Digital Signage M2M and IoT Applications

  Digital signage is an ambiguous term used in reference to a wide range of solutions for presenting media and information on display screens. There is no universally accepted definition on what the term encompasses, but it generally includes a broad range of solutions as diverse as traffic signs, menu boards and in-flight entertainment displays. Berg Insight’s definition is a system that comprises a connected display screen, a media player and a content management system that are managed over a local network or remotely. Systems that require manual intervention, such as swapping a SD card in the media player to load new content, are left outside of the scope of this report. 
The first connected digital signage solutions were commercially launched nearly three decades ago. Since then, digital signage solutions have found their way into nearly every possible vertical market and a wide variety of application areas. The untapped market potential is nevertheless still vast and growth is showing no signs of slowing down. Berg Insight forecasts that global shipments of display screens for digital signage will grow from 7.3 million units in 2014 at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 18.7 percent to reach 17.2 million units by 2019. The number of digital signage displays in active use will at the same time grow at a CAGR of 20.2 percent during the next five years from 25.4 million units in 2014 to 63.8 million units in 2019. 
Leading providers of digital signage solutions include media player vendors such as AOPEN, BrightSign and IAdea; CMS software providers such as Scala, RMG Networks and Four Winds Interactive; and display manufacturers such as Samsung, LG and NEC. Despite many well-known vendors active in the market, most parts of the value chain are highly fragmented where thousands of companies compete worldwide. The most recent behemoth to enter the market is Google, with the aim of making Chrome OS one of the main platforms for digital signage. Berg Insight anticipates that this will accelerate market development and increase the legitimacy of digital signage as a central platform for digital marketing, especially in areas such as targeted delivery of content with the help of location-based technology and analytics.

  1 Introduction .......................................................................................................................... 2 
1.1 Overview of the digital signage industry ..................................................................... 2 
1.2 The digital signage value chain ................................................................................... 2 
1.3 Application areas ......................................................................................................... 6 
2 Evolution of the digital signage industry ........................................................................... 14 2.1 Advancements in technology .................................................................................... 14 
3 Vendor profiles ................................................................................................................... 18 
3.1 Media player vendors ................................................................................................ 18 
3.2 Display screen vendors ............................................................................................. 25 
3.3 Content management system providers ................................................................... 32 
4 Forecasts and conclusions ................................................................................................ 40 
4.1 Market trends and drivers .......................................................................................... 40 
4.2 Market forecasts ........................................................................................................ 44 
Glossary .................................................................................................................................... 49