Photos courtesy ViewSonic Canada
By Deidre Deacon
The past year has been a banner one for digital displays. Key categories for large-format and/or interactive displays outperformed previous years to deliver positive, double-digit growth across a growing number of sectors, from entertainment, retail and commercial to small businesses and education. According to research by MarketsandMarkets, the large-format dynamic display market is expected to experience a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 6.7 per cent between 2017 and 2023.
There are a number of reasons behind the strong growth trends. For one, digital signage is becoming an integral part of customer engagement, from spectacular, eye-catching dynamic posters and billboards to interactive screens that allow consumers to order food, check out product features or find their way around a facility. The medium is finding a home in almost all environments, from sports venues and subway stations to coffee shops, dental offices and art galleries.
For another, technological innovations have helped digital signage’s cause by making hardware more affordable and, thus, more accessible to a wider breadth of users. As displays become larger, they are also becoming lighter and offering greater functionality.
At the same time, digital signage network integration and content management have become less complex undertakings, thanks to today’s built-in capabilities and user-friendly software. Virtually any business can now program and manage its own digital signage content.
A growing number of non-commercial organizations, too, are making significant investments in new digital signage networks. Movingmedia, for example, is working on a project for the city of Peterborough, Ont., which will involve the installation of new screens in nine municipal facilities over the coming months, each of which will be customized with content for its specific audience. This market niche is expected to expand as more municipal governments also adopt the technology.
As the uptake in digital signage deployments continues throughout 2018, the following are a few of the top trends that will have significant effects on the market.
