The comprehensive report highlights the continued growth of the digital signage industry and predicts a bright future for the next 6 months or so. PRI indicates that the digital signage Index has grown 10.83% from Q2 to Q3 2009 indicating a demand for digital signage products and services. Looking at the Near-Term Index PRI, an increase of 15.12% indicates an optimistic outlook for the industry for the next 3 to 6 months. Increases in index components like planned capital expenditures and hiring indicate that companies are ready to invest in the anticipated growth. Specifically, the digital signage software industry growth from Q2 to Q3 was 18.25% and predicted increase for the next 3 to 6 months is 37.69%.

PRI amassed the relevant information from a survey of industry professionals and industry trends. The survey answers were subjective and indicated that financial concerns, proof of effectiveness, market share and staying current on emerging trends are the major business concerns.

The news is very positive and indicates that, while we are in the deepest economic downturn in history, the digital signage industry continues to attain it growth potential.

If you haven’t read the report as of yet, I recommend it. The report is detailed and comprehensive and provides an interesting view of the market going forward.

I was reading an interesting survey conducted by Bill Gerba at Wirespring. Bill, through his blogging, is recognized as one of the eminent reporters on the digital signage industry. Bill conducted a digital signage costs survey. The second report on the survey, How Network Size Impacts Digital Signage Service Choices, delves into the impact of network size and service choices.

In this article the survey breaks down the differences between: Small Network Experience Only, Large Network Experience Only; Mixed Network Experience; and No Network Experience operators. The survey asked questions concerning: project management; logistics management; strategy consulting in-house; in-house project planning; content strategy consulting in-house; content production and management in-house; network operations management; and installation services.

The survey found there really wasn’t much variance in the responses from each of the experience groups, which was quite surprising. You may think that, large screen deployment of 5,000 screens on an advertising network is quite different from, say, a 2-screen employee break room application. The expectation was to see more distinction between those with only-large and only-small network experience, but those variances simply didn’t show up. Understandably, the group who admitted to having no experience working with digital signage did tend to have different answers than the folks who have done projects before. Whether this indicates a lack of understanding of the marketplace or just a different set of expectations based on some domain-specific knowledge is hard to say. Most of the time, even the no-experience people were within a few percentage points of those with some experience under their belts.

However, the survey did find a few areas where the groups displayed more diversity in their responses:

• Nearly 80% of those working with large digital signage networks handle their content management in-house, versus 74% of small networks and 70% of those who have done both.
• Those respondents who had only worked on large network projects were slightly more likely to outsource their project planning (11%), versus just 3.5% of those who had only worked on small network projects.
• Likewise, those handling large and mixed projects were more likely to outsource logistics management (35%), versus only 21% of those working exclusively on small network projects.
• While those with both large and small network experience generally tended to answer more similarly to those with large network experience only, one exception is in the network/operations area. Those with mixed experience were markedly more likely to take care of that service in-house (76%), versus just 63% of those exclusively working on large projects, and 64% of those exclusively working on small projects.
• Not surprisingly, small network managers were significantly more likely to handle installation services themselves (though it was still only 30% of them). Only 20% of large network managers handled such tasks in-house. Those with mixed experience were split between these two at about 24%.

This type of information is vital to the success of the industry and I applaud Bill Gerba for his efforts in evaluating the potential of the market and helping others understand the dynamics that drive the industry.

Recently, I read an interesting blog posting on DigitalSignage.com concerning the concept of content-as-a-service (CaaS). I was intrigued that this concept has the potential to become a significant contributor to the success of digital signage networks around the world. As the market prices for digital media ease, it is easy to see that the cost of digital signage content will represent one of the most significant costs to network operators throughout the lifecycle of the digital signage network.

Much like the concept of software-as-a-service (SaaS), content-as-a-service (CaaS) is typically contracted out to third-party suppliers that have the creative expertise to provide a continuous stream of professional content that reflects the network operator’s goals for their digital signage network.

Like many providers of critical digital signage components, suppliers are specializing in delivering professional products and services that meet the demands of the network operator’s requirements – screens, players, software, infrastructure, servers, etc. The same is true for content! If no consideration has been made for a dedicated content developer, the network operator must find a compatible content supplier that will meet the needs and requirements of the digital signage network. Having a CaaS provider available can easily fill the void for relevant and professional content that will ensure the success of the network throughout its lifetime. This concept also takes the burden off the network operator to continually provide relevant content and allows the network operator to focus on managing the network.

Finding a compatible content provider that will empower the spirit and brand of your digital signage network is not as difficult as you may think. The digital signage industry has spawned a myriad of content providers throughout the world, some better than others, but readily available to create eye-catching and relevant content for your digital signage network. When you find a compatible content provider, enter into a contract agreement that, for instance, will provide scheduled content creation and delivery for a mutually agreed upon monthly fee. The content provider can then create and deliver the content directly to the network’s content manager on your digital signage network and play on your customer’s screen when it is scheduled to play.

This concept has the potential to streamline the creation and delivery of content to digital signage networks around the world. If you are a network operator, find yourself a talented content provider and allow his/her creativity and your business acumen drive the success of your digital signage network.