The ClearTech Guide to digital signage

Digital out-of-home. Any digital screen people see when they are away from home, from roadside billboards to screens in stores. It is the digital side of out-of-home (OOH) advertising.

Screens a business uses to talk to its own customers or staff: promotions, menus, wayfinding, notices. Once those screens also carry other companies’ adverts, they count as DOOH too.

Advertising that retailers sell to brands on their own channels, including in-store screens. Brands reach shoppers close to the point of purchase, and the retailer gains a new source of revenue.

The standard portrait advertising screen, usually 75 inches or larger. Named after the paper 6-sheet poster it replaced.

A screen built to run for long hours in a business setting. A domestic TV used as signage will usually fail sooner and may not be covered by its warranty.

Most indoor screens are LCD. Direct-view LED screens are built from modules that give off their own light, so they are brighter and can be made to almost any size, which suits shop windows and large formats. On LED, the pixel pitch (the distance between the centres of neighbouring pixels, in millimetres) decides how close people can stand before the picture looks grainy.

Measured in nits. Indoor screens typically run at 400–700 nits. A screen facing out of a shop window needs 2,500 or more to stay readable in daylight.

The small computer behind the screen that stores and plays content. Some screens have one built in, often called system-on-chip (SoC) screens, which is simpler but less flexible.

How well a screen is sealed against dust and water. IP65 is a common minimum outdoors.

Always state the orientation in a content brief, ideally with a photo. Artwork made the wrong way round is one of the most common, and most avoidable, costs.

Content management system: the software used to upload, schedule and check content across the network.

The loop is the playlist a screen repeats, often 60 seconds or a few minutes long. It is split into slots, usually 5, 10 or 15 seconds each, which can carry your own content or be sold to advertisers.

A part of the day, such as morning or evening, used to schedule content for the people likely to be there.

Content that changes automatically with live data, for example promoting cold drinks when the temperature rises.

A log of exactly what played, where and when. Advertisers rely on it, and it is the basis for billing.

How long people spend in front of a screen. A gym or a checkout queue gives you far longer than a roadside.

Impressions are the estimated number of times an advert is seen, and several people can see a single play. CPM is the cost per thousand impressions, the usual way advertisers compare value.

Buying and selling screen time automatically through software, often with rules such as location or time of day. It opens a network up to advertisers who would never book it directly.

The two sides of a programmatic sale. The media owner lists its screens in a supply-side platform (SSP) and sets prices and rules there. Advertisers and agencies buy through a demand-side platform (DSP). When a buyer’s rules match a screen, the advert is delivered through the CMS, and proof of play confirms it ran.

Whoever controls the screens and sells time on them. A retailer selling airtime on its in-store screens is acting as a media owner.