What is the cost of digital signage ownership?

Well, there is no one-word answer to that. The reason is ‘digital signage’ can mean several things.

For a local salon that wants to play a few promotional & entertainment videos for its customers, setting up digital signage might mean simply converting a television into a signage monitor.

But, for a multinational organization wanting to deploy an enterprise-level corporate digital signage solution at its 100+ offices, the idea of digital signage changes to a rather extensive network of screens.

You must have already deduced this: the cost of digital signage for the above two cases will be noticeably different.

Components impacting the cost of digital signage ownership

In a broader sense, the price of setting up digital signage will depend on these four factors:

• The choice of digital signage hardware

• The number of screens

• The features & cost of digital signage software

• The functionality of the digital signage

However, once we scratch the surface, a few other costs emerge that we often don’t calculate because they are not involved upfront while setting up digital signage. But those costs are intrinsic to your digital signage budget. Two such hidden costs are:

• The cost of effort

• The cost of content

Let’s discuss this in more detail.

A. The cost of digital signage hardware

The hardware cost of digital signs includes the investments in the digital screens, the digital signage player, and ancillary expenses like the cost of setup.

The cost of screens

The type of screen you choose largely depends on what you are using your electronic sign for. A simple LCD TV screen can suffice for showing image & video content on a digital church sign, but the same will fail to support a 24/7-ON digital advertising billboard.

Decision-making parameters for choosing the screen type:

• Working hours

• Interactivity

• Indoor or outdoor implementation

• Screen positioning (hanging, standing, mounted, or embedded)

Specifications that affect the per-screen cost of digital signage are:

• Size

• Resolution

• Brightness

• Viewing angles

• Touch support

• Screen refresh rate

• Contrast ratio

• Energy consumption

• Durability

Here is a comparison of some commercial displays in terms of display price and features:

Suggested: How to choose the right digital display for your business

The cost of digital signage player

The digital signage player helps render your content on screen. The choice of your player determines what type of content gets processed (images, videos, web content, URLs) and how fast it is processed.

Different digital signage players use different Operating Systems (OSs). For instance, Samsung displays use Tizen OS, Intel players use Windows OS, while the Chromebit & Chromebox players use Chrome OS.

Originally Published as What is the cost of digital signage ownership? on Pickcel Digital Signage Blog