PRN partners with the TV Guide Channel for digital signage content

This is a pretty cool idea, as noted over at aka.tv:

Premier Retail Networks (PRN) has partnered with TV Guide Channel and TV Guide SPOT – a network developed specifically for the on-demand television environment – to provide content to PRN's in-store digital-signage networks at major grocery and electronics chains across the United States.

TV Guide's programming, which includes daily "Watch This" segments highlighting the best of primetime television, will reach over 57m viewers nationwide in over 3000 grocery stores including Albertsons, Best Buy and Circuit City, according to PRN. The TV Guide content will also be made available to PRN's largest retail partner, Wal-Mart. According to a spokesperson for PRN, there has been no provision yet to include the TV Guide programming in the Wal-Mart TV contetn loop, although it is likely that this will happen.

Think about it, and the partnership makes perfect sense. PRN gets free content for its in-store digital signage network, and is now providing an additional service to consumers instead of just advertising in-store products (yes, I know they do a lot more, like showing live concerts or up-to-the-minute disaster/emergency information). In return, TV Guide reaches a bigger audience, and probably sells a few more of their paper magazines to boot.

Helius unveils new digital signage software package

Satellite provider Helius has been a player in the digital signage space for a while, but usually relied on partners to deliver the software that powered their networks. That seems to be changing, as this article notes:

Helius has added to its array of satellite-delivered IP-video broadcast offerings with the launch of its new MediaSignage software package, a browser-based digital signage scheduling application tool.

According to Helius, the application is designed to give businesses the ability to schedule and deploy multimedia content at multiple display points from a central location.

The MediaSignage software package, which has onboard storage capabilities, does this by providing a "drag and drop" interface for the development of multimedia play-lists for playback at specific times on numerous displays. The tool allows content to be displayed in a one-, two- or three-panel format, with a main window, side information bar and ticker. Location and size of each panel is customizable to fit each business' needs.

The rest of the article is here.

Aka's opinion section showcases difference between loops and playlists

Aka.tv is starting an opinion section where industry pundits and players can comment on the various and (sometimes) sundry items that we face when planning and deploying digital signage networks. The first article to come out of this is a piece on the difference between playlists and file loops, written by Brian Dusho from BroadSign. Here's a clip:

Suppose you have a network of 100 supermarket locations in five different markets. Each supermarket has displays in the aisles and at the checkout. The aisle displays play different content than those at the checkout, so there are two channels of programming.

If you sell time per market per channel per week, you must create, approve, manage and deliver ten playlists weekly, assuming that the content is the same every day. Each playlist must be assembled, approved, and delivered to the appropriate playback device on schedule. Each playlist must be manually arranged so each ad can be exposed a certain number of times.

What if an advertiser requested exposure in a special group of locations for a special occasion? For example, a car dealer only wants to advertise at locations within ten miles of his dealership starting Wednesday for a week. With the playlist approach, you would either need many custom playlists, or a programmer to code custom playback rules in order to partially automate the existing playlists. This is still possible, yet costly.

Now imagine all of your advertisers are asking for custom media buys. This would require creating, approving, managing and delivering up to 200 unique playlists per day-part, per day – or many more lines of custom programming code. Because of that, with playlist-based scheduling you are forced to only allow simple ad campaigns or it becomes cost-prohibitive to operate.

Brian is definitely loop-centric, leading me to believe that is one of his product's strenths :) Still, the article is a good read, and the rest of it can be found here. I recommend you check it out (free reg requried from aka.tv)

More news of kiosk and digital signage convergence

As reported from NAMC Newswire:

friendlyway Corporation (OTCBB:FDWY) a developer and marketer of interactive self-service solutions, today announced a partnership with NEC Display Solutions of America, Inc., who will be supplying the large-screen LCD displays used in the new friendlyway Impress(TM).

Both friendlyway and NEC Display Solutions will be marketing the new "impressive" self-service and digital signage system. The friendlyway Impress is an extension of friendlyway's signature line of interactive systems which lead in elegant design, top quality and performance. The Impress stands about eight and a half feet tall, three and a half feet wide and only six inches deep. It currently is available with either a NEC Display Solutions 32" or 40" portrait LCD display with optional SAW touch screen technology.

The rest of the press release is here, but just has a couple of typical press release quotes and blurbs about the companies. What's interesting to see is that hardware vendors are starting to wake up and realize the possibilities of merged kiosk and digital sign systems. I expect to see a lot more of this sort of thing in the future.

Manhattan digital signage network shows sponsored artwork

As reported in Media Life Magazine, "Billijam, headquartered in New York and creator of the Business Sponsored Art Program, has partnered with Clear Channel to bring sponsored art to the streets of New York through its Digital Display Network," an outdoor digital signage network which is typically used to show advertisements and public service announcements on LED screens often found near subway entrances.

Businesses sponsor displays of original art on LED video screens placed at street level at subway entrances. There is also placement available on plasma, LCD and LED screens in a variety of other public places. Art spots are part of a 60-second video advertising loop that targets pedestrians.

Creative is developed by New York-area artists through Billijam. Each piece of art has only one sponsor. Each piece is reflective of the advertiser’s identity and brand.

“New art is generated for each sponsor. We interview the sponsor to understand what their brand is about and come back with something that’s customized for them,” Triandafellos says.

The screen street program was launched in Manhattan in 2003. The art program premiered in October. The art images can also be projected on a variety of surfaces, including interior and exterior walls, screens, curtains, windows and other objects. The sponsor’s message can be changed by day or time of day.

You can find the full article here.

Woman’s Hospital implements interactive patient network

Broadcast Engineering is reporting that:

The Woman's Hospital in Baton Rouge, LA, has implemented a networked interactive patient system.

The ACCESS system, provided by Skylight Healthcare Systems, is a hospital-specific digital signage network providing customized entertainment, communication and education centers in each patient’s room.

The solution turns standard television sets in patient rooms into communication centers using a specialized, integrated remote control and a custom wireless keyboard. Patients and family members can receive information about the hospital, the medical staff and their stay. Patients can directly contact appropriate departments throughout the hospital and access an extensive library of educational videos on new baby care, specific conditions and at-home treatment plans.

The original article can be found here, and includes additional links for more information.

VARs can profit from digital signage...

... at least according to this article at PC Magazine, anyway :) The last few lines of the article read:

Ben Leet, senior consultant at analyst firm Decision Tree Consulting, agreed that the digital signage market is poised for growth.

“The demand is definitely there but it hasn’t happened yet. This is mainly because digital signage is so complex and it addresses so many different verticals,” he said.

“The large AV specialists have been going after big deals, such as 10,000 units for a major supermarket, but there is also a lot of demand for small deals.

“There are plenty of opportunities in gyms and pubs. However, the smaller clients need an integrator that can pull together all of the different elements of a project.”

Ok, I'll be the first to agree that digital signage networks take a healthy amount of planning and work to set up, however I think it's wrong to say that any tech-savvy VAR can jump right in and expect profits. Digital signage networks require a wide range of business, finance, creative services, marketing and merchandising knowledge ON TOP of the tech, which you'll need to know cold in order to handle all of the display, network and transmission systems that exist today. Sorry for the rant, but I know that a lot of A/V VARs expect digital signage to be a natural extension of their existing services portfolio, and only after they find out about the other components of a successful network do they step back to think about it.

Play networks expands digital signage empire

Whita Bizjournals is carrying this article about PlayNetwork, a previously audio-only network provider to retailers, who is beginning to experiment with networked digital signage:

Since its founding nine years ago, PlayNetwork Inc. has provided customized music and some video content to retailers and restaurants. The Redmond-based company selects and provides music meant to encourage customers to linger longer and spend more at stores such as apparel retailer Abercrombie & Fitch and athletic footwear seller The Finish Line.

The company also sells audio-video systems to its customers, pulling in about 60 percent of its revenue through those sales.

Four months ago, PlayNetwork merged with video and digital signage company Crows Nest Entertainment of Seattle. With the new capabilities and customers added by the merger, PlayNetwork expects its video segment to be a major growth engine in the future.

Crow's Nest currently has a very large network of DVD-driven screens, and it is only a matter of time (and money) before they will have to convert those over to a connected network of some sort.

Minicom hardware powering Swedish bar and club digital signage network

Minicom audio/video hardware runs the digital signage system in Switzerland's 'Bars & Clubs Channel'

Switzerland's screenIMAGE uses Minicom hardware exclusively in its digital signage applications

Minicom Advanced Systems, a leading provider of audio/video distribution systems for the last mile in digital signage, revealed today that Switzerland's screenIMAGE uses Minicom hardware exclusively in its digital signage applications. screenIMAGE (www.screenimage.ch) is one of the largest A/V integrators in Switzerland, and the only one to provide complete turnkey digital signage installations.
...

Christian Brantschen, one of the owners at screenIMAGE noted, 'Minicom met all of our audio and video requirements with a high level of service and prices which we were able to pay. Their products met our needs for flexibility, availability, and scalability. Minicom believed in our project since the beginning and supported us even without any existing order with evaluation systems, pre-sales support and local presence.'

The Bars & Clubs Channel project was so successful that screenIMAGE has since implemented Minicom video distribution solutions in additional digital signage projects.

You can read the full press release here.

Digital signage / digital retailing terms glossary online

Lisa Jachimowicz, the founder of the Digital Signage Forum, has written a nice glossary of some of the terms and acronyms that get used (and occasionally abused) in the digital signage / digital retailing industry. While I'm not sure I've heard the term RDS (retail digital signage) used that often, the rest of them are terms that come up every day, including POP, ROI, RFID and CPM. Don't know what any of those are? Well, you'd better go check out the article then!

Progressive Enterprises to roll out digital signage to entire chain

As aka.tv reports in this article, New Zealand's largest supermarket chain will be rolling out digital signage to all of its 93 stores. This comes after a successful 6 month trial, and some positive research. More than a press release or company announcement, the article actually lays out some of the results of that research, including:

• A discounted energy drink featured on the network experienced a 146 percent increase in sales at the 277 Foodtown store, compared with a 70 percent uplift of the same product in a comparable store with no screens.
• A cereal advertised with a special offer on the pack saw sales increase 224 per cent at the store showing digital signage, compared with a 32 per cent increase at a control store.

Obviously, numbers like that make it a bit easier to secure advertisers for the network. To read the rest of the results, check out the article at the above link. You'll need to register with aka (free) if you haven't already.

Carrefour deploys instore TV network

As AV Interactive reports on Carrefour's foray (sorry for the alliteration) into digital signage:

Europe-wide retail group Carrefour has launched an in-house TV pilot in its Dietlikon hypermarket near Zurich.

The Carrefour Live project will offer shoppers hourly-updated local news and weather forecasts and will also screen Carrefour promotions and advertising. The ad-funded project is being developed by Swiss digital signage group Neo Advertising, which claims to be able to get breaking news on to the Carrefour screens before any other media runs it.

‘Carrefour has realised that retail is in itself the future mass media and that digital screens are the posters of tomorrow’, says Neo co-founder Christian Vaglio-Giors. ‘The idea rests on the size, number and quality of the LCD screens and the online broadcasts from our Lausanne control room’.

‘Our customers have reacted extremely positively’, says Carrefour communications manager Franck Linstrumelle. ‘If they continue to do so, all our hypermarkets will be equipped with similar screens’.

Focus Media acquires outdoor ad firm

Chinese digital signage megapower Focus Media is on a tear buying up companies in the region with the cash acquired from their IPO (or their profitable digital signage network, of course :) As this article notes:

Focus Media Holdings Limited, which owns and operates one of the largest digital-signage advertising networks in China, has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Infoachieve Limited, a BVI incorporated company, whose 100 percent-owned subsidiary Shanghai Framedia Advertising Development Ltd (“Framedia”) claims to be the largest community advertising network in China.

Under the agreement, Focus Media will acquire a 100 percent equity stake in Framedia for US$39.6 million in cash and US$55.4 million in the form of Focus Media common stock and an additional potential future payment of up to US$88.0 million in Focus Media common stock (valued at US$24.56 per ADR) contingent upon Framedia meeting certain earning target in 2006, for an aggregate potential payment of up to US$183.0 million. The acquisition is expected to close by the end of 2005 and to be accretive to Focus Media’s earnings per share in 2006, according to the company's announcement of the deal.

Norway's ProntoTV digital signage service set to expand

From this article over at aka.tv:

Norwegian network operator ProntoTV is to establish an in-store TV service for Reitan Service Handel (RSH).

The Reitan Group is one of Scandinavia’s leading franchise-based retail operators, managing more than 1900 outlets including REMA-1000, Narvesen, 7-Eleven and Pressbyrån stores in five countries, with an annual turnover of NOK28.4bn (US$4.38bn).

The digital signage systems will be deployed to several hundred sites across Scandanavia where they will be used to provide product information and offer advertising opportunities to product manufacturers and suppliers.

Digital signage industry pundits announce Screen Expo Europe tradeshow

As The Retail Bulletin notes (in this article): Screen Expo Europe is for everyone operating and or interested in digital signage and the digital media network arena! Screen Expo Europe has been carefully designed to benefit all parties needed to make indoor and outdoor digital media networks happen.

The show will include coverage on:

• Digital media content creation and management
• Advertising, media planning and sales, media owners and network operators
• Digital media application design incorporating POP and interactive kiosks
• Display hardware and digital media technology solutions
• Content management & distribution software and communications platforms
• Trade associations and networking bodies
• Consumer research and data feedback

Given the quick rise of digital signage oriented shows in the US, it's not surprising to see this sort of thing coming out of Europe, where consumers and retailers alike seem to be on the forefront of digital retailing technology.