In the film Blade Runner, the dystopian imagining of Los Angeles in 2019,  there were skyscrapers with exterior surfaces that functioned as huge digital billboards. In 1982, when the film came out, this was some seriously advanced technology.
However, this vision of the future is becoming more of a reality as screen-based media permeates many aspects of our daily lives. Electronic displays have been a feature of high-traffic areas such as London's Piccadilly Circus and New York's Times Square for years, but digital display technology has now entered the mainstream and is encroaching into more and more areas, including shopping centres, bars, gyms and transport networks. And on screens that exist for a different core purpose, such as those in cash dispensers, they are being used as an additional advertising medium too.

Pinning down the exact number of digital out-of-home (DOOH) screens isn't straightforward, as Bill Wilson, operations director at the Outdoor Advertising Association, points out: "It's an ever-changing landscape and it's difficult to nail down. What, for example, do you do about TV screens in pubs or match-day media in football stadia that could be tuned to Sky or to internal content?"

Specialist digital agency Digicom estimates there are 100,000 screens in the UK that are managed by a media owner, but estimates differ wildly so audience research body Postar is attempting to nail this particular piece of jelly to the wall. Currently, it does not differentiate between conventional poster sites and digital, but its new research contract will, for the first time, cover all out-of-home media. The organisation is using GPS technology to record a huge sample of 20,000 consumers' exposure to the medium.

"The new research mechanism will record everything," explains Postar software engineer James Cranwell-Ward. "At the moment, we are collecting maps, data on digital environments and getting inventory from media owners and plotting it in what we call ‘two-and-a-half D'. Once it's completed, the data interrogation will be extremely powerful." The new methodology is set to be rolled out in the first half of next year, but DOOH has had, in some people's view, a number of false dawns. Last year, a white paper from consultants Futuresource Consulting said that almost 20% of digital projects either failed to meet objectives or were only partially successful. This doesn't seem to have slowed adoption, though. The latest stats from the OAA show that outdoor advertising spend overall fell 19.3% in Q109 to £178.4m, but digital jumped by 29% to £16.9m, giving it a near 10% share.

So what does this explosion in (DOOH) mean for printers? Samantha Bird, head of production and innovation at JCDecaux, has little doubt that it presents a threat. "Digital screens allow us to sell in a more intelligent and flexible way. They can be changed within minutes. Clients tell us how they want it programmed and the content can be changed based on time, weather or sporting results," she says.

This last point was famously made last summer with a landmark campaign by TAG Heuer that ran across JCDecaux's entire digital network in London. Within ten minutes of Lewis Hamilton winning the British Grand Prix, congratulatory messages appeared on the screens. Not even the slickest print technology can compete with that turnaround.
"The days of having a two-week lead time are gone," says Bird. "We turn print around very quickly, it's now two days or a day. But there are still printers out there who say ‘we can't do that'."

Print participation
East London-based point-of-sale (PoS) and outdoor specialist Augustus Martin is doing the opposite and trying to capitalise on the rise of DOOH.It has a fully-equipped digital editing suite and sales director Daniel Pattison says the firm has "embraced digital as an opportunity". He says: "We can ‘play' a client's print by taking standard artwork and slicing it together as an animated slideshow - at an affordable price."

However, in the in-store environment Pattison hasn't seen screen media take off as some had anticipated. "I can see screens proliferating and becoming very popular, but not everywhere. Before its closure, Woolworths, for example, put a lot of screens in, and then very quickly took them out again. A large French supermarket group did the same thing. They just didn't work as well as a nice bright piece of print or a wobbler."

His point is echoed by DS Smith Multigraphics managing director Gary Lasham: "Digital wallpaper technology is astounding, but the problem is if you're running a supermarket and want to promote barbecues, you haven't got time to shoot a specific TV-style advert. Digital adverts are also very expensive, whereas a banner in every store is highly flexible and incredibly cheap. I see digital screens being used for brand awareness rather than promotion specific."

Printed media's ability to provide a simple transfer of information is also highlighted by Fespa sales and marketing director Marcus Timson. "With digital screens in the retail environment, you are asking someone to consume a message that requires more attention than printed PoS," he states. "Screens can disrupt, interrupt and irritate. It's ‘interruption marketing' and I think that works in high-density and transient environments, such as the tube, but for PoS I don't think it does. I haven't seen anything the print market should be worried about."

One of the most high-profile investments in digital has been made by CBS Outdoor, which won the London Underground contract in 2006. It has invested a massive £72m on improving display sites across the network, of which £50m was spent on digital displays such as escalator panels, LCD screens and cross-track projection systems. The firm is also looking to incorporate digital technology in the new Routemaster bus.

CBS is close to achieving its target of 2,000 digital sites across its network, the largest single digital advertising network in the world. To put that into context, there are 32,000 poster sites on the London Underground overall. The firm's most striking digital escalator panel format - the Mega DEP - incorporates a printed vinyl wrap that allows brands
to extend the impact of a promotion. This format was first used by Sony during the recent UEFA Champion's League football tournament.

"The way people use digital and use traditional print is quite different. People are using digital's flexibility a lot more now, by creating campaigns specifically for the format" says CBS Outdoor brand manager, marketing, Mike Hemmings. "Digital can be much more tactical and timely, but I can't see it suddenly overtaking print."

And in such a fledgling industry, there is still some inconsistency about formats and sizes. At the pre-media stage, account needs to be taken of how certain displays render elements such as text, to avoid blunders where the on-screen copy is all but illegible. "We want the displays to look good, so we will advise on text and font size, because it really should be increased," says JCDecaux's Bird. Similarly, CBS Outdoor has a dedicated team to help guide clients.

For the London Olympics in 2012, it's certain that digital screens will be in place and used, but the London-focus of DOOH is a disadvantage for brand owners wanting to run national campaigns. As a result, experts still believe digital will remain a small niche within the overall outdoor environment.

"Will digital get above a 10% share? I'm not so convinced it will because that assumes everything else stands still and it won't," observes Bill Wilson at the OAA. "The total UK outdoor market could get to £1.5bn, so digital could achieve critical mass and still only be 10% of the market. We mustn't forget that 90% of the network is still non-digital and we shouldn't be ashamed or worried about singing the praises of that. I look at the quality of a printed one-piece 48-sheet and think ‘that's fantastic'."

IN NUMBERS: DIGITAL AD SCREENS

• Digital out-of-home (DOOH) advertising revenues in Western Europe are expected to triple from €220m (£193m) in 2008 to a forecast of €630m by 2012
• This equates to a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 29%
• Advertising on digital screens accounted for approximately 4% of total out-of-the-home media expenditure in Western Europe in 2008
• By 2012 this share is expected to grow to approximately 10%
• Driven by the migration to digital and the incremental revenues generated from digital sites, the out-of-home sector will be the only traditional advertising media to post real revenue growth in the next five years

Source: Screen Digest/Goldmedia

• Last month, research company GfK surveyed a national sample of 1,005 adults aged 16-plus on their exposure to and perceptions of digital advertising screens. More than half (54%) had seen digital advertising screens in the past 12 months. In London the figure rose to 77%

Source: GfK/Digicom

IN BRIEF: DIGITAL AD SCREENS

• DOOH provides meaningful connections and exchanges with consumers
• It also offers day-part campaigns and is very flexible
• It costs more and is harder to justify in a recession
• It needs to move beyond a 7.1% share of out-of-home ad spend to make it more viable cost-wise
• It must take share from other media, not simply cannibalise outdoor spend
• It must prove its return on investment and engagement for the same reason
• t must be integrated with other media
• Creative must be bespoke and planned in from the start of the campaign
• It is still relatively London-centric, so truly national campaigns are difficult to run

Source: MediaWeek/DOOH Summit