What Are The Largest Digital Signage Networks, Globally?
February 22, 2018 by Dave Haynes
What are the largest digital signage networks in the world?
I got that question the other day, and I did not have a particularly solid, well-informed answer. A decade ago, the big networks might have had 10,000 end-points and were run by entities like lottery corporations.
But these days, the largest networks might have 5x or more of that. I am guessing the biggest networks are likely in QSR, because of digital menu boards, and digital OOH, in verticals like health care.
So let’s crowd-source this. Use the comments section below, or send me an email, with your public knowledge or quiet background about the largest networks. I suspect some of the largest networks don’t allow vendors to talk about them in the press, so just slip me the information privately so it’s not evident where the information originates.
I don’t know, for example, how many McDonalds sites in the US have digital menu boards. But if there are 30,000 stores, and 25,000 of them have five menu boards each, that’s 125,000 players, which is a BIG network.
As usual, there will be networks in China I’ve never heard of that have bazillions of players, but the wild card there is whether they they are network-connected and regularly updated.
My criteria:
- Number of network connected end-points, not screens. Retail networks that have 1 player driving 100 screens in a TV wall count as 1 endpoint, not 100.
- Primary purpose should be digital signage. Some companies that do IPTV for hotels have included TVs in guest rooms as digital signs. They’re not (but good try!).
- System on chip displays count as endpoints, but only if the intelligence is being used. A lot of smart screens are used as “dumb monitors” driven by separate media players.
- ATMs and kiosk payment screens are not digital signs. Again, digital signage may be something that’s done when nobody’s getting money or transacting, but those machines went in for reasons other than signage.
- They need to be IP connected, hence the term network.
Let me know as much as you can:
– network name
– operator
– number of players
– location
– type of network, ie advertising, menu boards, etc
– supplier vendors
I’ll develop a rolling top 10 out of this (assuming I get enough data for 10) and keep the post updated.
It’s not easy getting a good sense of the signage landscape in general. I was recently tasked with coming up with a total number of DOOH screens (accepting 3rd party ads) in Canada and it was only made easier by being able to directly ask each of the (known) players in the space. Not everyone is registered with COMB, OMAC, DPAA, etc so it’s a bit of a challenge.
Looking forward to seeing what you’re able to come up with.
Good Morning,
Curious if the top 10 list was ever generated?
Thank You!
Look for the 2023 Invidis Digital Signage Yearbook, with inout from Sixteen:Nine, in mid-July … it will have rankings