The Digital Signage Insider

When I ask a colleague or customer a question like "Would you be interested in 100 pages of free data on digital signage component pricing, service strategy and technology trends?", I generally get one of two answers: an immediate, enthusiastic and resounding "YES!", or a glazed-over "um... 100 pages?". If you fall in the former group and either don't mind reading big documents online, or don't mind printing out lots of pages, then we've got a treat for you, because the 2010 Digital Signage Pricing Report is ready to download!

What is the digital signage pricing report?

We've been doing blog articles tracking pricing trends in the digital signage industry since 2004. In 2009, we decided to up the ante, collect a whole lot more data, do a bunch of statistical analysis on it, and then release the results to the public. Why, you ask? Well... to be honest, I don't quite remember. But it seemed like a good idea at the time, and now you get to reap the results of Jeremy and I being creatures of habit and not being able to stop something once we've started it.

In addition to collating the results from our global, Internet-based survey (we got 279 responses), we also picked up the phone and talked to parts suppliers, network operators and others who might have a unique perspective on product or service pricing. I have to say that people were much more cagey about quoting prices to me than in years past. I don't know if it's a delayed response to economic troubles or just the changing nature of the business, but it does mean we had to rely on fewer data points for some of these items than we have before. Still, looking at the historical trends, many of which are covered in the report itself, we're fairly confident that the numbers we present are reasonably fair and accurate.

Where can I get it?

Every report like that this that we publish (and there have only been two so far) can be found at /reports/

There are no forms to fill out, registrations to complete, etc. Just click, download, and enjoy.

What does the report look like?

Here are a few of the 80+ images that you'll find inside the pricing report:





What are some of the highlights?

If you can't afford to take the time to read all 114 pages (and since they're mostly graphs and charts, the pages go by quickly), here are some of the more salient points:

• The price of LCD screens rebounded a bit from 2009 lows, with the current "sweet spot" for a 40" commercial display sitting between $750 and $1,000.
  
  
• Commercial displays are overwhelmingly preferred over their consumer-grade counterparts, with virtually all large networks relying exclusively on them.
  
  
• Screens in the traditional 30-50 inch range still drive the majority of networks.
  
  
• Many large projects are using smaller screens in addition to (or instead of) large screens, with the current sweet spot being in the 7-12 inch range.
  
  
• There is still some niche demand for high-end media player hardware costing more than $1,500.
  
  
• The use of open source software is up slightly for small projects, and declining for large projects (compared to 2009 figures).
  
  
• Only about 3% of those with large project experience have never used a SaaS management platform for at least one of their projects.
  
  
• The content mixes of most digital signs, regardless of project size, are extremely varied, with most containing video, Flash animation, custom images and dynamic/templated content.

There are many more highlights, trends and takeaways to uncover. So what are you waiting for? Go download your copy right now!

We're always looking for our next big research project. What other industry topics would you like to see covered in detail? Leave a comment and let us know!