Does the proliferation of screens everywhere succumb to the basic laws of supply and demand?
…are we digging our own grave?
OOH …Here’s One Thing
Just the Way You Are
by Jim Johnsen,
Managing Director, Johnsen, Fretty & Company
https://youtu.be/HaA3YZ6QdJU?si=TUeRx8UngPSlUrJZ
“Need to know that you will always be
Same old someone that I knew
Oh, what will it take ’til you believe in me?
The way that I believe in you”
Billy Joel
Out of nowhere I received a call from a friend this past Wednesday who happens to be the best friend of the general manager of Madison Square Garden. Him: “Hey, you doing anything on Thursday night?” Me: “Do you know how old I am? I stopped going out on Thursday nights a long time ago.” Him: “Great. My MSG buddy just gave me two free tickets to Billy Joel’s last concert at MSG and you are going.” Me: “Fantastic…I will try not to embarrass you by wearing the Hawaiian shirt. I save that for Jimmy Buffett. Woops, RIP Jimmy Buffett.”
Long short, other than Billy monetizing his young kids, the concert was fantastic. I never thought I would see Axel Rose and Billy Joel on stage dancing together. That was a first.
Johnsen you never cease to amaze me with your superfluous dribbling’s. Where are you going this time?
Well, as I sat there enjoying the Billy Joel concert, I spent some time looking around at the signage. What surprised me was how small the signage was in relation to some of the other stadiums and arenas I have been to recently. Yes, as an outdoor guy I know what I am about to say will pain you, but it was actually a relief not to be overwhelmed by the venue’s signage. These days it feels like an arms race to be the latest stadium or arena to install hundreds of thousands of square footage of LED. Call me crazy, but given the “yellow” they chose for some of their accent lighting, it felt like the place was bathed in candlelight.
Then I got to thinking….aren’t these the same guys that did the Sphere in Las Vegas, the one that has 580,000 square feet of LED on the exterior alone. Oh yeah, the one that will cost you $2MM a day to advertise on as well. The contrast between MSG and the Sphere is striking.
No sooner did I wake up on Friday dreaming of candlelight than I was hit with the article “The Sphere is only the beginning. Your screen time is going way up.”
The Sphere is only the beginning. Your screen time is going way up. – Sherwood News
It goes from being effective to annoying… …bringing distracting elements to public rights of way
Yes, for how long now have we outdoor guys referenced the minority report and the fact that its never going to be here. I do agree with that (somewhat). But, if you believe the article, what is here may be way worse. So that you can end this dribble and get on to making sales calls, let me break it down for you in bullets:
- “Screens used to be a stagnant thing,” said Mark Williams, global director at HKS, the architecture firm behind cutting-edge stadiums like SoFi in Los Angeles. “Now 3,000 monitors in a building can have the same sponsor on it.”
- A decade ago, sites like the Dallas Cowboys’ colossal AT&T Stadium became iconic by having enormous screens — in that case, 600-ton, 11,393-square-foot scoreboards hanging over half field — in the venue. Now, as the Sphere suggests, a venue can become the screen itself, with advanced technology that allows screens to bend and stretch.
- Cosm, a company owned by IMAX that’s behind the curved theater displays found inside many planetariums and science centers, opened a venue in LA last month featuring a three-story dome with 12K-plus LED displays to broadcast live sporting events and concerts. After another venue opens in Dallas, the firm plans dozens more.
- But these new ultrasharp mega screens aren’t just for stadiums and entertainment venues. Businesses across industries are using screens as wayfinding tools, promotional vehicles, and even real-time displays to alter prices on the fly. Tom Bingham, the director of Vertical Market Sales at LG, said he’s seeing “high-double-digit growth” in screen sales to a variety of industries, including banking, finance and insurance, transportation, robotics, and even EV chargers. Bingham says a new generation of screens and programming is in the works to incorporate more and more digital real estate into the architecture of buildings. Oceanwide Plaza, the infamous downtown LA development that stalled and was bombed by local graffiti artists, was initially going to feature the largest LED sign on the West Coast (the half-finished husk is now seeking a buyer for redevelopment).
- The advertising industry certainly sees benefits in this growth. According to Steve Nicklin, the SVP of marketing and analytics for the Out of Home Advertising Association of America, digital out-of-home advertising grew 10% last year and 10% in the first three months of this year. It’s expected to grow at least 10% every year through 2028 (jj comment..that’s all Steve? That’s now that impressive).
- The screen glut won’t be limited to game time. In-store networks, which use company-collected data to better target their shoppers both on their phones and on a growing number of physical screens in the store, are the nation’s fastest growing ad channel, bringing in more than $90 billion last year. Walmart acquired TV and ad company Vizio in February for $2.3 billion with this idea in mind, joining grocers like Hy-Vee, Giant Eagle, and Kroger, which installed 500 digital screens in its stores last year. Stores have been adding screens to building exteriors, the end-caps of aisles, and even the deli and prepared food counters. …— Walmart is taking that idea into its aisles. Instead of just giving shoppers more images of the store they’re in, monetize their attention, the theory goes.
- “At the end of the day, they’re creating scenic blight,” said Max Duchaine, communications director of Scenic America, a nonprofit focused on scenic conservation that opposed the expansion in LA. “A lot of governments will say, under the guise of technology, that digital billboards, digital kiosks, and wayfinding kiosks are bringing ways of connecting people to the community, when they’re actually bringing a lot of blight. They’re bringing distracting elements to public rights of way.”
- But despite resistance to digital billboards, screens have plenty of other places to grow. The only thing standing in their way may simply be a fear of oversaturation. Bingham says the industry always looks out for overkill and overwhelming the audience. There’s a fear that overuse can “desensitize” the consumer, he said.
- “It goes from being effective to annoying, and people push against it, kind of like the rebellion against online cookies,” he said. “The biggest trend right now in advertising is doing it right and doing it well, and not becoming ‘Minority Report’-ish, where you feel like you’re getting bombarded every day.”
Long short, if this guy’s prediction of the future is accurate, here are my two questions:
- Does traditional outdoor (including outdoor) get left behind?
- Does the proliferation of screens everywhere succumb to the basic laws of supply and demand. Aka are we digging our own grave?
Happy dog days of summer to y’all. Anyone else looking forward to the upcoming political scrum fest?
jfco.com
Securities transacted through StillPoint Capital Member firm FINRA/SiPC
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