Digital signage

Digital signage is a segment of electronic signage. Digital displays use technologies such as LCD, LED, OLED, projection and e-paper to display digital images, video, web pages, weather data, restaurant menus, or text. It is used in various settings to enhance user experience, share information, support community interaction, provide announcements and display advertisements.^[1] They can be found in public spaces, transportation systems, museums, stadiums, retail stores, hotels, restaurants and corporate buildings etc., to provide wayfinding, exhibitions, marketing and outdoor advertising. They are used as a network of electronic displays that are centrally managed and individually addressable for the display of text, animated or video messages for advertising, information, entertainment and merchandising to targeted audiences.^[2]

Roles and function

The many different uses of digital signage allow a business to accomplish a variety of goals. Some of the most common applications include:

Public information – news, weather, traffic and local (location specific) information, such as building directory with a map, fire exits and traveler information.
Internal information - corporate messages, such as health & safety items, news and so forth.
Product information – pricing, photos, raw materials or ingredients, suggested applications and other product information - especially useful in food marketing where signage may include nutritional facts or suggested uses or recipes.
Information to enhance the customer service experience - interpretive signage in museums, galleries, zoos, parks and gardens, exhibitions, tourist and cultural attractions.^[3]
Advertising and Promotion – promoting products or services, may be related to the location of the sign or using the screen's audience reach for general advertising.
Brand building – in-store digital sign to promote the brand and build a brand identity.
Influencing customer behavior – navigation, directing customers to different areas, increasing the "dwell time" on the store premises and a wide range of other uses in service of such influence.
Influencing product or brand decision-making - Signage at the point of sale designed to influence choice e.g. Signage to help shoppers to choose dresses inside a fashion store^[4] or devices that on a computerized shopping trolley helping the customer locate products, check prices, access product information and manage shopping lists.
Enhancing customer experience – applications include the reduction of perceived wait time in the waiting areas of restaurants and other retail operations, bank queues, and similar circumstances, as well as demonstrations, such as those of recipes in food stores, among other examples.^[5]
Navigation – with interactive screens (in the floor, for example, as with "informational footsteps" found in some tourist attractions, museums and the like) or with other means of "dynamic wayfinding".
Reservations – small, interactive screens on walls or desks that allow employees to reserve the space for a limited time and integrate with a room and resource scheduling platform.

Industry overview

The global digital signage market was valued at approximately USD 28.5 billion in 2024. It is projected to grow at a CAGR of 5.56% from 2025 to 2033, reaching USD 48.95 billion by 2033. This growth is driven by the increasing demand for visually engaging and interactive content, technological updates, and the rise of smart cities.^[6] The expansion and improvement of urban transport systems, public infrastructure, and commercial buildings are also contributing to the growth of the digital signage market.^[7] North America currently dominates the global digital signage market with 37.2% of the market share in 2024. It is expected to maintain its lead in the coming years.^[6] The European and Asia-Pacific markets are also experiencing steady growth, supported by various regional factors that are creating new opportunities in the global digital signage market.^[8]

Global Digital Signage Market by Region

United States

Digital signage continues to grow in the United States, supported by key sectors such as retail, healthcare, and education. 21% increase in the tourism sector by 2022 has led to the widespread adoption of interactive advertising and kiosks in hotels and tourist destinations.

Europe

In Europe, digital signage is widely used in retail, government, and tourism sectors. The United Kingdom received 3 million foreign visitors in June 2022, further driving demand for tourist information systems and smart city displays. With the integration of artificial intelligence and energy-efficient technologies, digital signage plays an increasingly diverse role in areas such as traffic management, healthcare, and education.

Asia Pacific

Digital signage is expanding rapidly across the Asia-Pacific region, with widespread applications in retail, hospitality, and transportation hubs. India’s Smart City program is over 90% complete, promoting the digital transformation of public information services. As internet availability improves and device costs decline, more small and medium-sized enterprises are adopting digital signage solutions.

Latin America

In Latin America, digital signage is becoming more widely adopted in the retail and hospitality industries. Retail sales in Mexico reached USD 78.4 billion in 2023, increasing the demand for personalized and dynamic content. With the adoption of cloud-based systems and video displays, digital signage is becoming a practical tool for schools, governments, and businesses to support environmental communication initiatives.

Middle East & Africa

Digital signage is experiencing strong growth in the Middle East and Africa, particularly in the transport, retail, and fast food sectors. 25% increase in food e-commerce in 2021 has contributed to the rise of interactive advertising and digital menu boards. As smart city development progresses, digital signage plays an increasingly important role in public messaging and brand engagement.

Applications of Digital Signage

Shopping malls

Digital signage is widely used in shopping malls as a form of directory or map display. Uses of digital signage include a wayfinding kiosk, enabling the customer to find their path through an interactive touchscreen. Recent digital signage have begun combining interactive advertisement with wayfinding application. This will offer shoppers who interact with the advertisement of the tenant in the shopping mall to the store. Another usage is disseminating relevant information such as the schedule of an event or campaign.^[9]

Transport

Transport is a growing sector for digital signage with practical solutions, such as wayfinding, as well as out-of-home advertising.

Personalized digital content

One specific use of digital signage is for out-of-home advertising in which video content, advertisements, and/or messages are displayed on digital signs with the goal of delivering targeted messages, to specific locations and/or consumers, at specific times. This is often called "digital out of home" (DOOH).^[10]^[11]

Education

Digital signage can be used for school cafeteria menu boards, digitized noticeboards, conference centers^[7] and as an element of smart campuses.

Technologies

Interactivity

Interactive digital signage allows end users to interact with digital content via touchscreens, body sensors or QR codes via smartphones.^[12]

Digital signs can interact with mobile phones using SMS messaging and Bluetooth. SMS can be used to post messages on the displays, while Bluetooth allows users to interact directly with what they see on screen. In addition to mobile interactivity, networks are also using technology that integrates social and location-based media interactivity. This technology enables end users to upload photos and messages to social networks as well as text messages.

The widespread use of smartphones led to the development of screen–smart device interaction technologies. These allow smartphone users to interact directly with the digital signage screen, for example, participate in a poll, play a game, or share social network content. JPEG images and MPEG4 videos remain the dominant digital content formats for the digital signage industry. For interactive content, HTML5 and Unity3D are widely used due to their popularity among web developers and multimedia designers.

Context-aware digital signage

Context-aware digital signage leverages technologies such as sensors, cameras, beacons, RFID technologies, software programs and network connectivity including the Internet of Things (IoT) to monitor the ambient environment, process information and deliver promotional messages based on environmental cues.^[13] Many digital signage products include cameras and gather shopper demographic data by estimating the age, gender and economic status of passers-by and use this information to update signage as well as to provide back-end analytics and shopper profiles.

Equipment and network infrastructure

Hardware Components

Digital signage systems consist of various hardware components, including display screens and media players. These components can be integrated into a single unit or connected separately.

System-on-Chip (SoC) Displays

System-on-Chip (SoC) displays, such as Smart TVs and commercial displays, combine both the display and media player in one device. These displays run digital signage software directly on the integrated operating system, eliminating the need for external players. SoC displays are typically network-connected, allowing for remote content management and updates.

External Media Players

External media players are separate devices that output video to a wide range of display types, including LED screens, projectors, and other digital signage hardware. These players connect to displays via HDMI, DisplayPort, or other standard interfaces. External players offer greater flexibility, as they can drive multiple screens and are compatible with various display types. They often support different operating systems and provide more advanced performance features compared to SoC displays.

Software Components

Digital signage software is responsible for content creation, scheduling, and management. It enables users to manage and distribute content to one or more media players, whether they are part of an SoC display or external player setup.

Software Compatibility

Digital signage software is compatible with both SoC displays and external media players. The software supports various operating systems, including Android, Windows, Linux, iOS, webOS, Tizen, Fire OS, ChromeOS, BrightSignOS, macOS, and others. This allows customers to choose the hardware and software solution that best suits their digital signage needs.

History

Predecessors to electronic signage

Digital signage as a flight information display system at Geneva Airport in Switzerland

Prior to the advent of digital signage throughout the industries, electronic paper were used as display devices. Electronic paper were used to hold static texts and images indefinitely without electricity. The disadvantage to electronic paper as a form of digital signage is the limited reach of information transmission. Users that need to update the information will need to be in the same retail store, or be within the proximity for shopping malls. This required manual work from store staffs and shopping mall staff in maintaining the device with the latest information.

First generation: Dot matrix display

First generation of digital signage display utilize LED board, projection screens or other emerging display types like interactive surfaces or organic LED screens (OLED). A dot matrix display digital signage will relay the information within a database. All the information must be inputted manually by a person before the message display is updated. This form of digital signage is most commonly used in both train stations, airports, and other areas where information must be conveyed to the mass public. The downside of having dot matrix digital signage is the lack of media player. This digital signage will not be able to play multimedia content.

Second generation: Multimedia player digital signage

The second generation of digital signage is able to play multimedia content and is controlled by a centralized management system. Digital audiovisual (av) content is reproduced on TVs and monitor displays of a digital sign network from at least one media player (usually a small computer unit, but DVD players and other types of media sources may also be used). Various hardware and software options exist. These range from portable media players that can output JPG slide shows or loops of MPEG-2 video to networks consisting of multiple players and servers that offer control over enterprise-wide or campus-wide displays at many venues from a single location. The former are ideal for small groups of displays that can be updated via USB flash drive, SD card or CD-ROM. Another option is the use of D.A.N. (Digital Advertising Network) players that connect directly to the monitor and to the internet, to a WAN (Wide Area Network), or to a LAN (Local Area Network). This allows the end user the ability to manage multiple D.A.N. players from any location. The end user can create new advertising or edit existing advertisements and then upload changes to the D.A.N. via the internet or other networking options.

APIs for some digital sign software allow customized content management interfaces through which end-users can manage their content from one location.

More advanced digital sign software allows content to be automatically created by the media players (computers) and servers on a minute-by-minute basis, combining real-time data, from news to weather, prices, transport schedules, etc., with av content to produce the most up-to-date content.^[14]

Third generation: Interactive digital signage

The current generation of digital signage builds onto the previous generation with the added function to interact with the system. Users will be able to interact with the advertisement, scroll through the product menu, or share their information online via the new generation of digital signage. The interactive digital signage opens up interaction and ability to collect more personalize information. Some common uses of interactive digital signage are for users to take a picture and then connect to their Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or other Social media platform to share the photo they have taken. Products such as people counting or facial recognition are leading to developments where adverts on digital signage boards can change to display gender specific adverts or screens can direct shoppers to specific locations to enable queue management.

References

^ Khan, Jehangir; Khusro, Shah; Jabeen, Fouzia (8–9 May 2014). "Digital Signage Systems: Review of Past, Present & Future". The 3rd International Conference on Computer Science and Computational Mathematics. 3: 197 – via ResearchGate.
^ Schaeffler, J., Digital Signage: Software, Networks, Advertising and Displays: A Primer for Understanding the Business, Focal Press, 2013, pp 3-4
^ Calori, C., Signage and Wayfinding Design: A Complete Guide to Graphic Design Systems, Wiley, 2007, pp 8- 9
^ "The "Clueless" Closet Of Our Dreams Is Here". 19 November 2015.
^ Eleftherios, Alamanos J.; Brakus, Joško; Dennis, Charles (2014). "How Digital Signage Affects Shoppers' In-Store Behavior: The Role of the Evoked Experience". Ideas in Marketing: Finding the New and Polishing the Old. pp. 748–751.
^ ^a ^b "Digital Signage Market Size, Share, Trends, Statistics 2033". www.imarcgroup.com. Retrieved 2025-04-04.
^ ^a ^b "Digital Signage Market Size | Mordor Intelligence". www.mordorintelligence.com. Retrieved 2025-04-04.
^ "Digital Signage Market Size, Share & Growth Report, 2030". www.grandviewresearch.com. Retrieved 2025-04-04.
^ Esker, Fritz. "Making Digital Signage Work in Shopping Malls" (PDF). Digital Signage Today.
^ "DOOH - Digital Out of Home". ISE Europe. Archived from the original on 2023-06-19. Retrieved 2009-03-19.
^ Wertime, Kent; Fenwick, Ian (19 December 2011). "DigiMarketing: The Essential Guide to New Media and Digital Marketing". John Wiley & Sons – via Google Books.
^ "Interactive experiences transform Mar Shopping Algarve". AV Magazine. 2017-11-14. Retrieved 2018-02-05.
^ "Smart Retail News NEC and Microsoft partner on analytics-based digital signage". Archived from the original on 2018-01-20.replaced Original
^ John V. Harrison, Anna Andrusiewicz; Enhancing digital advertising using dynamically configurable multimedia, Proceedings of the 2003 IEEE International Conference on Multimedia and Expo, ICME 2003, 6–9 July 2003, Baltimore, MD, USA. IEEE 2003/2004, ISBN 0-7803-7965-9.

[1] Khan, Jehangir; Khusro, Shah; Jabeen, Fouzia (8–9 May 2014). "Digital Signage Systems: Review of Past, Present & Future". The 3rd International Conference on Computer Science and Computational Mathematics. 3: 197 – via ResearchGate.

[2] Schaeffler, J., Digital Signage: Software, Networks, Advertising and Displays: A Primer for Understanding the Business, Focal Press, 2013, pp 3-4

[3] Calori, C., Signage and Wayfinding Design: A Complete Guide to Graphic Design Systems, Wiley, 2007, pp 8- 9

[4] "The "Clueless" Closet Of Our Dreams Is Here". 19 November 2015.

[5] Eleftherios, Alamanos J.; Brakus, Joško; Dennis, Charles (2014). "How Digital Signage Affects Shoppers' In-Store Behavior: The Role of the Evoked Experience". Ideas in Marketing: Finding the New and Polishing the Old. pp. 748–751.

[:0-6] "Digital Signage Market Size, Share, Trends, Statistics 2033". www.imarcgroup.com. Retrieved 2025-04-04.

[:1-7] "Digital Signage Market Size | Mordor Intelligence". www.mordorintelligence.com. Retrieved 2025-04-04.

[8] "Digital Signage Market Size, Share & Growth Report, 2030". www.grandviewresearch.com. Retrieved 2025-04-04.

[9] Esker, Fritz. "Making Digital Signage Work in Shopping Malls" (PDF). Digital Signage Today.

[10] "DOOH - Digital Out of Home". ISE Europe. Archived from the original on 2023-06-19. Retrieved 2009-03-19.

[11] Wertime, Kent; Fenwick, Ian (19 December 2011). "DigiMarketing: The Essential Guide to New Media and Digital Marketing". John Wiley & Sons – via Google Books.

[auto-12] "Interactive experiences transform Mar Shopping Algarve". AV Magazine. 2017-11-14. Retrieved 2018-02-05.

[13] "Smart Retail News NEC and Microsoft partner on analytics-based digital signage". Archived from the original on 2018-01-20.replaced Original

[14] John V. Harrison, Anna Andrusiewicz; Enhancing digital advertising using dynamically configurable multimedia, Proceedings of the 2003 IEEE International Conference on Multimedia and Expo, ICME 2003, 6–9 July 2003, Baltimore, MD, USA. IEEE 2003/2004, ISBN 0-7803-7965-9.

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