Even though digital signage has been a successful tool for many enterprises, it has not caught on in North America as it has in other parts of the world. In our March issue of Satellite Business Solutions we reported, in part, that point-of-purchase spending is estimated at more than $1 billion and that in-store screens could add 15 to 20 percent to the value of this market within the next three years in the article titled “Digital Signage: Capturing Business and Profits via Satellite.” More notably, Avanti Communications out of the U.K. garners around $3 million a year in ad revenue from digital, point-of-presence advertising. Its Magnetic Channel penetrates 320 bars, pubs and clubs across the United Kingdom attracting 1.6 million customers a week. That’s a lot of eyes viewing the advertisers’ message and a nice ROI to its operator.

Recently, How and Why Media Strategy Company part of the Instrumental Media Group, announced findings related to new research that examined the effect of a television Captive Audience Network (CAN) on the behavior of shoppers in a retail environment. The research found that the presence of a TV network in a shopping center could be expected to generate a mean increase in like-for-like sales of 1.5 percent even before the research findings around content effectiveness have been applied.

Even with this empirical data and proven business execution abroad, such business models have not enticed North American companies enough to aggressively follow suit. In fact, most companies, regardless of the vertical they serve, are not expressing significant interest in launching such platforms in the near term.

Granted, European commerce differs from North American business, both in execution and in buying behaviors. Perhaps, a closer examination on the various elements by North American executives could unearth some things that may be adaptable for a market segment to garner additional revenue. There have been digital signage pilot programs launched throughout a few North American market segments, particularly in retail and finance. Time will tell if these programs will migrate from pilot to yearly implementation. But with some closer examination under a mindset of adapting business elements that could work within the North American commerce marketplace may be worth working on. International companies are profiting from digital signage applications and hopefully such profits will materialize in U.S. and Canadian dollars as they have in European euros.