Offline vs Online

Digital Signage, which is outdoor advertising through electronic displays, is emerging as the next generation masscommunication tool. Compared to other advertising media Digital Signage is considered unique, interesting, more informative and less annoying.

Presently most Digital Signage Service Providers operate on offline mode. Offline Networks are where the Displays are standalone units and depend on human intervention for operation & management. The advertisements appearing on this type of screens are unaccounted for and can be changed only manually.

AdBrand is a complete online network, where the Adbrands (Digital Displays) are connected to our Data Centre over the Internet.The operation & management is centralized with no human intervention. AdBrand is THE revolution in the Digital Signage Business.

Offline Networks

Digital Signage is the most advanced medium of advertisement delivering quality results. However, Digital Signage Services in "Offline" mode screens deliver annoyance and no proof for performance to the advertisers. Listed are some of the drawbacks of operating in an offline network. Which are in-turn affecting the Signage Industry from becoming an effective media option on par with other Advertising Media.

Manually operated

The Digital Displays on an offline network play the Ad media either using DVDs or through external Memory Devices. The DVDs or memory sticks are uploaded with the Ad creative manually and the field agents have to go to each Display Location to connect the media device to the Displays. This requires lot of human labour & is time consuming therefore increasing the operational cost, thus increasing the advertisement cost to the advertiser substantially.

High Maintenance

As the networks are manually operated, a considerable number of field agents are required to maintain the network, substantially increasing the maintenance cost & there by increasing the Advertising costs again. Also regular inspections are needed in order to see that the screens are active & operating. The Media devices would also need maintenance, repairs or replacements.

No Tracking System

There are no reports that indicate how many Ads were displayed on each Display unit or at what time an Ad was displayed or that an Ad was actually displayed or not. There are no performance indicators that indicate whether a Display at a certain location is operating at viable revenue or not. Advertisers are charged even for the screens that are offline, since the order is placed on the basis of number of screens and not on the number of impressions.

Resistant to requests for changes in Ad Campaigns

As the system is manually operated, any request from the Advertiser to either modify or change the Ad campaign or creative / media cannot be immediately put to affect. The changes take days or weeks to bring into affect and require considerable team effort & labour, drastically increasing the operational costs. Advertisement play list / sequence cannot be changed or updated dynamically, resulting in no auto campaign scheduling can happen on such networks.

Prone to Fraud

There are no Anti-Fraud systems to indicate if a premises / location intentionally turnoff the Display or if theytamper with the Ad media or the play list, or if the ads screening fails due to a technical reason.

No Auto Alert System

There is no alerting system to inform the network operator if there is any technical problem with the Display device or if the screening of Ads stopped due to some issue or if there is a possible fraud.

No Dynamic Engaged Content

There is no provision or potential for dynamic content display such as, display of most current market index, current offering rates, opinion polls and stock market updates etc as a content item within the ad.

Limited Presence

Because of high maintenance and labour cost, Displays are installed only at selected locations such as premium malls, multiplexes and high-end stores in urban cities, resulting in limited broadcasting range & reaching fewer audiences. As there are no tracking systems or proof of performance and the changes are not immediate, Advertisers are hesitant to advertise on an offline based network, resulting fewer advertisements on these Displays.