The hottest month of the year is behind us, and we’re happy to report that the digital signage sector has also been hot! While we’re on the topic, heat always gives reason to consider sustainability. As such we came across several discussions over digital signage sustainability, but also stats which confirm the effectiveness and impact of Out-of-Home advertising. We talked about emergency digital signage and other highlights from the OnSign TV blog this month. As well as the 2024 Olympics!
How much energy does the Sphere use?
Nvidia recently published an article concerning the Las Vegas Sphere. As you may know, The Sphere hosts a variety of unique experiences, including concerts and corporate events. It is truly a remarkable and colossal structure, the largest LED display in the world, in fact. The post by Nvidia talks quite a bit about the behind-the-scenes tasks and processes needed to run it. According to the article, around 150 NVIDIA RTX A6000 GPUs help power the stunning visuals floor-to-ceiling.
“It’s estimated that the Sphere is capable of drawing 28,000,000 watts of power,” says a post by PC Gamer on the matter. “For reference, 1,000,000 watts, or 1 megawatt, is said to be enough to satisfy the instantaneous demand of 750 homes at once in the California/Nevada area, meaning that 28 megawatts would be equivalent to the power necessary for 21,000 homes.” While it certainly isn’t a win for digital signage sustainability, it truly is an impressive feat of technology.
Another study confirms OOH is effective
AdWorld.ie recently published an interesting article on the topic of OOH effectiveness, referencing various studies.
The post included a recent study published by PML Group which provided further insight into the success of OOH and its effectiveness. For a start, it revealed that Out-of-Home advertising successfully caught the attention of 83% of respondents. This included outdoor ads, posters, digital screens, and buses. The study also showed a somewhat higher impact on younger audiences.
In terms of awareness of outdoor ads, 93% of consumers ranked outdoor advertising in their top 5 media for noticeability. On the topic of discovery, 67% of respondents confirmed they discovered new brands through this medium throughout the past year. Be sure to check out the full article for additional and more case-specific stats. All in all, it serves as a good reminder of how powerful Out-of-Home is, as well as an indicator for its future.
For additional data, check out a DPAA post, claiming that 96% of marketers and agencies plan to increase or maintain DOOH spending in the next 12 months.
Ad categories to focus on in the 4th quarter
A recent post by Billboard Insider talked about OOH selling strategies for the fourth quarter of 2024. The post notes that the “fourth quarter total ad spend is 23% greater, on average, than the rest of the year.” It’s important to know which categories to focus on if you’re looking to sell ad space on your signage. With this in mind, the post pointed out ad categories that are expected to sell faster in Q4. It is suggested that you identify the top ten categories from the list which are applicable to your individual marketplace. After that, determine the top 3-5 advertisers within each category. As a result, this will produce a list of potential prospects.
The list includes food deliveries, gift cards of any kind, sports bars, supermarkets, as well as other more specific categories such as lawn and home services and indoor water parks. For the full list, check out the article over at Billboard Insider, and see if any of these sound like a potential prospect!
European digital signage companies may face a challenge
Germany’s leading news site, Spiegel Online, published an article titled “The Madness of Sustainability Reports.” Invidis posted their own insight into the article in English. It referrenced the new EU directive which came into force at the beginning of the year, gradually enforcing 50,000 companies to provide a sustainability report as part of regular financial reporting over the coming years. At first glance, this doesn’t sound too problematic. However, many described it as a burden, with some even uncertain if they can successfully incorporate it into their strategies. It will require new ways of reporting and expending additional resources.
Within the digital signage industry, larger businesses have the upper hand here. Companies like LG or Samsung are on top of the matter of digital signage sustainability, with proper routines measuring their carbon footprints. As we go down the ladder to medium-sized national integrators, they don’t deal with sustainability on such an extensive level and have some catching up to do to generate accurate reports.
With this information in mind, it is clear that sustainability is only going to become more notable and the pressure will increase drastically in the coming years for all businesses in the field.
Keeping people safe with digital signage
This month on the OnSign TV blog, we talked about a variety of topics. For a start, we pointed out some guidelines on using digital signage in cases of emergency. While it may not necessarily be needed if you run a very small business, consider if emergency digital signage can be incorporated into your content on-demand. Furthermore, we mentioned safety as an important aspect in our post about summer digital signage content. Lastly, we welcomed the 2024 Olympics with best ways to use digital signage during the event. The information within that particular article will come in handy even after the Olympics, so check it out!
Another post you may want to check out highlighted ways of upselling via digital signage, including tips and best practices. Take a look!
Cover image by 煜翔 肖.
