well as mobile and out-of-home stuff. The more I hear about "next-generation" advertising technology, the more I want to constantly look over my shoulder to make sure that nobody is actually following me around :)

Last but not least is the show's own blog, which includes a Flikr-like photo album showing the show floor (featuring vendors you wouldn't normally associate with advertising), and some of the more interesting exhibits. My biggest takeaway from that? These marketing companies have way better schwag than the stuff I saw going around at GlobalShop or DSE.

So there you have it. Was it a show that many in the digital signage community should have gone to? I can't speak for you, but my time was almost certainly better spent elsewhere. There's a lot of cool gear and systems on tap for newfangled advertising and marketing programs, but for the most part (and excluding the conference sessions), I'm guessing that a quick trip around the web would give me more information and a better opportunity for 1:1 followup than spending hours on the show floor. Of course, I also didn't get any of the cool, branded tchotchkes either.

Tags: digital signage, ad:tech, marketing

The morning press - digital signage news for April 22

Here are some of today's interesting clips from the web:

• 3 Minute Ad Age covers Reuters' Times Square sign change, Captivate's elevator signage business model - In Times Square, the now-merged Thomson and Reuters publishing operations took over all the jumbo screens to beam their new orange logo graphics to the world. In other news in this 3 Minute Ad Age report, some Ad-Tech attendees were nearly gleeful about the prospects of an economic downturn. And, Captivate Networks explains the latest audience data for elevator media. (link goes to iTunes, which appears to be the only way to get the video clip)

• Channel M Receives Investment from Intel Capital - The company has completed Series C financing from Intel Capital. Funding will be used to expand Channel M’s digital content distribution network, as well as expand the sales and marketing infrastructure. Channel M is the nation’s largest in-store media company, working with more than 20,000 locations in the United States.

• MS Surface goes live in AT&T Wireless Stores - MTi's Jason Goldberg took at a look at this up-and-coming gimmick technology, concluding that "the customers in the store getting demos seemed generally wowed by the MS Surface. I didn’t observe any shoppers go from the Surface directly to the cash register, but today was a lot more about introducing a new gadget than it was about signing up new AT&T customers." (Not sure how long Jason has had a blog, but it's worth a look in its own right)

Tags: digital signage, digital signage news

Looking for more digital signage info? Check out WireSpring's Kiosk and Digital Signage blog for in-depth industry analysis and even more news about the digital signage industry. While you're there, feel free to read up on our digital signage software and services

The morning press - digital signage news for April 21

Here are some of today's interesting clips from the web:

• Interactive windows dare you to catch a Scion tC RS 4.0 - Scion's latest iteration certainly takes interactive promoting to new heights. In order to market its limited edition tC Release Series 4.0, it partnered up with InWindow to cover a series of street-side windows with bubbles which reacted to movements made by captivated individuals walking by.

• First commercially available pico projector appears - he device is an integrated PMP running Windows CE, is capable of producing a 640 x 480 projection, has an embedded 3.5-inch LCD display, and utilizes an SD slot for additional storage. There's no word on pricing -- or if this is going to make it onto our shores anytime soon.

• Texas Medical Association to roll out MedLink TV - MedLink International, Inc. provides doctors, hospitals, imaging centers, labs and patients with products and services designed to help create, manage and share medical information. Physician members, by supporting MedLink TV and providing this programming in their waiting rooms, are encouraging thoughtful communication with their patients, with the goal of providing the very best healthcare for their patients and their families.

Tags: digital signage, digital signage news

Looking for more digital signage info? Check out WireSpring's Kiosk and Digital Signage blog for in-depth industry analysis and even more news about the digital signage industry. While you're there, feel free to read up on our digital signage software and services

Posterscope study "substantiates the power of out-of-home"

As MediaWeek reports, out-of-home specialist Posterscope USA released a new study aimed towards making the out-of-home media buying process easier in light of the bevy of new types of ad formats released in the past decade or so. "The company polled 5,000 Adults 15-64 about their receptivity across all media, including mobile, out-of-home newspapers, magazines, cinema, radio, TV and the Internet. In addition to media habits, [the study, called OCS] delved into several lifestyle and demographic factors such as life stages, activities, hobbies and interests, values and attitudes, technology usage, and more standard demographic variable including age, income, education and occupation." The findings were pretty interesting (and these are more or less plagiarized directly from the MediaWeek article):

• Young adults are very receptive to out-of-home advertising, spending more time with out-of-home than the average adult: 84% of young adults notice advertising in movie theaters, 12% more likely than the average adult.
• Airport advertising is a strong vehicle for reaching affluent adults, with more than half (57%) noticing advertising in airports
• 47% credit airport advertising with helping them to pass the time.
• Affluent adults are 56% more likely to visit gyms, 49% more likely to visit spas and 30% more likely to visit casual dining restaurants than the general population 18 and older.

Granted there's nothing earth-shattering about the above statistics, but they do point to the fact that while OOH advertising currently captures about 2% of the total ad spend here in the US, its influence is growing, particularly in the key demographic that most marketers will do (practically) anything to reach.

Tags: digital signage, digital signage news