Digital signage gets brighter in Australian market

The Australian digital signage market is anticipated to grow by 15% in 2020 as a wide range of industry segments, including the financial services and outdoor segments take the digital platform seriously.

A new Frost & Sullivan report positions the emerging digital signage market to be worth $133 million, having grown 12.1% during 2014.  The Australian Digital Signage Systems report forecasts that the market segment is set to grow at a CAGR of 13.9% from 2015 to 2020.

Frost & Sullivan state that the growth in this relatively new segment is being bolstered new features including interactivity which are prompting businesses to include digital signage features into their wider digital content ecosystem.

“Retail is one of the fastest growing markets for digital signage in Australia with most major Australian retail chains and shopping centres having installed some form of digital signage systems. Other fast growing retail segments include telecommunications, banking and fast food chains,” said Phil Harpur, Senior Research Manager, Australia & New Zealand ICT Practice, Frost & Sullivan.

The Australian digital signage market, which includes sale of digital signage displays, media players, software and content management, has displayed stronger growth over the past 12 to 24 months.

In the corporate sector, digital signs, including high-definition video walls, are being deployed in CBD office towers, foyers, lifts and car parks. There has been strong demand from tier one financial institutions and banks, and the tier two banking sector has had strong momentum over the last 12 months.

Harpur added that the digital signage systems market is moving from outsourcing hardware, software and services components to an internally managed, lower cost, cloud based business system that is part of a wider digital services and marketing ecosystem.

“It is also evolving from being proprietary-based to becoming an open, multi-functional platform environment.  It is transitioning from a CAPEX to an OPEX driven market model; driven by specialist IT service providers that manage the entire digital signage deployments from the concept stage to account management, project management and ongoing maintenance,”Harpur said .

An Australian software company Omniscreen has been one of the first independent digital signage software vendors to introduce an integrated cloud-based platform for signage and TV content delivery for enterprises. Their comprehensive API supports integration with variety of data sources.

Increasingly data will be driving the uptake as in the example of retail, the mix of in-store technologies, proximity-based mobile marketing, touch interactivity and digital signage will mean that more data can be mined from consumers and used to extend marketing reach.

Data collected and analysed from strategically placed in-store sensors allows predictive analytics applications to instantaneously modify advertising content based on audience demographics. The addition of smartphones to the ecosystem can extend the experience by providing supplementary information or targeted advertising.