College campuses face digital signage’s hidden costs

Digital signage adoption rates have skyrocketed on college campuses.

The cost of content for digital signage has been known to elicit a generous helping of expletives from campus technologists who, before making their signage purchases, didn’t peek at the price tag of the moving pictures that fill the screens on their shiny new signs.

Digital signs are strategically placed at the entrances of lecture halls and in the middle of student unions, screens ready to serve as the college’s next-generation bulletin board. But as many college and university IT decision makers have found out in recent years–as digital signs have become commonplace in higher education–filling the screen with more than the occasional announcement can be a pricey prospect.

The rights to an advertisement that can scroll across the screen between campus-related announcements can cost more than $5,000, signage industry experts said in interviews with eCampus News. Even tweaking an ad–shrinking it, or changing its color or sound–can cost $2,000.…Read More

Without improved content, digital signage could ‘ride off into the sunset’

Campus technology leaders are searching for ways to make digital signage more effective at their schools.

Smart phones and tablets shouldn’t be seen as competitors to a campus’s digital signs, but as companions, and colleges should make sure on-screen content grabs students’ attention, digital signage experts said March 7 at an industry tradeshow.

During a panel discussion at the Digital Signage Expo (DSE) in Las Vegas, campus technology leaders said digital signs run the risk of becoming irrelevant if decision makers don’t embrace new approaches to signage.

Higher education has seen a boom in digital signage usage. After 1,500 U.S. campuses added digital signs in 2010—displaying information such as course schedules, upcoming campus events, and weather reports—more than 8,400 digital screens were installed at colleges and universities in 2011, according to a report from Northern Sky Research, a market research firm.…Read More

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