Because a poster can't change at 3 pm.
Digital signage earns its place by doing four things paper cannot: it gets looked at, it is remembered, it changes on a schedule, and it reports back. Here is what the research says, where the money comes from, and a calculator for your own numbers.
Six things a screen does that print never will.
It gets looked at
Motion and light draw the eye. Digital signage captures around four times the views of a static sign in the same spot.
It is remembered
Research puts message recall for digital signage above 80%, roughly double print. People remember the offer when they reach the shelf.
It changes on the clock
Breakfast at 6, lunch at 11, happy hour at 4. Weekend pricing. Campaign start and end dates. All set once.
It is right for the place
The Adelaide store sees Adelaide content; the Brisbane store sees Brisbane. One publish, many versions, no courier.
It reports back
Proof of play shows exactly what played, where and when. Suppliers who fund a campaign can see it ran.
It ends the print run
No posters, no shipping, no shop staff on ladders, no out-of-date prices left up for a week.
Sources. Intel: digital displays capture ~400% more views than static (2012) · Arbitron / OAAA: 83% recall for digital out-of-home · Nielsen 2015: 74-89% recall of specific messages Figures are industry-reported and vary by site; use the calculator with your own numbers.
Where the money comes from.
The industry quotes big averages. Treat them as ranges, then check them against your own numbers in the calculator below. The return has four sources, and the mix is different in every industry.
Sales lift
Featured products, add-ons, dayparted offers. The biggest and most variable source.
Print and freight
Posters, shelf talkers, window cards, courier runs, and the staff hours to put them up and take them down.
Labour and errors
Menu and price changes made once, not store by store. No wrong price left up until Monday.
Supplier funding
Brands pay for screen time when you can prove it played. Reports make that a PDF.
Run it with your own numbers.
Move the sliders. The defaults are deliberately conservative: a small lift on the revenue that passes the screens, the print you already pay for, and a realistic monthly cost per screen.
Payback
Arithmetic only: visitors × 30.4 × conversion × average sale × lift, plus print saved, minus the monthly cost. It leaves out supplier funding, which can cover the whole cost in pharmacy and grocery.
Most installs underperform. The hardware is never the reason.
Industry research keeps landing on the same uncomfortable number: around 80% of digital signage installations fail to meet their objectives. The failures are predictable, so Cosmos was designed around them.
No content plan after launch day
The same loop for a year becomes wallpaper. Cosmos: Schedule makes a monthly refresh and daypart changes the normal way to work, and the dashboard shows what each screen is showing today.
Orphaned screens
The person who set it up left, nobody has the login. Cosmos: named users with access levels, one login via Command Nexus if you have it, and the support team on the phone two, three, four years later.
Nobody notices the black screen
A dead screen for three weeks costs more than no screen. Cosmos: status colours per screen, offline counts, live pictures, and screens that keep playing when the network does not.
Placement that fights the room
Too high, too dim, competing with three other screens. Cosmos: we walk the space with the customer journey in mind and spec brightness for the light before a screen is ordered.
Paper, a TV with a USB stick, or Cosmos.
| Printed posters | Consumer TV + USB | Cosmos Signage | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Change the message | Reprint, ship, ladder | Drive to the store with a stick | Publish from anywhere, live in seconds |
| Right content per store | Separate print runs | Separate sticks | Tags and colour-coded playlists |
| Schedules and dayparts | No | No | Yes, per site, with working hours |
| Know it is working | Walk past it | Walk past it | Status colours, live pictures, reports |
| Survives a network drop | Yes | Yes | Yes: with the Android app, content is stored on the screen |
| Readable in a sunny window | Fades | No, 250-350 nits | Yes, 700-4,000 nit commercial screens |
| Rated for 24/7 | n/a | No, fails in 12-18 months | Yes, 60,000 h commercial panels |
| Proof it played | No | No | PDF or CSV for any period |
Want these numbers for your sites?
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