In the beginning, most digital signage operators would display a repeating loop of full-screen media. They would often follow the traditional TV ad format rather than exploit the technology’s full capabilities. As far as the viewers were concerned, it was a bit like having an insurance salesman knock on your door at dinner time. Viewers began to perceive digital signage as nothing more than background noise so they simply “tuned it out”.
As is often the case, innovation first came from 24 hour TV news channels. Back in 2000, several news channels began to experiment with new ways of packaging and delivering information. At first, they started to deliver multiple streams of information in shorter segments. This soon evolved to include a mix of video content, high-end graphics and real-time news tickers. This made for a much more stimulating experience and audiences noticed.
There are many commonalities between TV news channels and digital signage programming.
For example:
- Viewer exposure is very short (a few seconds to a few minutes at best).
- The audience absorbs the information on the fly.
- Programming is based on repetition (looping).
- A viewer who isn't hooked very quickly will move on to another channel.
TV news relies on 3 devices to keep their viewers hooked:
The news ticker often seen at the bottom of the screen, the video news report that occupies the main area of the screen and the programming that is non-linear to stimulate viewers interest.
We believed this approach, which is quite popular in North America, would represent the future of the digital signage market.
However, we soon discovered that technical constraints made this model virtually impossible to implement. Many of the software applications still on the market today were designed more than 10 years ago. Back then, it was inconceivable for digital signage to achieve the same look and feel as broadcast TV news.
Navori QL and other second generation digital signage applications have been completely redesigned to take advantage of many new technologies. They enable users who may lack extensive technical or graphical expertise to easily achieve the same visual impact as broadcast TV using inexpensive PC equipment (priced around $350).
I predict this level of innovation will help grow the digital signage market, even in the current economic environment.
