Identity Crisis in Digital Signage, or How to Stop Picking Up Crumbs And Start Getting Real Ad Dollars?
A few years ago, the first web portal for our industry named itself aka.tv, citing the fact that no single name was universally accepted at the time. Aka.tv’s home page still lists many names the medium went by then: narrowcasting, captive audience networks, electronic display networks, electronic billboards, digital media networks, out-of-home media networks, digital in-store merchandizing, retail media networks, place-based media, digital signage, intelligent visual information systems and datacasting.
Looking back, most of the names ended up to be short-lived, as they failed to resonate with providers or their clients. Out of the initial aka.tv list only ‘digital signage’ remains in heavy use, the rest got either extinct or were modified; for instance: ‘out-of-home media networks’ evolved into ‘digital out-of-home’, ‘out-of-home video’ and ‘alternative out-of-home’ (e.g., in PQ Media reports). ‘Place-based media’ was backed by Nielsen, but did not fly either.
So, unlike the clearly defined traditional media and Internet, we remain for the most part a ‘no name’ media segment in the eyes of agencies, although many advertisers recognize the potential impact of communicating with consumers when they leave home.
Nevertheless, despite the confused identity, since aka.tv was launched, the medium has quickly expanded into a two-billion-dollar-plus sector, with a growth rate of 27% per annum in 2007 (PQ Media Report) and forecasted CAGR of 12.9% from 2007 through 2012 (PQ Media Report). That’s impressive, considering the recession (it was factored in the report) and the fact that digital signage is thus far largely off the radars of major media buying houses.
The recent Digital Media Summit organized by OVAB in New York showed that Madison Avenue finally succumbed to the two-prone pressure – from advertisers and networks, and is now ready to consider digital signage for inclusion in media plans.
However, as I see from my discussions with marketers, agencies and networks, the continuing identity crisis keeps preventing the industry from getting a legitimate seat at the media buyers’ table.
While agencies say they are ‘ready’, they are still structured by silos, or ‘buckets, neither of which gives digital signage any visibility. If we do not proactively help them define the appropriate category for our sector, we risk staying buried somewhere deep in the ‘out-of-home’ or ‘alternative’, or ‘digital’ buckets and, as such, being eligible for nothing but ‘crumbs’ versus real ad dollars.
Due to the fact that we are currently a subcategory of a category, or even a subcategory of another subcategory, most planners are also largely unaware of digital signage. And, as the saying goes, ‘if you’re not on the plan, you’re not in the buy.’
The question is, should we keep hiding within an existing category, or simply create one of our own and get the attention our medium deserves? A separate category would have a much better chance to distinguish itself from other media by clearly stating its unique value in implementing marketing strategies.
The next question is: if we push for a separate category, how should we pitch it, what name would reflect its true identity? Should we promote ‘digital signage’, which is already the most wide-spread and proven term inside the industry, or make a brand new one?
Speaking about a new name, what quality makes digital signage so valuable to advertisers? Undoubtedly, the fact that it reaches people when they are at a location other than home, when they are in a ‘consumer mode’ and are not so opposed to advertising messages, as when they are at home. Following this logic, why not name it ‘location-based media’? Or revive the ‘place-based media’, but make it a stand-alone category this time?
PQ Media in its latest report adopted the general name ‘digital out-of-home media’ for the industry and subdivided it into ’video advertising networks’ (VANs), ‘digital billboards’ and ‘ambient advertising’. This classification makes sense and is in line with recently increased usage of ‘digital out-of-home’, but if we go along this path, we will inevitably find ourselves back in the Out-of-home/Outdoor category, which is “the last one to plan and the first one to cut”. Even certain influential members of the OVAB (Out-of-home Video Advertising Bureau) are now doubtful about the ‘out-of-home’ part in the bureau’s name for the above-mentioned reason. Besides, ‘video advertising networks’ can be confused with online networks (just ‘google’ it and see what comes up).
Our trade, by all conservative estimates, is one of the fastest-growing media with unrivaled effectiveness, and it fully deserves a clear voice, a distinct name and an independent media buying category. It all starts with a name that may either help it soar, or stall acceptance by the advertising community. How do we resolve the identity crisis and get to play with ‘the big guys’? I would like to know everyone’s opinion.
Entry Filed under: Digital Signage Evolution, How to: Digital Signage Tips, The Big Picture, Uncategorized
Google is Getting Access to Cable TV Ad Sales: Is Digital Signage Next?
NBC Universal and Google announced a strategic partnership that would give the largest search advertising company access to cable TV ad space inventory, Ad Age reports.
The move, if successful, could enable smaller marketers, who have been using Google’s paid search ad engine AdWords and who have not been able to afford TV ads before, to buy air time on a number of NBC’s cable outlets, bypassing traditional media sales channels.
According to Ad Age, when the system is in place, it would allow ‘non-traditional’ advertisers to upload their own content and target it to cable TV households based on the desired geographic markets and viewer profiles using an online interface, thus avoiding agency overhead and media buyer commissions.
In addition, these new advertisers would be able to receive high-tech metrics via Google TV Ads application, which can report second-by-second set-top-box data, says Ad Age: “That measure has become more popular as companies such as Starcom USA, TNS and Nielsen have offered plans to help advertisers get more precise data about how viewers watch TV, skip across channels, and use digital video recorders.” The network TV ad space will not be affected by the deal, Ad Age reports.
This collaboration could give NBC Universal a much needed edge against its “Big 4? rivals amid continuing fragmentation of TV market, while providing Google with a revenue stream from traditional media.
Mainstream agencies and research companies are likely to perceive the NBC-Google agreement as a threat, as it contributes to the erosion of their control of TV ad space and has the potential of taking over at least part of network TV sales in the future..
Many attempts of creating online ‘media space exchange’-type of enterprises since the early 90s have been thwarted, not without efforts by the traditional media establishment.
If the collaboration works, I don’t see any obstacle for Google to start making inroads into digital signage (judging by company’s reported patent applications it is already working on it), as there would not be too much difference in the ad sales set up. It would make more sense, though, when digital signage ad space is more aggregated.
Entry Filed under: The Big Picture, Uncategorized
