Matching messages to the interests and needs of audiences as they change throughout the day is a fundamental strength of digital signage.

Have you ever wondered why trucks and beer commercials don’t appear during TV cartoon programming? What about why there are no commercials for hemorrhoids and antacids during sports shows on TV, or commercials for toys and sugary cereals during the nightly news?

The answer is simple. Different types of television shows attract different audiences. Cartoon viewers are likely to be interested in the coolest new toy and the tastiest breakfast cereal. The largely male sports crowd is likely to have an affinity for beer and pills. And who could argue with the notion that nightly news viewers aren’t perfect candidates for hemorrhoid remedies and antacids given the general state of things?

Jokes aside, acknowledging that different shows – often broadcast at different times of the day – appeal to different audiences is a fundamental tenet of how television is organized and how ad agencies identify groups of viewers who share a common interest and can be carefully selected. advertisements

Many uses of digital signage also benefit from a similar recognition that audiences change throughout the day. Therefore, those with important communications to deliver to a digital signage audience can select which specific messages to display at the most appropriate time of day.

Segregating messages by time of day, often referred to as “day splitting,” offers digital sign marketers and advertisers a way to target changing audiences similar to how television advertisers reach desired audiences. based on a schedule that puts cartoons on Saturday morning. college football on Saturday afternoons and local and national news every night. Both acknowledge the fact that audience demographics change throughout the day.

In digital signage, parting messages can be as simple as offering timely communications based on the changing desires of the audience throughout the day, or they can be as complicated as identifying different demographic groups that are likely to see signs in the future. different times of the day and play targeted messages. to these changing groups.

Consider a digital sign in a hotel lobby. In this example, the same group, specifically hotel guests, are likely to see the sign at different times of the day. Savvy marketers would use this to their advantage by targeting their digital signage messages to the changing interests of the guest at different times of the day. So, from 5 am to 11 am, the message could promote the hotel cafe as well as the availability of tickets at the concierge desk for local tourist attractions. From 11 am to 3 pm, you could promote lunch specials and transition to on-site fine dining messages for late-afternoon and early-afternoon dining. Finally, the sign could promote the lounge and entertainment from 7 pm to midnight.

Contrast that kind of day split with one based on different demographics that visit a mall throughout the day. Early in the morning, before retail stores open, a mall restaurant uses the facility’s digital signage network to promote an early bird breakfast to health-conscious mall walkers to get their mileage. Later in the morning, when mothers with young children dominate the mall traffic, the messages on the same signs change to promote a visit from a state agency tasked with early childhood health screening. As the day progresses towards the end of the school day, digital signage messages focus on a skateboard clinic taking place outside the mall’s sporting goods store and a special makeup clinic taking place outside a department store. During the late afternoon and early evening hours, when those who have been working all day start to arrive at the mall, messages promoting free cholesterol and blood pressure testing are broadcast in front of a mall pharmacy and a job fair in the central part of the facilities.

While they differ in the way they do this, both examples present an effective use of business hours digital signage messages to meet the changing needs of audiences throughout the day. Unlike other alternatives, digital signage has an inherent ability to respond to changing audience demographics and maximize the effectiveness of communications. That’s just another reason digital signage is gaining popularity for a variety of communications applications.