About the 5th Screen
The sophisticated nature of communication sets humans apart from other creatures. Since prehistoric times, as evidenced in cave paintings, people have used images, placed where others would encounter them, to communicate important information.
For the past 120 years or so, rapid advances in technology have transformed human communication faster and to a greater degree than in all the time before. Since the development of the motion picture in about 1890 with the advent of Dickson and Edison’s Kinetoscope, the screen, with moving images and text, became a dominant form of communication. At first a source of novelty, then entertainment, it also became a source of news, information, propaganda, and advertising within its first decades.
“A reference the digital signage industry was missing. Now the digital signage networks operators, creative agencies and advertisers have a method to Unleash the power of Digital Signage.”
Christian Vaglio-Giors, CEO, Neo Media Group
From this 1st Screen, it was another half century before the first electronic screen, television, entered daily life. Although movies had been a very public form of communication, experienced en masse, this 2nd Screen was one that spoke to people in a much more intimate setting: their living rooms. Because of that, it was able to deliver different kinds of messages that were perceived differently by viewers.
Another 40 years passed before the 3rd (and first digital) Screen, the personal computer, came to market, and it wasn’t until the early 1990s, with the advent of the Internet, that its potential as a communications medium became clear. For the first time, individuals had a personalized, on-demand screen for viewing the information they wanted at any time and in (almost) any place that suited them.
When PDAs met cellular technology, the mobile phone came into its own and took its place as the 4th Screen—the most intensely private and controlled screen yet. This revolutionary handheld screen accompanied people into the real world and let them access information wherever they were at any moment.
All of these screens enable people to communicate with one another, whether providing information or stimulating purchases. Each screen has unique characteristics, and each of them reach people in different places, offering different degrees of viewer control. Yet, as a whole, they do not fill the gaps in the communications grid; there are myriad places people go every day where none of these screens can deliver messages from a marketer, employer, or other entity to inform a recipient and guide decision making.
Enter digital signage.
Today a combination of technical advances—low-cost flat panel screens in a range of sizes, digital cellular and Wi-Fi networks, web-based control software make it possible to create a 5th Screen that can be encountered in all places where the presence of the other four screens is diminished. From miniature screens on a retail shelf that inform consumers about products and shape their decisions to buy, to bright, ever-changing highway billboards that convey the right messages at the right time, digital signage offers a powerful new medium for communications in education, marketing, retail, and employee communications environments. This 5th Screen creates a crucial visual connection with messages delivered on the other screens we encounter daily, intercepting our inquisitive nature at our points of decision.
For the first time in history, there is a screen that matches what consumers want to see and interact with. The business of digital signage is in alignment with the consumers’ experience, purpose and mind-set. This truly is a winning combination for advertisers and consumers alike.
Of course, digital out of home (DOOH) is much more than a digital billboard. With a combination of dynamic content that is highly adaptable to its audience and environment, high-definition video imagery, and often interactive features, digital signage can help us, motivate us, provoke us, and unite us. Whether you watch them, touch them, step on them, interact with them, or pass them by at 70 miles per hour on the freeway, these new screens will have a powerful influence on our decision making and our experience.
As with every screen that came before, the most important element of the 5th Screen is not the technology behind it but the content it delivers. Without the right content, delivered with a clear understanding of the power of digital signage, the technology can’t deliver value, can’t motivate consumers, and can’t bolster brands. Those who understand how to create content that works for digital signage will be the ones who will reap the benefits.