Screenmedia Magazine - digital signage, digital out-of-home, convergent media, screenmedia magazine

Two pieces of research from the U.S. topped our headlines recently (and they’re from firms active in the DOOH market rather than pointy-headed analysts, so their optimism tinged with caution is convincing).

First up comes WireSpring, with the latest of its annual analyses of the cost of installing and operating digital signage.

Of course, calculations like this inevitably have to build in a host of assumptions that won’t hold for everyone. What’s strikingly clear from WireSpring’s numbers, though, and likely to remain the case even if you adjust those assumptions quite a bit, is that the bulk of the cost isn’t in rolling out the network: it’s in management and content production, not just on day one, but throughout the project’s life.

Further confirmation, then, that the essence of this business lies not in technology, but in what you actually put on those screens, and how it generates revenue for you.

The second story you need to take a look at relates directly to that issue of revenue generation, and concerns Adcentricity’s report on the state of the DOOH advertising market. Again, individual networks’ mileage will vary, but one important lesson here is that while the medium is at last on agencies’ and brands’ radar, many still need some convincing before they’ll commit more than nominal or experimental budgets to DOOH.

And that underlines the need, implied too by WireSpring’s cost analysis, for networks to invest in and continually develop their sales and marketing operations.