Archive for January, 2008
We receive many questions as to whether Internet connectivity interruptions affect advertiser compliance. The short answer is: in most cases they do not, but other problems that may be disguised as connectivity issues, do.
The reality of running a digital signage network via the internet is that connectivity issues will arise. They might be unexpected network hiccups, planned downtime by the ISP, or stalled routers. Advertiser compliance does not have to be affected if a system is disconnected from the internet. For instance, BroadSign Players are only connected to the Internet when they poll the server for new schedules or content. So, if there is no connection, the player will keep playing the latest updated content according to the latest schedule updates. The worst-case scenario, therefore, is that the player will miss an update while the connection is being restored. However, considering that new schedule and content uploads are usually done well in advance, the likelihood of compliance being affected is very low.
To illustrate this point, most of advertisers want their campaigns scheduled for a prolonged period. If you schedule it for a 2-3 month period, the campaign will keep playing regardless of a connection. If the connection is interrupted, the only thing affected would be the near real-time network performance reporting. But when the connection is restored, all reports are updated with the next poll.
Sometimes, however, what seems like a networking issue may be due to hardware failure. When hardware fails, advertisements can no longer be seen on the display which qualifies as a non-compliance. Excessive non-compliance requires that advertisers receive make goods or have invoices adjusted in order to compensate for missing ad plays. One of the big challenges of remote monitoring is that it is impossible to detect the difference between a network issue that will correct itself and a hardware issue that will not.
This is why the industry has standardized remote monitoring systems with built-in programmable thresholds. For example, if BroadSign players are connected using a third party’s internet connection, lenient thresholds may be selected; for example, “warn me if a player’s connection has been down for more than one hour”, and “escalate the issue to critical when the system is down for over 24 hours”. When business DSL is used, immediate notification of connection issues may be more appropriate; in this case, “escalate the issue to critical after as little as two hours of down time”. While a thresholds system is not perfect, when combined with a system that provides historical data on a site’s behavior, it is possible to monitor a very large network without a large workforce.
For example, if a site shuts down its systems, or prevents playback intentionally or even unintentionally, the site’s history will indicate whether or not a technician should be dispatched. A proper remote monitoring system will display the history of unexpected shutdowns at a particular location. Even if on-site staff shut systems down after hours, which does not affect compliance, performing a hard shutdown introduces undue wear and tear on player hardware. Over a period of time, this increases the chance of hardware failure. If the system’s network status has been escalated to critical, the history of unexpected shutdowns may indicate that the hardware has failed. If, however, it is accompanied by the history of regular MIA reports, overriding the thresholds for that site is recommended in order to ignore regular and repeating behavior.
On the other hand, the industry-accepted method of determining advertiser compliance is to have the network audited by a trusted third party. We are working on proof-of-play audit projects with media measurement giants Nielsen and Arbitron. They measure compliance by correlating their play logs with BroadSign proof of display logs. BroadSign Suite measures its own compliance levels on a per-campaign basis which can be viewed via the campaign performance report. Since campaign performance results are compiled from proof of display logs, an audited network can provide a higher level of comfort to advertisers and makes it easier for them to justify their rate cards and billings.
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January 29th, 2008
In the article “So Much for Engagement, Buys Are Still Based on Eyes,” Ad Age writes that ‘ for all the talk about engagement, top marketers and their media buyers still consider reach the No.1 criteria when they are framing their media plans and making their purchases.” This finding comes from Advertiser Perceptions’ “Wave Eight” survey of 2,047 top marketers and media buyers. Less than half of those surveyed ranked engagement among their top five criteria when buying media.
The author seems surprised, but I wonder how engagement can possibly be ranked any higher if no one really knows what engagement is and how to measure it? The same article quotes Steve Lanzano, COO at Havas media agency as saying: “… a lack of consensus about how to define engagement as well as the need for varying engagement metrics for different brands still makes it difficult to make deals on…” I think engagement is one of those buzz words that sound good, but are hard to apply to everyday reality.
Eyeballs are still the predominant goal for media planners at the moment, but only because reach is the most accepted legacy yardstick that originated at the height of TV reign, around which media research giants like Nielsen built their ratings industries. The demand for something more results-oriented is on the rise, the survey confirms: ” … the big media spenders plan to pour more dollars into digital in the next six months, which could be construed as a vote for a medium that allows targeting and a high level of measurability … … in online buys, it is the ad results (defined as accountability, effectiveness, return on investment and impact on awareness) that count,” writes Ad Age’s Megan MCilroy.
The survey data suggests that buys of broadcast TV, ’still the primary reach vehicle in most marketers’ minds’, will be close to flat, while online, cable TV and mobile marketing will see an increase in spending. National and local newspapers and radio will be the ‘big losers’ in the advertising pie battle, based on the study.
According to the charts illustrating the article, spending on Outdoor will remain largely the same following a rise last year. I don’t know if the study factored in the new legislation permitting digital billboards in the US, which definitely gave the industry a jolt at the end of 2007.
January 27th, 2008
Steven Platt offered his forecast on “adoption and deployment of digital communication networks” (another term for digital signage networks) for 2008-09 on digitalsignageweekly.com .
The director of Platt Retail Institute states that going into 2008, there is an increased level of activity in deployment of networks, raising capital and mergers/acquisitions in North America, Europe, parts of Middle Eats and China.
At the same time, Platt points out that retail, being the largest sector prospect, is also the slowest one to adopt new technology projects. Since many retailers consider digital signage a non-core activity, investment in those projects will remain slow until late 2008, hampered by the imminent ‘mild recession’.
On a positive note, the analyst is seeing that “…longer-term, retail network successes are starting to outnumber the failures. In time, such an investment will be viewed as core to a retailer’s business.”
January 17th, 2008
Ad Age interviewed leading industry executives about what they think a recession means for their business in 2008.
The consensus is: “It might not hurt in the short-term, but if things don’t tick up, gird yourself for a tough 2009.”
Martin Sorell, WPP Group’s CEO summed it up as follows: “Looking at 2008, there’s the presidential election, there’s the Beijing Olympics, which will probably be the most spectacular Olympics we’ve seen … and there’s the European football championships. So ‘08 is not the issue; ‘09 is.”
I would point out here that fears of recession are mainly expressed in relation to traditional media, where the audiences have been steadily shrinking even prior to any talk of recession.
Most of the new media, however, spearheaded by online advertising and digital out-of-home media (digital signage) shows no sign of a slowdown so far (see our previous posts in Big Picture category).
The looming recession forces marketers to look for more pragmatic allocation of funds. According to Alexia Quadrani, a Bear Stearns analyst: “If it’s a short recession, just a couple quarters, you’ll probably just see a shift (away from traditional brand advertising) to more promotional spending and more accountable means. … If it’s longer, it becomes a global crisis that does a lot more damage to these global networks.”
The most “accountable means” today is online advertising and the most “promotional spending” is shopper marketing. Reports show that the ad budgets keep shifting to online, but online doesn’t have enough inventory to absorb all the money taken out of TV. So my guess is that the unspent budgets are either waiting on the sidelines or being put into digital signage, or both. Apart from the overal increase in Outdoor spending (driven by digital billboards), we may not see it clearly because out-of-home digital (aka digital signage) is not singled out in most of the standard ad spend reports yet.
So far, even from the traditional media perspective, the ad industry looks more or less safe for 2008. Speaking about 2009, factors such as: the fast expansion of digital signage networks, the legitimization of digital billboards, the anticipated introduction of standards and metrics for ad-based digital signage and the continuing aggregation of ad space are likely to fuel steady growth even if the rest of the economy is in recession.Â
January 15th, 2008
NBC Universal’s move to host an “upfront” presentation later this month to sell its out-of-home TV ad space to major media buyers is the largest attempt so far to elevate the fast-evolving digital signage media properties to the level of annual TV buys. The presentation that comes ahead of the traditional TV Upfront event in the spring is probably also aimed at offsetting the potential losses in TV advetising revenue that may be caused by the continuing writers’ strike. Most analysts predict that many marketers may not be willing to commit to TV shows whose future is unclear.
While the writers’ strike may be a catalyst for NBC’s decision to sell its new media assets more aggressively, the NBC’s initiative also looks like part of a bigger strategy. Last summer NBC became a content provider and media sales rep for a number of digital signage networks , including PRN (over 1000 screens in Shop Rite and Albertson’s retail chains, with Wal-Mart’s In-Store TV not participating), over 500 screens in taxi cabs and about the same amount of gas-pump station screens. And now looks like a perfect time to start pitching this newly aggregated and promising space.
The announcement of the first out-of-home “upfront” heralds the beginning of what many forecast to be a good year for digital signage. The expansion of networks, the growing awareness of this new medium’s potential and the decline of traditional media’s advertising ROI along with the limitations of online advertising, are all indicating that the rise of digital signage is inevitable.
“There’s something intriguing about reaching a consumer at the moment they are interested in buying products, and have money in hand to do so,” said Steve Kalb, senior VP-director of broadcast at Interpublic Group of Cos.’ Mullen.
This kind of awareness on the part of national advertisers and their agencies is also the result of the hard work put in by the OVAB – the Out-of-Home Advertising Bureau, whose mission is to educate the advertising community about the unique benefits of digital signage and to establish standardized metrics that would facilitate massive media buys.
January 8th, 2008