Frost & Sullivan announces growth in digital signage market

I'll just cut and paste the whole press release (taken from BusinessWire), since it's pretty interesting, and very relevant to the digital signage market:

PALO ALTO, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--June 8, 2005--The booming retail industry is witnessing new positioning strategies among retailers. Realizing the futility of competing on price, retailers are looking at alternate means to differentiate themselves.

Consequently, there is a renewed emphasis on providing customers with better in store experience. By delivering relevant messages using compelling content and reducing perceived wait time at checkout counters, digital signage promises to enhance customer experience.

New analysis from Frost & Sullivan (www.it.frost.com), North American Digital Signage Markets, reveals that digital signage advertising revenue totaled $102.5 million in 2004.

If you are interested in a virtual brochure, which provides manufacturers, end users, and other industry participants an overview of the latest analysis of the North American Digital Signage Markets, then send an e-mail to Mireya Castilla, Corporate Communications at mireya.castilla@frost.com with the following information: your full name, company name, title, telephone number, e-mail address, city, state, and country. We will send you the information via email upon receipt of the above information.

"There is a lack of influential media avenues at the point of purchase and a decline of mass media effectiveness, that remains a pressing issue in the digital signage market," notes Frost & Sullivan Industry Analyst Vineeta Kommineni. "Similar to the more than 500 ad forms that are baffled media planners in the early stages of online advertising, the digital signage industry has a glut of ad specifications based on factors such as display size, aspect ratio, and presence of sound."

Digital signage is a "marketing by glance" medium and dictates that the messages are brief with minimal audio as to be non-disruptive to both customer and employee.

Current television spots are cropped to ensure optimum attention and retention spans. Owing to its primary nature as promotional marketing rather than as a branding medium, sales promotion agencies may be more suited to designing the content when compared to ad agencies.

As the medium continues to grow, the future of digital signage hinges on the emergence of a new discipline related to creating content tailored for the medium. Studies analyzing store traffic flow, time spent in the store, time spent in each zone of the store and customer linger points need to be correlated to determine placement of display, length and nature of message.

In addition, agencies are cautious in evaluating the role of digital signage in the media mix. Being a fledgling channel, digital signage lacks measurements and buying standards and the medium is considered "unaudited." Hence, media buyers perceive digital signage to be more complicated than the routine of TV, radio or magazine buys to which they are accustomed.

In the medium term, an industry association such as the Interactive Advertising Bureau in the context of digital signage may set the stage for developing standards and guidelines. Development of a currency to trade in digital signage will spur media planners to alter their spending and embrace the medium.

"The entry of media conglomerates such as Clear Channel, Viacom, ABC Networks, Liberty Media and others have justified investments in the industry and have enhanced the perception of digital signage media," adds Kommineni. "Such conglomerates not only have the access to capital resources to fund a large scale network, but also the advantage of selling ads on digital signage networks as part of a bigger package comprising other media slots."

There is a grand void in managed service solutions that encompass foot traffic analysis, ergonomic studies, network design, hardware and software selection, installation content creation, liaison with advertising agencies and media planners, and network maintenance into their solution.

North American Digital Signage Markets, part of the Kiosks subscription, examines key drivers in the digital signage markets, looks at the challenges and provides recommendations to overcome them. The study also sizes, forecasts and scrutinizes pricing trends and identifies market leaders, challengers, contenders and emerging participants in each of the digital signage advertising, display and software markets.

Frost & Sullivan, a global growth consulting company, has been partnering with clients to support the development of innovative strategies for more than 40 years. The company's industry expertise integrates growth consulting, growth partnership services, and corporate management training to identify and develop opportunities. Frost & Sullivan serves an extensive clientele that includes Global 1000 companies, emerging companies, and the investment community by providing comprehensive industry coverage that reflects a unique global perspective and combines ongoing analysis of markets, technologies, econometrics, and demographics. For more information, visit www.frost.com.