OTX study says digital signage really works!

A very positive study on the effectiveness of digital signage was released by research firm OTX today. According to this article, they collected data that shows that, "63 percent of adults find that advertising on digital signage 'catches their attention.' Moreover, the study confirms the stopping power of digital signage, as people consider advertising in this media to be more unique and entertaining, and less annoying than both traditional and online media."

Particularly appetizing to advertisers is the finding that, "digital out-of-home media is even more effective at reaching 18- to 34-year-olds. Seventy-five percent of people in this age range have seen digital signage in the past 12 months and notice digital signage in seven different locations during their week. Additionally, this group finds the advertising on digital signage to be more unique (63 percent), interesting (57 percent) and entertaining (53 percent) than advertising on other media and rates the media even higher than the general population across these measures." Reaching younger audiences is always seen as a kind of "Holy Grail", and if digital signage does in fact reach them better then the medium's fate is secured.

Still, while this study obviously represents good news, it should be taken with a grain of salt. The idea of tracking the effectiveness of digital signage is still a relatively new concept, and there's much work to be done before concrete metrics for in-store media emerge. Considering that Arbitron, POPAI, Nielsen and others are still working out what to measure and how to measure it, results may change in the future.

Also, because SeeSaw Networks commissioned this research (and of course they have a vested interest in seeing positive results make their way into the marketplace), analysts will need to exercise further caution when relying on the results. That's not to say that SeeSaw would intentionally mislead the public, but rather sponsored studies have a funny way of turning out in favor of the sponsor. It's just one of those things.

Personally, (and nothing against OTX or SeeSaw here because they seem like a great companies) for the time being I'm more willing to put a little more trust data coming from Nielsen or one of the other aforementioned gruops, simply because these firms are media measurement experts -- the gold standard when it comes to measuring audiences. Again this is not to say that that OTX's results are inaccurate or their methods incomplete. We simply have more experience and a better understanding of the other firms right now.

Let's hope that future surveys released Nielsen, POPAI, and Arbitron do show the same trends as OCX's study (and more data should start coming out soon). One survey showing the strengths of digital signage is nice. But lots of surveys showing the strengths of digital signage would be really nice!

Tags: SeeSaw, digital signage, advertising