BroadSign carried out the initial phase of integration with rVue last year, becoming the first digital signage software company to do so. This stage of integration has coincided with the launch of the new version of rVue’s web interface earlier this year. To date, 21 of the DOOH networks running on BroadSign have opted in to be part of rVue’s inventory.

BroadSign-powered networks can now be visible to the advertisers and agencies who use rVue to find DOOH ad inventory that meets their demographic and geographic criteria. Once the required inventory is discovered, media buyers can proceed to booking their campaigns. They can negotiate the rates, create insertion orders and follow the campaign’s progress through the same interface. The rVue Media Planner simplifies the usually cumbersome process of creating DOOH media plans by allowing media buyers to quickly find the required screen locations within different networks and consolidate them into a single buy.

Brian Dusho, President and Chief Strategy officer of BroadSign, states, “Our integration with rVue is a precursor of the future industry-wide automation of cross-network DOOH campaigns. The irony today is that while our medium employs cutting edge technology, when it comes to aggregating cross-network buys – the coordination is for the most part manual. Together, rVue and BroadSign resolve that challenge and bring DOOH inventory to the media-buyer’s table in an easy-to-buy, transparent and accountable way.”

The rVue demand-side platform is free to enroll and requires no inventory aggregation or subscription fee. Networks can create a comprehensive profile featuring such critical information as audience demographics, reach, locations and estimated CPM values.

Networks stay in control of their assets by being able to accept or reject an offer.

Ad agencies and advertisers can create an rVue account and build an agency/advertiser dashboard. This information helps marketers evaluate and target appropriate locations in their media plans via the intuitive, user-friendly web interface.

“This integration was developed to respond to the needs of both the advertisers and networks. By increasing the quantity, timeliness and accuracy of accountability data of BroadSign’s networks within the platform, the connection provides advertisers with the analytics that builds additional confidence in the media while reducing the network’s data management time,” said Jason Kates, Chief Executive Officer of rVue, Inc. “We are proud to continue our valued relationship with BroadSign in this important endeavor.”

rVue has enrolled networks in major DMAs across the United States and Canada with European expansion underway.

More than 100 potential customers and partners in the Digital Signage market in India have been invited to this event, which is represented by LG for the screens and by Niche Softek for the media players and content software.

At this event, Minicom DS & Emarson has launched MDS’ latest innovative and comprehensive solution DS Vision Digital, which allows HD media distribution, as well as control & monitoring of multiple remote display assets from a single location using Proof Of Performance technology. DS Vision Digital is a powerful solution that distributes real-time digital non-compressed full HD content to multiple terminals and enables Remote Management of display assets.

Prateek Jaswant, CEO & Co-Founder of Emarson IT Solutions Pvt. Ltd., commented: “Two years ago, when Emarson started to promote Minicom Digital Signage’s innovative solutions to the Indian market, it became the pioneer in the Indian Digital Signage industry. At this time, the industry was at its infant stage in India. Today, this event is a strategic opportunity for Emarson to reach out to more customers, partners and integrators to offer them a single vendor comprehensive digital signage solution.”

David Zeldin, Minicom DS Sales Director for APAC added: “This event is another milestone in building Minicom DS’ strong presence in India. Together with our country representative Emarson, we have been successful in building leadership and educating the Indian market with Digital Signage solutions, which has positioned us as the trusted opinion leader in the Digital Signage scene in India.”

Part of Diesel’s current international branding push, the 14-day spring campaign used never.no interactive technology with Facebook and digital-out-of-home (DOOH) displays to enable anyone with a mobile phone to “Be Stupid” before a wide audience.

“Diesel took advantage of the multiplatform nature of the publishing experience to blaze a trail in showing how mobile interactive technology makes digital signage alive, relevant, and truly eye-catching,” said Karsten Solaas, Comtech’s managing director. “The technical execution was perfect, and Diesel has been so delighted with the campaign’s success that they continue to showcase it.”

never.no’s Interactivity Suite powers communication between mobile phones and video displays. For the “Be Stupid” campaign, it worked in the background to enable mobile phone users to send photo messages to a short code number for inclusion in a constantly changing mosaic on Facebook, on 8×6-meter projections on buildings in downtown Copenhagen, and on digital signs in Diesel stores in Copenhagen and Aarhus. Because of never.no’s powerful software, the mobile messages could be uploaded and displayed within 12 seconds or less. The images were then stored on Facebook for tagging or viral sharing by other means. Working closely with Diesel and never.no, Comtech Experience A/S pulled the campaign together with only two weeks lead time. Challenges included Facebook’s restriction of uploads to 10 at once, so that Comtech had to provide continual real-time message moderation.

The never.no Interactivity Suite enables audience participation by modifying the video stream based on live content submissions, either by mobile phone or by computer. In the realm of digital signage, never.no technology allows advertisers to target consumers with individualized offers and to glean detailed marketing information at the same time. For example, it might enable an advertiser to deliver a barcode for a limited-time discount to a mobile phone at the point of sale, or to engage consumers with games and contests.

“Cutting-edge advertisers like Diesel are becoming increasingly excited about the potential of mobile phone interactivity in combination with DOOH,” said Lars Lauritzsen, never.no CEO. “Like us, they recognize the multiple benefits, including buzz and instant customer feedback that interactive participation generates. A successful, high-profile campaign like Diesel’s in Denmark is an ideal demonstration of the technology’s effectiveness.”

The theaters use digital signage in their lobbies and waiting areas to entertain guests while they purchase tickets and wait for movies to begin. Large screens provide patrons with trailers for upcoming films, general information and advertising from Nordisk Film Biografer’s partners.

 “Movie trailers are a very important part of our cinema’s marketing, and hopefully they inspire guests to come back and see a new movie at the same movie theater,” said Teis Nielsen, Instore and Graphics Manager at Nordisk Film Biografer.

“With our new Scala solution, we experience a smoother transition of trailers and a better image quality, so the contents appear clearly.”

Another key benefit of the network is that it broadcasts offers available from the theaters’ kiosks, sales from which are crucial to generating revenue. Since implementing Scala, Nordisk Film Biografer has experienced an increase in kiosk sales.

Additionally, Nordisk Film Biografer uses Scala to manage its digital movie posters, which have drawn great excitement and attention from moviegoers. This eye-catching solution using vertically mounted screens has saved the theater chain time and money associated with creating, printing and transporting traditional posters.

“Scala Content Manager has given us much more flexible and reliable content management options, and we can now do content updates quickly and easily,” Nielsen said. “This solution looks very modern and professional, and it raises the overall impression of the movie theaters.”

Dirk Hülsermann, President OVAB Europe

During this years ISE DOOH conference in February Dirk Hülsermann gave an interisting overview over the recent M&A activities in the DOOH sector. From his point of view this activities are an indicator that the interest in the new media is still growing and will speed up in the next month – despite the fact that the overall economy is still shaken by the problems in the finance sector. Furhtermore Hülsermann stressed the developments in the mobile sector and advised to watch those developments carefully. The full presentation can be downloaded as a PDF file if you follow this link >> DOOH –Breakdown or Breakthrough?

Patrick Quinn about the Digital Signage and DOOH Industry.

OVAB Europe presents the upcoming ISE DooH Business Conference 1-2 February 2010. Patrick Quinn, Founder of PQ media will present at the conference details about the global DooH market forecast 2009-2014. Following a short interview with Patrick Quinn a week before the conference.

Patrick Quinn, can you give us a brief overview about the PQ Media services and your references in media research?

PQ Media is the leading provider of global media econometrics covering all 20 media and communications segments and more than 100 sub-segments, and pioneer of alternative media. Our experienced management team and analysts are mapping the next frontier of media. PQ Media has helped top executives at leading media companies, financial institutions, agencies, brands and management consulting firms by providing accurate forecast models for media spending and usage, predicting key trends and pinpointing opportunities for growth. Through our custom research, syndicated reports and proprietary methodology, PQ Media provides clients with unbiased insights and actionable strategic intelligence they can’t find anyplace else.

Recently your company published the Global Digital Out-of-Home Media Forecast 2009-2014, when did your company start its research activities in the Digital out of Home sector and what was the reason for this?

This is our third edition on the digital out-of-home industry, publishing our first edition in 2007 when we found there was a dearth of information on this dynamic alternative media.

What significance does have Digital Out-of-Home in the media landscape?

Although it is one of the smallest advertising markets, it is among the fastest growing because people are spending more time outside the home and using ad-skipping technology, resulting in traditional media losing eyeballs, listeners and readers.

A lot of people from the Digital Out-of-Home industry argue that media budgets shift from traditional media to Digital Out-of-Home – is this whish full thinking or reality?

A little of both. Brands are definitely seeking to shift dollars out of traditional media to alternative media that provide higher engagement, such as digital out-of-home media. However, the DOOH industry still has a number of challenges to overcome, such as larger scale and better metrics before all brands and agencies shift additional spending to this emerging media.

In your report you claim that the DOOH industry is in the “shakeout phase” can you explain this to our reader in Germany?

Our research on emerging media consistently shows three phases – gold rush, shakeout, and breakout. For example, in the 1990s there was a gold rush mentality where internet sites popped up everywhere with no concrete business plan to support mounting capital expenditures. During the 2001 recession, there was the shakeout phase in which many internet companies merged or went out of business when the ad market collapsed. As the economy rebounded, a breakout period emerged where the stronger internet companies which survived were able to expand significantly as search and broadband access pushed up usage and the ad market. We see similarities in the DOOH market, in which there was a gold rush period during the early 2000s, when providers and investors thought they could put up digital signage and screens anywhere and advertisers would follow. However, during the 2008-2009 recession as the ad economy faltered badly again, those digital signage and video ad networks that hadn’t been able to prove high usage and/or engagement began to merge or go out of business. For instances, in the United States alone we identified some 40 DOOH providers that were acquired or closed during an 18 month period. We, do however expect a breakout period to follow as advertising rebounds and providers begin to successfully meet many of the challenges facing the industry, such as offering scale, better metrics, and other marketing strategies.

Can you give us a brief comparison between the European the US and the Asian DOOH market?

The US market is probably among the more developed countries, particularly given a less stringent regulatory environment in the digital billboard space and the emergence of major video ad networks, such as National CineMedia, PRN and Captivate. DOOH in Europe has seen more inroads in Western Europe than elsewhere, other than Israel, due to the presence of large global out-of-home media companies, such as Clear Channel, JCDecaux and CBS Outdoor, that are first rolling out DOOH platforms here, such as digital screens in underground commuter systems, but have been hampered by the weak overall advertising markets of the past few years. Meanwhile, the Japanese and Chinese markets are driven growth in the A/PAC regions primarily as a result of the leading electronics manufacturers in this region, such as Sony and Hitachi, who have been very creative in the deployment of screens in places like vending machines and water coolers.

Are there specific trends or drivers which influence the Digital Out-of-Home industry most? And if so do they differ in the different markets (US vs Europe) or are they the same?

That’s not an easy answer, in all honesty, because each country has its own dynamics. There are some common trends such as the need to provide strong metrics, content, and scale, but the acceptance of DOOH in each country differs dependent upon current consumer behaviors, the health of the overall out-of-home industry, and the sophistication of the media infrastructure and how usage is or is not being measured by traditional media in the competitive landscape.

The Digital Out-of-Home industry needs VC to grow and a lot of DOOH companies are in their second financing round at the moment. What information do venture capitalists get from your report and can you reveal some figures to our reader?

We provide a template as to the top trends going forward, some of which have been referenced in the previous questions. Companies that can meet a majority of those trends provide the strongest investment opportunities, such as proven ROI and venue exclusivity. While the overall DOOH industry exhibited decelerating growth in 2009, growing only 4.7% compared with an 8.7% gain in 2008, and double-digit increases from 2004 to 2007, it was one of the few global media to post a positive growth during the year.

People are always curious about rankings. Could you identify a global market leader in the DOOH industry?

Media company executives share their performance data with PQ Media on a confidential basis. We are therefore unable to make company rankings available. I’m sure your readers will understand.

Mr. Quinn can you give us your personal opinion about the future of DOOH industry?

As stated earlier, I believe the DOOH industry is poised for a breakout period once the ad economy rebounds. With the merger of a number of companies, better metrics being developed, as well as other criteria being met, we believe the industry will remain one of the fastest growing global media segments going forward due to brand marketers who need to reach the mobile consumer and business person more efficiently.

Anyone interested in the Global Digital Out-of-Home Media Forecast 2009-2014 should participate at the ISE DooH Business Conference presented by OVAB Europe from 1-2 February 2010. More information and registration details at http://invidis.mittelstandswiki.de/dooh-konferenz-ise-2010/

Agenda OVAB Europe Conference*

Link to Registration

*In case of necessity Organizer has the right to change speakers and program of the conference.

Newsletter October 2009

The last month have been very busy for all OVAB Europe board members. A lot of efforts have been made to pave the way for our young association. For the first time we will hold OVAB Europe DOOH conference in Munich on the 21st of October. This event is the starting point for series of events OVAB Europe will organize or participate in.

Newsletter September 2009

In a few weeks, the first official meeting will be held under the auspices of the OVAB Europe in Munich. From the 20th to the 22nd of October DooH will dominate the Bavarian capital city. Three days in which representa-tives from different sectors will shape the future of the digital out of home media through workshops and lectures. In addition to the association meetings and the conference program there will be a workshop on the “Audience Metrics Guidelines” given by OVAB US. Read more in the current issue of the OVAB Europe Newsletter.

Scala announces that its Scala Release 5 software is now. Release 5 comprises new versions of the entire Scala product line, including Content Manager, Ad Manager, Designer, Player and various EX Modules.

“Release 5 changes the game for Scala by bringing our software to customers that have a wide range of digital signage needs,” said Robert Koolen, President of Scala. “With more choices for hardware, from low-end photo frames to the top-of-the-line PCs, Scala lowers the barriers to entry for customers by offering solutions at virtually every price point.”

Release 5 contains a package of improvements that are valuable to all users of Scala Player, but they are specifically geared to enable successful and stable use of the new wave of Ultra Low Cost PCs (ULCPCs). ULCPCs are a major new trend in hardware as seen in the explosion of small, inexpensive netbooks. Expanding Scala’s reach to cover ULCPCs makes the full-featured Scala Player available for less expensive digital signage solutions.

For customers seeking a cheaper and easier to maintain solution, Release 5’s advanced Player playback software runs on a wide range of commodity Windows®-based PCs at various price points. And for networks requiring a less costly, more appliance-like solution, Release 5 supports wireless photo frames, as well as high-definition and standard-definition MPEG players. Release 5 supports specific makes and models of MPEG player and photo frame appliances designed by IAdea and manufactured by several vendors, including Advantech and ViewSonic.

Scala’s powerful ad management, scheduling, distribution and playback have always been oriented towards visual digital signage. Starting with Release 5, Scala supports audio-only channels, which can be used for background music, in-store audio and more. The major benefit is another channel of audio from a Scala Player at no extra cost. Scala will also offer an audio-only license at a lower cost for those who do not require a video license. This flexible offering serves as an entry path into full Scala digital signage for customers whose initial need is audio only.

“Scala hasn’t offered audio playlist management before, so this is a new opportunity that is free with every existing Scala Player,” said Peter Cherna, Scala’s VP of Research and Development. “For customers only requiring audio, there’s a new low-cost license available.”

Release 5 also features improved player health monitoring that helps users diagnose problems on their digital signage network more easily. The player health screens in Content Manager have been reworked to display better information more prominently. The improved summary gives a clearer and more versatile view of player and network health.

Other new major features of Scala Release 5 include:

• New and improved transitions — Gives end users the ability to create more engaging content.
• Additional Web services — Enables an even wider variety of solutions that integrate with Content Manager.
• Playlists in templated messages — Allows for more sophisticated applications such as kiosks to be managed solely from Content Manager.
• Improved playback audit reporting module — Provides a more advanced and refined selection of which media and players to report on.
• Stronger approvals workflow in Content Manager — Approvals workflow now includes email approval notifications and media item approvals.
• Improved control of broadcasting — Improved automation provides easier use of broadcast distribution.
• Support for the IPv6 standard — Scala functionality now runs over this new network addressing system.
• Reporting and filtering — Reservations that have not played the expected number of times can be easily located.
• Demographics — Demographic data can be integrated with report data to provide a clearer view of ad sales and effectiveness.
• Improvements to Ad Manager mapping — Offers users visual tools that make managing their business simpler and easier to understand.

In the past months successful experiments have taken place to combine Minicoms’ DS Vision HDMI product with Zero Creative’s autostereoscopic 3D Displays. The distribution of multiview 3D signals over long distances between player and display can be difficult.

Only the slightest loss of video information may cause the 3D effect to be eliminated. Especially in rollouts of 3DZignage, the interactive 3D Digital Signage product of Zero Creative, long distances need to be bridged sometimes. By using the DS Vision HDMI extender, the 3D signal can be distributed up to 200 meters using standard CAT5 cable.

“The digital distribution of 3D content over long distance is very complex. Zero Creative is thrilled to find a partner in Minicom who provides a plug and play solution to transfer high quality 3D signals over more than 200 meters using simple CAT5 cable. This way, our interactive 3D Digital Signage (also called 3DZignage) software can be connected to our auto stereoscopic XYZ 3D Displays instantly.” says Jean-Pierre van Maasakker, CEO at Zero Creative BV, The Netherlands.

The technology is demonstrated during the IBC 2009 exhibition. In the demo setup the 3DZignage platform runs on a 46” xyZ 3D Display, connected by CAT5 cable using the DS Vision HDMI, viewing stunning 3D effects, which can be seen without any 3D-glasses.

IBC is the leading international forum for the electronic media industry. It combines a highly respected and peer reviewed conference, an exhibition that demonstrates state of the art media technology and unrivalled networking opportunities. Visitors can expect to learn about the developments which are shaping the industry, interact with the latest technology, experience world first demonstrations and do business in a professional and supportive environment. The 2009 edition is held from 10-15 September in the RAI, Amsterdam.

78 percent of the European companies in the digital out-of-home media segment expect to see a positive economic development within their industry. That is the result of the Digital Business Climate Index (DBCI) that OVAB Europe, the association representing the interests of the continental digital-out-of-home industry (DooH industry) has put out.

“The DBCI is a milestone for the development of our industry. We can now document the potential of the DooH industry in Europe on the basis of actual figures. This is an important step on the way to establishing the DooH media in the media mix of the advertising industry,” explains Dirk Hülsermann, President of OVAB Europe.

During June and July of this year, the association surveyed around 200 companies from the fields of hard and software, infrastructure, services, network operation and advertising in all the key European countries and regions for the DBCI. At the moment these are the German-speaking countries, France, Great Britain, Italy, Spain, Scandinavia, Benelux and Hungary.

The Index provides answers to two essential questions: firstly, how do the companies see their current economic situation with respect to digital signage products and services? 39 percent responded with “good”, 44 percent with “satisfactory” and 17 percent with “poor”. The second question was what the companies expect for the next six months? 78 percent of the respondents expect to see an improvement, 20 percent no change at all and 2 percent anticipate a poor development.

The resulting index figure is 43. On the scale ranging from -100 (all responses negative) to +100 (all responses positive) the Index thus lies in the moderately positive area of the scale.

The DBCI was conceived by the OVAB Europe member invidis consulting, which also conducted the survey. The next Index will be published at the beginning of the fourth quarter of 2009.

About OVAB Europe:
OVAB Europe is the first independent, pan-European interest group for providers of audiovisual media and related services at the POS and POI. The association complements the already existing organisations in the digital out-of-home sector and concentrates solely on digital out-of-home media. This makes it a central point of contact and source of information for members of the industry and system providers in this field.

The company’s digital signage customers include Audi, Kaufhof, ECE Flatmedia, Rabobank, IKEA, Burger King, T-Mobile, Virgin MegaStore, Warner Brothers, The Life Channel, Rikstoto, Repsol, Norges Gruppen and thousands more. Advertising management customers include CBS Outdoor, Clear Channel Outdoor and Magic Media, among others. Scala is headquartered near Philadelphia, USA, and has subsidiaries in Germany, Canada, Netherlands, France, Norway and Japan, as well as

Munich-based invidis consulting will develop the Confer-ence program and assist promoting the event. ISE also noted that it was “delighted to announce that the Conference will be supported by OVAB Europe”

Mike Blackman, Managing Director, Integrated Systems Events says “Of the 564 companies who exhibited at ISE in 2009, more than half were in the digital signage busi-ness – making our show comfortably the largest digital-signage marketplace in Europe. Our first DOOH Business Conference raised the profile of ISE substantially within the advertising and creative content communities, and we believe our new partnership with invidis will allow us to build further on this foundation.”

Dirk Huelsermann, Chairman of the Board of OVAB Europe, commented “ISE’s DOOH Business Conference is already the leading event for our industry in Europe. So, for us, it is the logical next step to support and partici-pate in next year’s Conference, and introduce our Asso-ciation to all relevant players in the business.”
Florian Rotberg, Senior Project Manager, invidis consult-ing, noted “Having attended the inaugural DOOH Busi-ness Conference this year, we were struck by the high quality of delegates and the enormous interest gener-ated not just by the Conference program, but also by the ISE tradeshow itself. For 2010, we will use our huge ex-perience of the DOOH market to ensure that the pro-gram is more valuable than that of any other pan-European event.”

Further details of the 2010 Conference program will be announced shortly, along with key speakers and pricing details.

OVAB Europe is currently questioning industry professionals all over Europe. With the intention to create the first index for the digital out-of-home media nearly 500 market participants in the hardware, software, infrastructure, service, network operation and advertising sectors from all the relevant European countries or regions are questioned about the industry performance. The index is called the ‘European DooH Business Climate Index’ (DBCI) and will be surveyed on a quarterly basis.

All DBCI participants will evaluate two points which, taken together, will produce the index; firstly, the cur-rent economic situation and secondly, the expected development in the next six months.

To assure that we include all important companies in the different countries and regions an advisory board was set up with local experts.

The advisory board is led by Adrian Cotterill the well known UK-based independent Consultant and founder of DailyDOOH.

In the first step Adrian will also represent Turkey and Poland. Every member if the Advisory Board is respon-sible for a certain market.
His fellow members are:

• Denis Gaumondie / Independent Consultant and Founder of ooh-TV.com (France)
• Roi Iglesias (Spain)
• Giuseppe Andrianò / Founder of Think and Make it! Group and Linkedin “Digital Signage Italia” Group Manager” (Italy)
• Carsten Hollose / Independent Consultant and Founder of Hollose Consulting (Scandinavia)
• Tom Ringhs / Marketing Manager MMD (BeNeLux)
• Szabolcs Botond / Chairman of Digital Signage Association Hungary (CEE)

Dirk Hülsermann, President of OVAB Europe, com-ments on the project: “DooH media has a huge poten-tial which we are not yet able to express in specific fig-ures to commerce to the media. The DBCI will change all that. With this index, we can create transparency, which will help develop the sector as a whole. This will give us valid figures without the participants having to reveal business secrets.”

The first results will be released end of July. The feedback from the industry is enormous and more than 50 percent of all companies questioned in Germany, Austria and Switzerland entered the survey.

This is a pretty good start and the advisory board will work on a roadmap and measures to increase the number of participants.

More information about the index can be found on www.invidis-research.de .

If you want to participate and support this project send an email with your company data and your address to: DBCI@ovab.eu
The DooH Business Climate Index will be surveyed on a quarterly base

Critics will say that it reflects the German origins of the new association. But we will prove that this is not the case. As a pan European association the conference will feature speakers from DooH corporate customers from all over Europe. English simultaneous translation will be provided for all participants if necessary.

Language barrier will be no excuse for not participating this time.
Unlike other conferences the organizers will focus on the customers view on Digital Signage. Speakers from different vertical markets will present important com-munication processes in their markets and discuss if and how Digital Signage can be established within their business.
So this conference won’t be about software, hardware or content issues.
Independent industry representatives will:

• Explain business processes in their markets
• Highlight information and communication issues
• Unveil the potentials for Digital Signage

Prior to each expert presentation a short introduction will be given by invidis consulting about trends and drivers of the special vertical market. In addition we provide economical figures and examples of Digital Signage installations.

To guarantee a very cost efficient conference the quarterly OVAB Europe board and member meetings will be held a day prior to the conference. In addition the DBCI advisory board will meet and discuss the feedback of the DooH Business Climate Index and will pass on the roadmap for the new industry index.