Digital Signage market in India is growing at 25% CAGR
By Sonal Desai, CRN, Apr 16, 2013
The digital signage market has reached a critical size and provides partners with abundant opportunities
The digital signage (DS) market has evolved over the last two years. According to research firm Netscribes, the DS market in India totaled Rs 560 crore in 2012 against Rs 450 crore in 2011, and is growing at 25 percent CAGR.
Today’s DS solutions offer wireless and touch interactivity, live feedback, video and demographic analytics, and integration with CRM and BI—all of which is making the CMO sit up and take notice.
Says Kalyan Banga, Manager, Product Development, Netscribes, “DS has demonstrated the ability to reach large audiences in a targeted way, and allows marketers the flexibility to deliver messages to specific audiences.”
According to Manish Gupta, Zonal Manager, Neoteric, “Organizations are adopting DS due to the growing sophistication in how brands want to manage consumer experience. “Brands want to deliver interactive, personalized and enjoyable experiences to end-customers on any device. DS can make this happen.”
“Over the last two years we have signed 100 customers for DS solutions,” informs ER Ashok Kumar, VP, Sales, Cisco Services, Cisco India & Saarc. “We see this business doubling for us over the next few years. The demand for DS is coming from retail, BFSI, healthcare, education and hospitality. The government is also a large prospect.”
Panasonic is another company that is bullish about the DS opportunity in India. “We are seeing a steady monthly sell-out of 100 units of 55-inch video-wall solutions for signage applications,” reveals Vineet Mahajan, Head, Display Products, Panasonic India.
Partner opportunities
Although there are opportunities for DS solutions for both external and internal communication, the opportunities for partners largely stem from in-store or in-premise installations meant for internal communication.
Hyderabad-based Shell Networks has deployed 100 point solutions at the Pune unit of telecom giant Vodafone. Says AL Srinath, CEO, Shell, “It was Vodafone’s HR department that wanted to display congratulatory messages for employees’ birthdays, anniversaries, etc. The demand for onsite deployments is huge across all industry verticals.”
BFSI is another big segment for DS. Today, banks are using DS at all their branches to display new offerings, schemes, forex conversion rates and customer benefits.
Mumbai-based Niche Softek is upbeat about the demand in the BFSI segment. The company recently installed DS solutions for 65 retail branches of SBI for a project worth Rs 1 crore. “We are expecting a bigger order from SBI on the back of the successful implementation, and also from other banks,” says Deven Limayae, CEO, Niche. “Share broking houses, financial services companies and hospitality are deploying DS in a big way.”
Vardhaman Technology is another Mumbai-based company that is bullish about DS. With its own brand of DS solutions, Vardhaman has done several projects for information kiosks. “We have been in this segment for the past five years. We have our own portfolio of solutions and have experienced strong growth. Having been successful in India we have now ventured into the American market to target SMB customers there,” says Amit Rambhia, Director, International Sales, Vardhaman.
One of the recent projects Vardhaman did was for Kalyan Janata Sahakari Bank, where it installed DS solutions across the bank’s 33 branches in Maharashtra for Rs 15 lakh. The company also has several projects in the pipeline from the government sector. Informs Rambhia, “We are piloting projects for the city bus service in Mumbai to set up information and ticketing kiosks at bus stops; these will display information such as the arrival time of a bus and the bus routes.”
Ahmedabad-based Innova Systems has deployed DS solutions for a large fashion house. “We have deployed the entire solution stack including point solutions, media players, networking and content solutions for three stores of the fashion house in Gujarat, and have bagged a repeat order for more installations,” says Apurva Dave, CEO.
Retail has seen increased spending on DS. “Retail stores are branching, and the CEOs are taking close interest in the performance of each store. Retailers are therefore investing in interactive screens for live feedback, and are constantly changing the messages to meet the expectations of their target audience,” says Siril M, Sales Manager, Foxconn, Middle East, India & Africa.
Education is another promising vertical. “Private institutes are opening branches, and are looking at solutions to display uniform mission and vision statements across all the branches. Schools are therefore looking at large display screens to be installed at the reception areas, essentially for internal communication,” notes Abhilesh Guleria, Country Head, Multimedia Product Group & IT Platforms Group, NEC India.
Further, vendors and partners are tying up with content providers to tap opportunities in this segment. Foxconn, for instance, has partnered with Educomp Solutions for content in the education segment. “We realize that partners cannot provide content on their own, and need to be enabled. We are tying up with more content providers so that our partners do not have to go scouting for content and lose projects to the competition along the way,” explains Siril.
A new area of focus is mobility and Android-based signage solutions. “Android-based signage is entering the market, and customers are converting tablets into signage, which are placed on retail shelves,” says Rambhia. Vardhaman is working on a pilot with a large FMCG company. “We will deploy tablets on retail shelves. The tablets will constantly play product ads of the brand and also the offers available,” Rambhia informs.
Not to be left behind, resellers and solution providers are also looking at opportunities in the government which they say are huge and mostly untapped. For example, Niche has integrated live TVs with the token management and queue management for Passport Seva Kendras in 10 locations in north India for a project worth Rs 1.5 crore.
Similarly, the government has opened up spaces at railway stations, metros, bus stops and public venues for displaying popular information on DS boards. Southern Railway has installed a DS system at Egmore Railway Station in Chennai to provide passengers with clearer and quicker updated information. “This is a huge opportunity if you count the number of key stations across the length and breadth of India—and there will be multiple signages deployed at each station,” points out Limayae.
Vendor strategies
To aid the sales growth, DS vendors are launching new products in smaller form-factors, and are investing in partner training and certifications.
Foxconn has launched Nano PCs based on Intel technology, priced under $200. These are 40 times smaller than micro-ATX PCs, are equipped with USB 3.0, HDMI ports, n-series Wi-Fi, gigabit LAN, digital audio, an internal speaker and a card reader. “A display with a CPU is today available from Rs 25,000 to Rs 1 lakh. Because of the low price, SMBs are also looking at DS solutions which were earlier out of range for them,” says Siril.
Intel is promoting the Next Unit of Computing, its new platform which provides ultrabook-level performance in an Atom-powered box for less than Rs 20,000. “It can work as a primary PC and also be used extensively in embedded systems such as smart interactive outdoor signage,” says S Natarajan, Country Business Manager, Embedded Market, Intel, South Asia.
Intel has also launched the Audience Impression Metrics (AIM) Suite, a software solution which provides video analytics based on responses to visual messaging. “AIM profiles viewers based on gender, age, viewing time and duration. It uses anonymous sensors and sophisticated computer algorithms to accurately count the potential and actual audience for visual messages and merchandising,” Natarajan informs.
Cisco is encouraging its partners to obtain certification in its Authorized Digital Media System Partner Program to enable them to sell and support Digital Media Systems and focus on digital media and video solutions. “We have enabled more than 100 partners for DS, and are helping them with lead management and pre-sales,” Kumar says.
Meanwhile, NEC has developed a dedicated solution for the education vertical. The company is positioning its comprehensive DS solution comprising point solutions, projectors, media players, storage, servers, networking and content for educational institutes in the country.
Source: http://www.crn.in/feature/growing-acceptance-of-digital-signage?Page=1
22 MILLION DIGITAL SIGNS BY 2015
Getting a handle on the real size of the digital signage (DS) industry is a challenge. Most analysts focus on specific geographic areas or niche sectors, making it hard to get comparable data on a global basis. Another complication: in most markets, 80 percent of the digital signage integrators are local companies and often span the audio/visual and IT worlds.
The sizing challenge: When Intel first tried to construct a worldwide market model for digital signage in 2009, we utilized our best estimate of 2008 actuals and assumed a 26 percent compounded annual growth rate (CAGR): this led us to estimate 8 million media players and correspondingly 16 million digital signs by 2015. I first discussed this market model at the Digital Signage Expo (DSE) in early 2010 and over the following months many analysts converged on these numbers. However, in mid-2009, we felt (and most analysts agreed) that the digital signage market would actually grow at a 38-42 percent CAGR over the next few years. But, because digital signage was a new focus at Intel and our market model is used for factory loading and revenue commits, we decided to stay with the 26 percent CAGR. The take away that was widely reported was 8 million media players and 16 million digital signs by 2015.
Fast forward to 2011: We just updated our worldwide market model for digital signage again, taking a local approach and building up to a global model. This time we made a significant effort to estimate the numbers by country and vertical sector. It wasn't surprising that 2010 actuals exceeded our previous model by some 60 percent because, indeed, the industry had been growing at about a 40 percent CAGR. Now most analysts are predicting a 35 percent CAGR going forward for the next few years.
So what is the latest prediction?
Utilizing 2010 actuals and a still conservative CAGR of 26 percent, Intel's revised model now predicts 10 million media players and a corresponding 22 million digital signs by 2015. It is clear that the digital signage market is expanding at a significant pace.
Worldwide, the top three sectors will continue to be retail, corporate and transportation, but other sectors such as healthcare and hospitality are seeing significant growth as well. The development of transportation networks, public infrastructure and new commercial buildings, particularly in developing countries such as India, China and Singapore, are all creating more opportunity to target the core audiences of corporate workers, commuters and retail shoppers.
Retail is king in most regions, with the exception of the People's Republic of China, where transportation tops the market. Corporate is big in EMEA but still follows retail. Healthcare and hospitality have seen tremendous growth in North America. All of these verticals boast a targeted audience base and high dwell times and, although we don't collect this data specifically, stable advertising CPMs.
In a nutshell: digital signage continues to grow because its leading sectors are demonstrating a proven ability to deliver audiences. I don't think that's going to change.
While the audiences are clearly there for digital signage, that alone doesn't explain such strong growth rates. Here are two observations as to why the growth is so strong. These are by no means the only factors, but they are among the most important:
- Digital signage is proving itself in a fragmented media market. The strengths of digital signage are becoming more evident as the inherent weaknesses in more traditional media forms become more pronounced. Digital signage has demonstrated a continuing ability to reach large audiences in a targeted way at a point where it really matters: at the point of sale or, at a very minimum, when consumers can easily alter their travel plans to go to a point of sale (e.g., a pet owner watching digital signage at a vet's office). Other media — newspapers, magazines, TV — do not have the strength of place or the flexibility to deliver such targeted messages to specific audiences. Add to this, a growing sophistication in how brands want to manage the consumer experience. Brands want to deliver interactive, personalized and enjoyable experiences to end-customers wherever they are located, on whatever device they are using or seeing or interacting with. Digital Signage is a critical medium for making this happen. Additionally, a proven, experienced ecosystem of digital signage system integrators is emerging. This is critical to any technology market and digital signage is no exception. Digital signage system integrators have emerged as an engine of growth, particularly in meeting the need for turnkey solutions for the SMB market. In fact, many system integrators have doubled their revenues year over year for the last couple of years.
- The increased performance and cost-effectiveness of digital signage. As digital signage systems have evolved, they have inevitably become more cost effective, lowering total cost of ownership. The initial costs of planning and setting up a digital signage infrastructure have dropped, removing or at least lessening a significant barrier to growth. Today's solutions support remote manageability, energy efficiency and enough performance for advanced capabilities such as anonymous video analytics (for audience metrics and enhanced ROIs), and the ability to process and blend rich media content. Advertisers are recognizing the flexibility and cost-effectiveness digital signage can provide compared to traditional media, i.e., content can be changed remotely; customers can be targeted more accurately.
Arguably, no other marketing media can match the value proposition that digital signage delivers: the ability to reach a mass audience with such a high level of flexibility in creative, placement, cost and (with the addition of audience metrics) proven performance. As the market data are already showing, that value proposition is a winning one.
Author: Jose Avalos is the Retail Sector General Manager for Intel Corporation in the Intelligent Systems Group. In this role, Jose leads Intel’s worldwide Retail and Digital Signage businesses and his organization is responsible for delivering Intel’s Intelligent Retail and Digital Signage Platforms, Software and Services, as well as initiatives to fuel the growth of these Industries.
Source: Intel Cognovision
Media Players, PCs and Displays Drive Nearly $5 Billion in Revenue for Digital Signage
Date: 27 June 2012
IMS Research, estimates that hardware supporting digital signage such as media players, PCs, displays and LED Video arrays generated nearly $5.5 billion in revenue during 2011. The new IMS Research study, The World Market for Digital Signage – 2012 Edition, also forecasts continued growth for this equipment at a combined compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 8.5 percent through 2016.
Displays continue to drive the majority of shipments and revenues for the industry when cinema projectors are excluded. IMS Research estimates that during 2011, LCD and plasma displays shipping worldwide for digital signage generated revenues of nearly $2.7 billion, representing 22.5 percent growth over 2010. Contributing to this strong growth was an increase in shipments for screens smaller than 30 inches, replacement of CCFL with LED backlit and thin bezel displays, as well as an increased demand for touchscreens. LED Video display (or module) revenue grew due to increased investment in sporting venues and outdoor digital advertising. Media players and PCs contributed nearly $1 billion.
Shane Walker, author of the study and director of IMS Research’s Consumer Electronics Group, stated: “While screen sizes around 42 inches continue to comprise the majority share of screens, we expect sizes over 50 inches to increase to a 27 percent share due to increased usage in verticals such as airports and retail. Smaller screen sizes are also experiencing increased uptake in the restaurant, education and hospitality verticals. These small screens increasingly have built-in media players with Ethernet or Wi-Fi connectivity.”
Regarding media players and PCs, Walker continued: “In general, there is a trend toward smaller form factors for PCs, with many manufacturers designing units intended to be embedded within a display. Amongst the display manufacturers we spoke with, a common rate of share for displays with a PC expansion slot was 15 percent to 20 percent of their product line. Some reported PC attach rates into these displays above 10 percent.”
Thin bezel share (bezels less than 9mm) increased to 13 percent in 2011 from five percent in 2010. Similar to growth expectations for larger screen sizes, IMS Research forecasts this share to increase to 23 percent by 2016, especially as the cost differential continues to narrow. A contributor to this growth will simply be the replacement of existing wide or narrow bezel video walls with thin bezel displays. Despite these growth expectations, thin bezel display shipments will remain minor through the forecast. This is due to the fact that 50 percent of digital signage sales still come from SMBs with limited need for video walls. Similarly, large format touch screen share grew to nine percent during 2011. IMS Research expects significant growth to continue during 2012.
Source: IMS Research
Digital signage market: American confidence high despite first-quarter dip
WEDNESDAY, 20 JUNE 2012 14:45
Business in the North American digital signage sector dropped off slightly in the first quarter and is likely to do so again in the second, but optimism remains high, according to the latest North American Digital Signage Index from the Platt Retail Institute and the Digital Signage Federation.
The current index, which measures the health of the industry during the period covered and is based on responses from both suppliers and users, fell six percent from the last quarter of 2011.
However, the near-term index – which reflects the outlook for the immediate future – was up 15 percent compared with the previous quarter.
“As the economy ratcheted down late in the first quarter of 2012, the Current DS Index similarly declined,” said Steven Keith Platt, the institute’s director. “The industry can generally be viewed as still growing, as the Current DS Index remains over 100. The rate of growth did, however, slow significantly in the first quarter of 2012.
“As we expect a continuing weak economy during the second quarter, with GDP growth in the range of 1.4 to 1.6 percent, we anticipate that the industry will similarly experience another slowing in activity.”
www.digitalsignagefederation.org
www.plattretailinstitute.org
Source: http://www.screenmediamag.com
Smart TV Surges in Popularity Worldwide
China Is at Forefront of Connected TV Trend in Emerging Markets
Santa Clara, Calif., June 12, 2012—Over one quarter of TVs shipped during Q1’12 were equipped with internet connectivity, as reported in the new NPD DisplaySearch Quarterly Smart TV Shipment and Forecast Report, which tracks connected and smart TV shipments by brand, region, display technology and screen size. Approximately 27% of TV sets shipped worldwide had internet connectivity, led by Japan, where 46% of sets had networking capability, and Western Europe with 36%. In a good example of how internet entertainment is developing rapidly in emerging markets, China followed closely behind Western Europe with 32% of sets that shipped having internet functionality.
In the report, NPD DisplaySearch further analyzed TV sets by service type. Basic connected TVs can access structured services from broadcasters such as Hbb.TV in Europe, BBC’s iPlayer in the UK, Hulu in the US and AcTVila in Japan. Netflix and YouTube also offer such services. According to NPD DisplaySearch, a smart TV can access a branded portal and service, not just publicly available platforms such as YouTube, or broadcaster services. Within this definition of smart TV, there are sub-categories that differ in the nature of the control of the service offering:
- “Set maker controlled” sets can have unique services from a portal. No two brands are alike, and the services may be configurable as apps.
- “Consumer controlled” sets can escape the constraints of a portal and allow the consumer to access the whole internet. These sets typically have a browser inside.
The report indicates that nearly 20% of all TVs shipped worldwide were smart TVs, the highest being in Japan with 36%, with China a close runner-up with 30%. The feature was also strong in Western Europe, over 29% of Q1’12 shipments were of smart TVs. All regions were over one-inten, with North America at 18%. “Connected TV is largely driven by content,” said Paul Gray, Director of TV Electronics Research for NPD DisplaySearch. “Where there are compelling things to watch, the internet becomes a major source of entertainment. We are now seeing a second stage of evolution as internet video relocates from a PC screen onto the TV screen. In particular, Chinese consumers have found plenty to watch on the internet, so internet connectivity follows.”
Source: NPD DisplaySearch Quarterly Smart TV Shipment and Forecast Report
One of the more surprising findings from the report indicates that no region is being left behind. Developed regions can be expected to have high shipments, and areas with low broadband uptake such as the Middle East and Africa also show a strong interest in internet connectivity.
“It is an interesting trend,” added Gray. ”There are countries in emerging regions where mobile broadband far outnumbers fixed lines, so consumers are looking to share mobile content on a big screen.”
By region, the largest shipments were in China with almost 3.0 million smart TVs shipped. Western Europe was second, with 2.1 million units shipped, while North America was third with almost 1.4 million units shipped. Strong seasonality linked to the Lunar New Year holiday helped increase shipments in China. Western Europe showed weaker demand as consumers there tend to exhibit more caution toward smart TVs.
By region, the report finds that open internet access is dominant in China, as consumers have a shortage of structured services and want to look elsewhere for content to view. However, 2012 models from all major brands incorporate browsers, and this feature trend is likely to proliferate outside of China.
Source: NPD DisplaySearch Quarterly Smart TV Shipment and Forecast Report
Brands’ shipment mix of smart TVs reflects their regional positioning. Chinese TV brands score well due to high shipments in their home market. The NPD DisplaySearch Quarterly Smart TV Shipment and Forecast Report provides a quarterly update of shipments in this market. Rapid shifts in smart TV feature developments are forecast, and the report also examines smart and connected TV shipments by region, analyzing industry and service trends.
Article source: http://www.displaysearch.com
