Digital screens and LED panels represent the pinnacle of effectiveness in outdoor marketing, and automating them presents a golden opportunity to exponentially grow a business’s customer base and profitability. But what exactly goes into the automatic management of Digital Signage? What hardware and software systems are necessary for this process? And what does the future hold for this cutting-edge direction in advertising?

Why automation Is needed

Many mistakenly believe that automation in Digital Signage is solely necessary for saving time. For example, to avoid manually selecting digital ads, setting up display schedules, or changing images or graphics.

Automatic management indeed allows for time savings. But most importantly, it adapts digital advertising to current demands, trends, and environmental conditions. This makes marketing more targeted. Studies have shown that profit growth in such cases can exceed 1000% of the initial figures.

An example can be provided. There is a large digital screen displaying advertisements from a large supermarket chain with a wide range of products. If a woman approaches the banner, an advertisement for cosmetics and skincare products is automatically launched. When a man approaches, it shows tools and various gadgets for the car, and if it’s a child with parents, then toys. If the weather is rainy, umbrellas are shown, and when it’s hot, air conditioners are advertised. All this is configured automatically, without any operator involvement. The system simply “scans” the environment according to specified triggers and adapts the ads to the target audience.

Another example: ads are automatically “synchronized” with the store’s assortment as represented in the inventory database. That is, the screen literally “knows” which products need to be promoted and which ones have promotional prices, allowing for the complete abandonment of a marketer’s services. The average salary of such a specialist in large cities is from 2 thousand dollars per month. An installed and configured automation system will allow saving this amount monthly.

All advertising becomes targeted at the potential consumer. Or another option is interactive advertisements, where a person can interact with the image on the screen: either through a touch surface or with gestures. For example, an interactive LED kiosk in a clothing store allows virtually trying on different items available in the assortment.

Such tools are still rarely used, meaning competition is minimal. And such a “novelty” will definitely attract attention.

The implementation of software for digital screens and the use of a player for Digital Signage significantly simplifies content setup and management. A player for digital screens ensures uninterrupted operation and timely display of necessary information, making digital advertising even more effective.

What Is needed for automation

It is also necessary to understand the technical aspects of how automation is implemented in the Digital Signage system. The digital screen is connected to a server. This is a regular computer but with a powerful graphics card (for displaying images in high resolution, such as 2K or 4K). A set of sensors is also connected to it: a camera, temperature sensors, humidity sensors, etc. Technically, there are no innovative new additions. For example, Microsoft introduced Kinect more than 10 years ago — a system for controlling a gaming console and home television using voice, movements, and visual gestures. The working principle is similar.

But all this is managed using specialized software. This is an application that reads information from all these sensors and, based on the obtained data, adapts the display of advertisements on the advertising screens. This program is the most complex and expensive part of the entire automation system.

Artificial intelligence technologies are now being actively implemented in the Digital Signage system. A simple example of how this can be used in practice: the system displays themed advertisements and analyzes how sales increase with various settings. Then it optimizes them for maximum profit. It sounds innovative, but similar solutions are already being actively used in practice. This is why companies involved in AI development easily gather millions in investments for their growth, as representatives of large and medium-sized businesses understand the potential of automation in marketing and other areas.

Basic set for automatic management of Digital Signage is approximately as follows:

1. Computer.

Approximate technical specifications: 8-core processor, 32 gigabytes of RAM, discrete graphics card to which all digital screens will be connected through a digital signage player (high resolution output video signal is important), 2 terabytes or more storage. Having an active Internet connection is not mandatory. A local corporate network can be used for remote communication.

2. Sensors and detectors.

Chosen individually based on the required automation variant. In most cases, these are cameras with a matrix resolution of at least 5 megapixels.

3. Connection interfaces.

Currently, HDMI cables or the latest specification Display Port adapters are predominantly used, supporting image output with resolutions up to 16K.

If the digital panel and server are in open access, an anti-vandal system or alarm is also necessary. All this, on average, will cost around $2000 (excluding the cost of digital panels).

Information from sensors and detectors can be received by a single-board computer and transmitted directly to the server. Why is this needed? Because for the same Arduino (customizable microcontroller) or Raspberry PI (single-board computer) there are already many free applications with graphical interfaces for setup. This simply simplifies working with the incoming data provided by sensors and detectors in the digital signage system.

Cloud automation systems

Currently, cloud automation systems are being actively used. Their main advantage is the ability to forgo a full-fledged server, but it will require using either Android set-top boxes or specialized media players for image output. Each “point” with digital screens needs a separate set. Is this more cost-effective than using a full-fledged server? It depends on the advertiser’s needs, the number of connected screens, and the specifics of the marketing campaign.

But there are also advantages to cloud systems:

– management from anywhere on the planet;

– settings and content are stored on cloud storage: they cannot be lost or broken, and data is guaranteed to be preserved;

– access can be provided to multiple employees, with differentiated access rights.

The key drawback is the mandatory internet access at the point where the digital screen is located. Organizing this is not always possible: for example, if the digital screen is placed at a gas station outside the city. The internet must be stable and high-speed, and with network access issues, the content either won’t display or will loop continuously.

About software complexes

A computer needs an operating system to work: if it’s Windows, a corporate license will be required. An alternative is to use free operating systems such as Ubuntu or CentOS. By the way, Windows applications can also be run and used on these systems, so purchasing a Windows license can be avoided.

And for automatic ad management, specialized software is needed. There are two options to obtain it:

1. Purchase a license for a ready-made application (CMS) that will help implement automatic ad management on digital screens. Most of these use a paid subscription with monthly payments as the main form of payment. On average, this costs from 10 to 100 dollars per month per device (server). The exact price depends on the required functionality.

2. Develop a Content Management System application independently or commission its creation from a company that offers such services, which will be more expensive—on average from 10 to 100 thousand dollars, but it’s a one-time payment. If the application is complex with extensive functionality, a staff programmer will also be needed to refine the software, implement new functions, and fix errors and bugs. However, it’s important to consider that this option does not guarantee that you will achieve your goal, because technologies are constantly updating, and your application may become technologically outdated within a year.

In Digital Signage, ready-made programs are more commonly used now. Sometimes IT companies that develop software offer the service of their development and creation, but as practice shows, this should be done by experienced individuals who understand the advertising business directly.

To create reliable Digital Signage software for advertising automation systems, you need a team of professionals, years of development, and experience in implementing audio-visual projects. Only then can you be confident that the Digital Signage software will allow effective content management on screens in any location.

Advantages of using software complexes

A reasonable question may arise: “Why not just show ads from a flash drive instead of setting up an entire server?” Because this would not allow data collection for further analysis and increased marketing campaign effectiveness.

Additional advantages of integrating automated management systems into Digital Signage:

– more flexible schedule settings, creating a “digital queue”;

– the ability to integrate multiple data sources, for example, displaying ads stored on the server, and if necessary, adding content from a cloud drive to the “queue”;

– easier management, which does not require hiring and training many employees (all digital screens and panels are managed from one point, even remotely);

– the ability to automatically collect information for further analysis, which is almost an essential step in creating an effective marketing campaign;

– automation allows managing the operation of digital screens placed remotely from each other, which is especially useful for companies with many branches.

These are just the most obvious benefits for businesses. The possibilities for using automation to simplify and enhance advertising efficiency are limitless.

When automation can be forgone

Automation can be forgone if only 1-2 digital screens need to be managed, and the displayed ads are adapted for a broad audience. In other words, when almost every person is a potential client.

Other situations where Digital Signage automation systems can be forgone include:

– Content is available only in limited volume. That is, video and graphic publications are still in the development stage, or only a few ads need to be displayed overall.

– Direct advertising is not planned to be shown on digital screens, and the displayed content is created solely to attract the attention of potential clients for entertainment purposes. For example, if it’s a children’s complex, and cartoons are shown on the installed screens.

– If the business niche is highly specialized. In this case, Digital Signage might generally be a questionable solution.

Thus, implementing automatic management in Digital Signage not only saves time but also customizes ad and content displays to match the target audience and current conditions. This approach is cost-effective and, when deployed correctly, quickly provides a return on investment by boosting marketing campaign efficiency.

Additionally, free Digital Signage software can be a highly effective solution for certain businesses. Utilizing such software for screen management, companies can greatly streamline the content management process and guarantee consistent playback. These Digital Signage solutions contribute to resource optimization and significantly improve the impact of advertising campaigns.

Advision — Content Management System for remote management and media planning of broadcast video and audio content. We help offline businesses and advertising companies automate workflows and implement a robust Digital Signage infrastructure using our proprietary software and hardware solutions.

Contact us, and we will help you implement the most modern technologies to solve your problems!