The Digital Signage Summit Europe (DSSE) was held in Munich on 22-23 May. It has become a key event for the European digital signage industry, showcasing the latest innovations and trends. The overall outlook was clear, despite growth slowing down in 2023, the digital signage industry remains optimistic about the years ahead.
Key Themes:
Hardware
Sustainability is at the centre of every management and boardroom conversation and not surprisingly, “Green Signage” was a major focus at this year’s summit. New sustainable digital screens are emerging, which reduce power consumption by up to 50%. As screens and ancillary hardware become greener, digital signage networks will begin to actively reduce Co2 emissions. Longer lifecycles for existing equipment were also highlighted to reduce wastage. Hardware is becoming more sustainable however in the short term there are strategies which can be adopted to mitigate emissions. For example, apart from reducing emissions in our supply chain, ECN also offsets 100% of the emissions of its Digital Out of Home (DOOH) network.
Data
As digital screen networks appear in more public spaces, the adoption of programmatic DOOH will require huge amounts of data to fuel trading decisions. Brands will not only want to understand how much foot traffic is passing the screen but will also use AI triggers to make their advertising more contextually relevant. This will lead to growth in passive and privacy compliant data sensors and with the pending ban on 3rd party cookies in the online world, DOOH is well placed to use data to deliver more relevant advertising and at the same time, respect an individual’s right to online privacy.
Content Management
Content is king in influencing audiences, which makes Content Management Systems (CMS) an invaluable part of the digital signage industry. With countless existing different systems out there, finding the right system for a digital network isn’t easy. Event host invidis Consulting announced the launch of their new Invidis Digital Signage Software Compass which helps compare different CMS with all their different software offerings depending on business needs, giving users an unbiased and transparent view of the comparisons.
The pending launch of Samsung VXT, an innovative cloud-based CMS, is expected to change the game for the digital signage industry – an open system allowing to connect to various hardware and not just with Samsung screens – which already make up 50% of the installed devices. Samsung VXT is also opening opportunities for third-party developers to create and integrate their solutions within the platform. However, the launch of Samsung VXT met with loud criticism, as many existing CMS platforms viewing it as a potential threat to their business models.
Retail Media
According to Group M, the value of retail owned media is forecast to be larger than television by 2028. Much of this growth is being fuelled by e-commerce (mobile, online) with about 90% of the market value, however a new growth sector is in-store digital advertising networks. With big players like Lidl and Tesco having significant first party data to offer, many brands are now exploring and testing this new DOOH opportunity within proximity to point-of-sale (POS). The big question remains whether these networks will attract non FMCG brands which comprise a large section of the advertising market.
Programmatic DOOH
The adaption of programmatic DOOH (pDOOH) is accelerating globally with revenues forecast to reach $6.5B by 2031. As more clients test and integrate pDOOH into their omnichannel planning, there is still a knowledge gap, with most pDOOH transactions being guaranteed deals rather than auction based. Technical challenges remain for the digital signage networks to achieve full automation without disruption, such as connectivity challenges, and offer full inventories for programmatic buying. iDOOH’s (Institute for Digital Out Of Home Media) CEO Frank Goldberg recognizes ECN as a pioneer in programmatic DOOH, being fully programmatic-ready since 2017.
Conclusion
DSS 2024 was a successful event, offering valuable insights into software and hardware innovations, sustainability strategies, data collection advancements, and the future of programmatic advertising. The future looks exciting for the digital signage networks in Europe.