Out Of Home New York New Name For What Was New York Digital Signage Week

May 1, 2023 by Dave Haynes

New York Digital Signage Week will be known, going forward, as Out Of Home New York – a thematic handle that I think better and more aptly reflects the balance of what goes on during a series of events each October.

UK-based Adrian Cotterill (most known as the founder/editor of the online publication DailyDOOH) has with his business associates been encouraging, promoting and nurturing a series of educational, demo/showcase and social events each October since 2012 – built mainly around the DPAA’s annual advertising conference and some display vendor showcases. The idea was that just like there are things like a New York Fashion Week, there could also be a digital signage week.

“For its 12th year (this year, 2023),” Cotterill notes online, “we thought the week needed something of a refresh and a name change to better reflect the sort of events that are typically held, so …”

Out Of Home New York will take place October 9-13, 2023. The week will still be the usual heady mix of FREE and PAID for events – conferences, showcases, cocktails, open house, breakfast debates, tours and other ad-hoc activities.

Last year, the week started to get back to normal and saw 32 events take place that attracted just over 3,000 attendees (2022).

The suggested hashtag for the week is #OOHNYC.

I think this makes more sense, and is a more accurate reflection of the balance of what goes on. The signature DPAA event is very good, but totally skewed to the media sector. Much of what’s presented and discussed on the one-day DPAA event stage would be as foreign to mainstream digital signage people as conferences on pharmaceuticals or insurance. Ad media people almost have their own language.

It also reflects what DailyDOOH covers these days. Our two publications used to cover the same ground, but in recent years, DailyDOOH has been much more focused on adtech and DOOH. Those sectors get less attention from me, in part because I often can’t sort out what they’re going on (and on) about when it comes to things like programmatic.

There are lots of people who use the terms digital signage and DOOH interchangeably, but digital signage is a technology while Digital OOH is an advertising media business that uses digital signage technology, as well as other ad technologies.

The other big event of the week is a cocktail party hosted by Mark Boidman, an investment banker focused on M&A and finance of media companies.

I won’t blabber on here, but can point to an earlier post that reflects my impressions and thoughts on attending the week. I’ll reinforce that I’ve thought Adrian has done a very good job building this week into a genuine thing, but I’ve long questioned the investment and ROI for digital signage people who DON”T really do much trade in the DOOH sector.

Was the big cost of getting to, and being in, New York worth it to see the same people at a bunch of cocktail parties? Sure, if you had other reasons to be in the city, as well. But as THE reason, not so sure …

NEC and LG used to do big East Coast showcases in that October time window, but I don’t think that has carried on post-COVID and in the wake of some M&A changes with NEC. Sony did a showcase last fall during that week, however.

I’d imagine this name change also reflects a means of distinguishing this week from the rebooted Digital Signage Experience, which now runs in late fall instead of late winter/early spring. The NY digital signage week was, until that calendar shift, pretty much on its own as a networking event for the digital signage ecosystem.

Some companies have the budget to send people to NYC and to Vegas, but I suspect if digital signage people had to choose, they’d probably go with Vegas and DSE because of the sharper focus.