SeeSaw research: This stuff works
October 24, 2007 by Dave Haynes
Networked ad sales aggregator SeeSaw Networks has released encouraging results of a study it commissioned this summer, looking at the effectiveness of digital signage.
There will be people out there who will suggest commissioned research gets the results a paying client needs to see, however the numbers are pretty strong to dismiss.
Digital Signage Today reports that 63 per cent of adults find that advertising on digital signage “catches their attention.” Moreover, the study confirms the stopping power of digital signage, as people consider advertising in this media to be more unique and entertaining, and less annoying than both traditional and online media.
SeeSaw’s “Digital Out-of-Home Media Awareness & Attitude Study” was commissioned, according to the report, to gain deeper insight into how people engage with and respond to digital signage in their daily lives.
More to the point, SeeSaw and the industry as a whole is adding to the evidence and argument that this stuff works and that people are responding to it.
Digital out-of-home advertising also engages people. In addition to the stopping power of digital signage, people find the advertising to be more unique (58 percent), interesting (53 percent) and entertaining (48 percent), but less annoying (26 percent) than other media. According to the research, 44 percent of people pay some or a lot of attention to digital signage advertising, which places this media ahead of traditional billboards, the Internet and mobile phones, and on par with magazines, radio and newspapers, only trailing TV across this measure.
SeeSaw likely spent a healthy chunk of change on the research, and to its credit, is making it widely available. You can go to SeeSaw’s website and fill in a brief form.
That means you are in SeeSaw’s database, but that’s a fair trade-off.
Thanks for your comments. We went to great pains to make sure that the research was completely impartial. We wanted to get as accurate snapshot of exactly where we are today in the evolution of the medium and, frankly, were a little surprised ourselves at the level of traction digital signage seems to be gaining. And, with all of the new entrants and installs we’re seeing in the marketplace, we expect these numbers to continue to improve. We’re also seeing more and more powerful technology platforms, new marketing-oriented applications and riched content coming into the ecosystem.
Much like the early days of the Internet, we’re in a very exciting time and place as the 21st century media mix is emerging and digital media is continuing to displace traditional media with younger and more mobile demographic segments.