Product News | October 11, 2021

Introducing our intelligent cloud-based ad server: Broadsign Air

When we envision the future of out-of-home, we envision an industry free to deliver amazing content in all sorts of contexts. We envision a space that allows for boundless creativity, and the ability for just about any OOH business to access powerful tools that save them time and maximize the value of their inventory.

To get to that place a little sooner, we created Broadsign Air, an intelligent cloud-based ad server that brings all the power of the Broadsign Control CMS to non-Broadsign players. With Broadsign Air, players running Android, or other architectures previously unsupported by our platform, can be added to networks alongside Broadsign Players.

If you want to build a network with a great deal of hardware flexibility but don’t want to sacrifice on software features, now’s your chance. Broadsign Air can help you make it happen.

How Broadsign Air Works

Broadsign Air is basically the ad-serving capabilities of Broadsign Control, just uncoupled from the Broadsign player software used by PC players to handle incoming media.

With Air, when content is uploaded to the Control CMS, the content also gets uploaded into an Amazon Web Services S3 repository. The URL indicating the location of the piece of content within the repo is then sent by Broadsign Air to your third-party player of choice.

Upon receipt of the URL, your Air-connected player will need to download the associated media file and then render the content for the display.

Note: Broadsign Air alone will not be capable of playing media on your network. You must connect Broadsign Air to separate software that can play the content it serves.

What does all of this mean?

For day-to-day use, using Broadsign Air will be basically the same as using Broadsign Control normally. Users will log in to the Broadsign Control administrator tool and be able to enjoy all the great features it has to offer. That means automated scheduling and delivery, industry-leading security, and a virtually unlimited ability to scale your business while maintaining a streamlined workflow.

You will be able to use players connected through Broadsign Air both on their own or as part of a larger network that includes full Broadsign Players, giving you increased flexibility and choice when building out your network.

And, finally, you can also make full use of the Broadsign Direct sales solution, and will be able to connect any players running on Broadsign Air to the Broadsign Reach supply-side programmatic platform.

The main complication is just that it takes some time and development resources to establish the connection between Broadsign Air and your player of choice.

What do I need to use Broadsign Air?

Because Broadsign Air does not make use of the native connection between the Control Administrator tool and the Control Player, you will need to do some development work to establish the connection between the Broadsign Air ad server and your players of choice.

We will provide REST API endpoints for your team to connect your client application. This will allow your client to send POST requests. Your developer or team of developers therefore will need to know how to work with Postman, CURL, or some other development environment suitable for working with a REST API to make the connection.

Note that this project can be complex, and so it is not the kind of thing that can be handed off to the average intern. A dedicated, experienced developer, either in-house or outsourced, can likely achieve the required connection with a couple of months of work (assuming you already have a player ready/selected).

Limitations of Broadsign Air

Broadsign Air was built to deliver everything you know and love about Broadsign’s intelligent scheduling and ad serving capabilities to a wider array of players. There are, however, a few important details to keep in mind when selecting this software to power your content scheduling.

Broadsign Air does not handle playback

We’ve mentioned this above, but it’s a point worth repeating: Broadsign Air allows you to connect the Broadsign Control scheduling and ad-serving capabilities to a non-Broadsign player. It will not provide content playback, incident reports, or network monitoring for your network. It will only generate content playlists based on campaign conditions and creatives, and then make media available for download by your third-party player accordingly.

Note: Proof-of-play functionality powered by Broadsign Air is supported. It is up to your third-party player to report successful playback back to Broadsign Air so that it can be included in proof-of-play reports.

Broadsign Air must be used with Control as the CMS

Broadsign Air is not a totally standalone product. Rather, it requires that you adopt Broadsign Control as your CMS and use it to schedule content to Air-connected displays. Without the use of Broadsign Control as the CMS, Broadsign Air will not function.

Currently incompatible with Broadsign Publish

At launch, Broadsign Air will not support custom HTML5 content managed through our local messaging service, Broadsign Publish.

Got questions? We’ve got answers

If you want to learn more about what Broadsign Air can do for you, please reach out to your Broadsign rep or request a free demo to see what it’s all about!

Product News | October 11, 2021

What’s new in the Broadsign Platform: Sophisticated targeting, creative management and UI improvements

Spring has finally sprung, which means fresh air, greenery, and, most importantly, fresh updates to the Broadsign Platform. This season, we are bringing you sophisticated targeting tools, streamlined creative management, and major UI improvements to make the campaign planning and management process for directly-sold campaigns as seamless as possible for campaign planners.

Why does this matter? While the activation process for digital out-of-home (DOOH) may only require a couple of minutes, the campaign planning and management process often requires much more time. Discovering available and relevant inventory, collecting data to prove the medium’s effectiveness in meeting campaign goals, and managing campaign creatives are all time-consuming tasks.

The new spring updates introduce a new level of automation that not only reduces the time and complexities of getting DOOH campaigns out the door but also helps make out-of-home (OOH) a competitive and attractive medium for buyers. Let’s dive in!

Sophisticated targeting tools that find the best inventory

Granular targeting shouldn’t be exclusive to programmatic. That’s why last year, we introduced targeting tools for directly sold campaigns executed through the Broadsign Platform, giving campaign planners the same flexibility and comprehensive targeting capabilities as online and programmatic media buyers.

The targeting tools included the ability to filter your inventory by location and key points of interest (POIs), enabling campaign planners to find the most relevant inventory for each campaign at the click of a button. An intuitive map view was also introduced, allowing you to better visualize your inventory with quick filtering options by area, support for bulk location uploads, and setting radius parameters.

This year, we’re introducing two powerful targeting upgrades for directly sold campaigns: demographics and criteria targeting. With demographics targeting, you can filter inventory by attributes like age, gender, or occupation to find the screens that will maximize campaign impact. We’ve also enhanced criteria targeting, giving you more granular control over inclusion and exclusion rules. For example, when building a proposal for an alcohol brand, you can now quickly exclude screens that don’t allow alcohol ads from your inventory search in just a few clicks.

These new additions to the Broadsign Platform not only reduce the manual work required for inventory discovery but also give your team the opportunity to be a more strategic partner to buyers. We’re also excited to share that these enhanced targeting capabilities are now available to Broadsign customers worldwide!

Simplified creative management and centralized campaign planning

Media owners juggle multiple campaigns and creatives at the same time, and without the right tools, the creative management process can become complex and stressful for your teams. Last year, we released our in-platform creative management tools, which allowed you to create, edit, manage, and assign campaign creatives with ease. On top of that, we also made it possible for you to push your campaigns live through the Broadsign Platform, eliminating the need to go through Broadsign’s desktop tools.

In this latest update to the Broadsign Platform, we’re introducing creative scheduling. You’ll now be able to apply multiple scheduling options to your creatives, making it easier than ever to deliver the right message at the right time. You can also target your content by time of day or event, making it easier than ever to adapt your messaging to dayparts or changing campaign goals. Finally, you can update your creatives in real-time, allowing you to plan and deliver up to 55% of your campaigns in one unified workflow directly in-platform.

Additional management tools for an improved user experience

Along with comprehensive creative management and targeting tools for directly-sold campaigns, additional tools and UI enhancements have been added to improve the usability and user experience of the Broadsign Platform:

Inventory package accessibility

Access inventory packages effortlessly through the platform’s updated navigation bar, enhancing efficiency and ease of use.

Centralized settings management

Administrators can now adjust and manage all necessary settings for digital and static inventory, user management, and more directly within the platform’s web-based UI through a centralized hub for control and configuration.

Campaign monitoring enhancements

With the newly implemented progress indicator, real-time monitoring of campaign pacing is now possible, giving immediate insight into campaign performance. This allows for quick adjustments to be made, as needed, to meet campaign goals effectively.

Search functionality and filters

An improved search mechanism, complemented by additional filters like campaign, client or contract names, enables quicker and more accurate campaign retrieval, saving time and improving workflow.

Line item list

You can now access a list of all line items directly through the navigation bar. Operations teams now have a more precise and comprehensive view of all bookings made on your network.

Dashboard customization

Tailor the platform’s dashboard to meet individual needs, ensuring that the most relevant and important information is always front and center.

Interested in testing out these new features? Book a demo today

Product News | October 11, 2021

How to integrate in-store digital signage into your retail media network

If your retail media network (RMN) is thriving online but underutilized in-store, you’re not alone, and there’s untapped value waiting on the sales floor. While many retailers have monetized their websites and apps, in-store signage often remains overlooked and disconnected from broader retail media efforts.

Forward-thinking retailers are closing the gap by deploying in-store screens or connecting existing ones to their broader retail media ecosystem using specialized digital signage software. From investing in new displays to syncing with data systems, workflows, and programmatic platforms, they’re transforming stores into dynamic, measurable environments that complete the omnichannel shopper journey.

The benefits go far beyond operational efficiency. As of 2025, more than 200 RMNs operate globally, each with its own formats, technologies, and measurement frameworks. This fragmentation has become a major challenge, with marketers calling for more standardization to unlock the next wave of retail media investment. Integrating in-store signage into a cohesive strategy helps retailers close the loop—connecting the full shopper journey, enabling comprehensive measurement, and driving long-term growth for both themselves and their brand partners.

Whether your goal is to enhance in-store advertising, maximize ROI on existing hardware, or deliver smarter, data-driven shopper experiences, this roadmap will help you turn screens into a strategic cornerstone of your retail media network.

Why digital signage is critical to your retail media strategy

Despite the rise of e-commerce, 80% of purchases still happen in-store, making the physical store a high-impact, yet often underutilized, media environment. Still, many RMNs prioritize digital channels like websites, apps, and email, overlooking the opportunity to bring that same power to the sales floor.

Digital signage bridges the gap between digital media and in-person purchase moments. It turns your store into a full-funnel, monetizable channel that enhances, not competes with, your broader retail media strategy. Here’s how:

Connects online precision to in-store decisions: Bring the targeting and flexibility of digital media into the physical store, where buying decisions are made, with dynamic, contextually relevant content—brand campaigns, personalized promos, seasonal messaging—delivered right where buying decisions happen.
Monetizes real-world traffic: Turn foot traffic into a scalable revenue stream by offering brand partners premium placements on high-visibility screens, targeted by location, time, or context—especially impactful during add-to-cart moments.
Delivers measurable, flexible performance: Modern digital signage platforms integrate with your data and ad tech stack, enabling real-time scheduling, updates, and reporting. Track key metrics—product engagement, sales lift, dwell time—and connect in-store exposure to online behaviour.
Enhances the shopper experience: Effective signage supports the customer journey, not disrupts it. From back-in-stock alerts to curated promotions, digital displays make in-person shopping more engaging, relevant, and responsive.
Powers your omnichannel strategy: Signage closes the loop between discovery and conversion, syncing messaging across email, mobile, online ads, and in-store screens so shoppers experience a consistent, connected journey.

Integrating digital signage into a unified retail media strategy

Whether you’re building from scratch or integrating existing screens into your retail media stack, you need to lay the right foundation. That means designing a signage strategy built for scale, content relevance, and future monetization — and then connecting it to the data, workflows, and systems that power your RMN.

As Jonathan Franco, Broadsign’s Global Head of Retail Media, notes in a recent piece on bridging lessons from digital out-of-home (DOOH) to in-store media: “The OOH market has taught us that success isn’t just about having screens in impactful locations; it’s about playing the right content in the right place at the right time.”

In other words, a successful signage strategy goes beyond high-traffic ad placements or hardware specs. It’s about creating strategic touchpoints that support the full shopper journey and integrate seamlessly with your broader digital media operations.

Here’s how to bring it all together:

1. Plan your screen zones with both placement and content in mind

Think like a media planner, not just a merchandiser. Whether you’re starting from scratch or expanding an existing setup, begin by aligning screen placement with key shopper moments:

Entrances: High-impact campaigns and branded takeovers
Main aisles: Seasonal themes or product spotlights
Promo zones & end caps: Shoppable content, limited-time offers
Checkout areas: Loyalty messaging, app signups, basket-building prompts
Specialty departments (e.g., pharmacy, bakery, butcher): Context-specific content like curated product picks, pairing suggestions, or department-specific promos

Once placement is mapped, define content zones and use cases that bring structure and scalability to your network:

Utility-first content like wayfinding, back-in-stock updates, and localized promos
Retailer-owned storytelling through seasonal campaigns or private label features
Brand-sponsored media with paid placements, co-branded messages, and monetizable ad space

Pro tip: Map screen zones based on foot traffic, dwell time, and product affinity to guide content planning and ad pricing. This helps ensure a coherent in-store experience while maximizing the media value of each screen.

2. Keep it flexible and connected

Retail moves fast — and so should your signage. Choose a retail digital signage platform that’s not just flexible but also built to integrate with your broader retail media stack. In particular, look for solutions that support:

Triggered content and dynamic scheduling based on store data or external signals
Programmatic ad delivery and audience targeting (via DSP/SSP integrations)
Creative versioning and campaign automation for faster go-to-market execution
Workflow integration across your retail media stack to ensure everything runs smoothly, from planning to reporting

The more your signage tools sync with your RMN systems, the easier it is to deliver value to brand partners and internal stakeholders alike.

3. Align signage with your cross-channel media strategy

The same shopper might see your ad on social media, browse your website, and visit your store—all in a single day. To keep pace, your content and media offerings should reflect a cohesive journey. When deployed strategically, in-store screens become physical extensions of your digital media plan — not standalone inventory.

For marketers, that means:

Repurposing assets from other RMN channels (e.g. email banners, social creative, seasonal campaigns)
Reinforcing digital campaigns or driving app engagement via in-store screens
Ensuring messaging is consistent across in-store and online touchpoints
Bundling signage with other digital placements in your media kits
Offering tiered packages with omnichannel reach or localized activations
Providing turnkey creative support to streamline advertiser onboarding

When thoughtfully integrated, digital signage becomes a powerful part of your go-to-market strategy, helping brands reach shoppers with the right message at the right time, both online and offline. Integration isn’t just about technology; it’s about alignment across content, channels, and teams.

4. Centralize measurement and reporting

One of the biggest hurdles in building or scaling digital signage within your retail media strategy is measurement. Without a clear plan, in-store signage can quickly become disconnected from your broader performance story—making it harder to justify spend or demonstrate value to advertisers.

To avoid that, build signage into your reporting framework from day one. Start by tracking foundational metrics:

Screen-level impressions and play counts to understand exposure volume
Dwell time to assess attention and engagement
Content playback logs to validate ad delivery and campaign pacing

Then, go deeper by connecting signage exposure to in-store outcomes, like product interaction, add-to-cart moments, or sales lift. These insights help prove that your in-store media is driving real business results, not just awareness.

By applying consistent measurement frameworks across both online and offline channels, you can tell a unified, full-funnel story. Mirroring key OOH and digital metrics—like reach, frequency, and lift—helps demonstrate how in-store signage works in tandem with campaigns on email, mobile, and paid social.

Modern digital signage platforms provide unified in-store reporting, making it easier to analyze performance, share results with brand partners, and refine campaigns in real time—turning in-store media into a measurable, scalable revenue channel within your retail media network.

READ ALSO: Discover how the OOH industry is leveraging technology to achieve more measurable campaign outcomes in our guide to out-of-home measurement, attribution and audience extension.

Ready to make your in-store signage a seamless part of your RMN?

Whether you’re planning your first deployment or optimizing existing screens, Broadsign’s industry-leading platform makes it easy to connect your in-store signage with the rest of your retail media ecosystem. With over two decades of experience in digital out-of-home, we help retailers build, manage, and monetize scalable signage networks that align with your broader media strategy.

Get in touch to see how we can help you unlock the full value of your in-store presence.