DS Market to Grow 40% by 2013

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According to a new report by IMS Research, growth in the worldwide digital signage market will exceed 40 percent in 2013, totalling $7 billion.
 
The report, The World Market for Digital Signage, 2011 Edition, reveals that global revenues for digital signage equipment and software were $5 billion at the end of 2010, and when service and advertising revenue is included, this increases to $6.5 billion. In hardware, the primary revenue drivers were displays (including LED arrays), projectors for digital cinema and PCs contributing $4.5 billion.
 
“Investment in digital signage has been generally slow over the last two years, but we are seeing more confidence in the industry as a whole,” says Shane Walker, director of the Consumer Electronics Group at IMS Research. “There is increasing recognition that it is a valuable tool for directly interacting with audiences, and providing a compelling additional dimension to augment overall advertising placements across media. While it is still true that the majority of advertising spend is not in outdoor displays, let alone outdoor digital signage, we expect this to change significantly as urbanisation continues and as advertisers recognise the need to reach their audience beyond the living room, where usage of digital video recorders is increasing”.
 
The new study shows that retail continues to be the largest of the digital signage verticals, at just under 25 percent for equipment and software sales, driving over $1 billion in value. While growth in retail is not forecast to be as strong as other sectors, it is forecast to maintain the dominant share, reaching nearly $2 billion in infrastructure sales by the end of 2015.
 
IMS Research asserts that businesses of all sizes will benefit from the proliferation of digital signage – especially with affordable leasing agreements and software as service (SaaS) – in extending the SMBs’ reach to new audiences, while enabling companies of all sizes to more accurately engage with their target audiences.
 
“The tools are available today to create a consistent campaign that can reach an audience multiple times while in transit through billboards, street furniture, metro displays, video walls and in-store kiosks, all the while becoming more targeted through mobile device interaction,” Walker said. “This experience will culminate in the customer reaching a touch-enabled screen at the point-of-sale where inventory can be checked and an order placed.
 
“We envision a time in the not too distant future where it will be common for a digital signage installation to have the majority of its nodes (displays) individually IP addressable, touch-enabled and tied to a logistics service – such as UPS – which can handle order fulfillment, return requests and other types of customer service.”