Fashion Video Firm Transitioning From DVDs To Digital Signage Network

June 13, 2014 by Dave Haynes

A New York-based video production company called Video Catalogue, or VIDCAT for short, has launched Screen Fashion TV – a digital signage content network that runs material from premium fashion shows.

The company has been producing and distributing fashion show DVDs for a decade, but has jumped on the combination of low-cost Android boxes and streaming services to go networked.

“As our DVD sales were declining, requests for alternative delivery methods for our premium fashion videos were increasing,” explains VIDCAT President Janet Pytowski. ” The challenge was finding a package that included streaming video software and media player hardware that could handle our large files of HD full-screen fashion videos at an affordable rate. We chose a digital signage platform for streaming videos because of the customization potential and dynamic nature of the platform. Video playlists can be changed instantaneously and customized slideshows can be inserted into individual screens providing up-to-date marketing messages for our subscribers. The new Android based media players provide the hardware to power the network.” 

The playlist of Screen Fashion TV HD videos includes the latest fashion week runway shows, backstage hair and beauty videos, catwalk trends and popular movie trailers. Material such as slideshows of subscriber’s ads, look-books and promotions can be inserted into local user playlists.

You buy a $145 Android box and then pay $49/month for the content service. The program is aimed at the salon industry, as well as lounges.

A look at the reel suggests 10 years of doing this has got fashion coverage down to a nicely-packaged science. The key, from my perspective, is the ability to drop local content into the playlist. Otherwise, it risks being something that’s “just on” in the waiting area.