Product News | October 11, 2021

Four tips for handling changing energy restrictions with Broadsign

Surging energy prices are hitting global markets hard—and it’s not just households that are feeling the pain. As the present international energy supply crisis intensifies, many European countries are implementing usage restrictions alongside temporary regulatory measures to help mitigate the impact. These new regulations have caused great uncertainty in the digital signage and DOOH spaces, as network owners struggle to adapt to changing rules and limitations on non-essential digital signage operation.

To help ensure that your DOOH network continues to run smoothly, we’ve put together a list of Broadsign features and automation tools that can help you easily adapt to new energy-saving measures, and are also useful if you simply want to reduce your energy usage in general.

Read on to learn how Broadsign can help!

Europe’s energy crisis hits DOOH industry

The origins of the current global energy crisis can be traced back to the economic slowdown that took place during the COVID-19 pandemic; power plants that had been shut down could not ramp up in time to meet the renewed and rebounding demand. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February of last year significantly worsened the situation, with Russian retaliation to European sanctions crimping supplies of Russian natural gas. In an effort to reduce both the risks and costs for Europe in case of further disruption, EU member states have agreed to voluntarily reduce their natural gas demand by 15% this winter, and several EU member countries have already effected a series of energy-saving measures designed to help them meet this reduction target.

While necessary, the energy restrictions that have been put in place in Germany and some other EU countries have caused great uncertainty in the digital signage and DOOH industry. In addition to limiting the use of indoor heating in public buildings, these new measures also prohibit the operation of digital signage for non-essential purposes during certain hours. Spanish shops and government offices must turn off digital signage displays and lighting after 10 p.m. And Germany’s Energy Saving Ordinance is even more restrictive; it prohibits the operation of any DOOH and digital signage screens between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. This means that displays, LED screens, and projections used as advertising systems can only be operated for six hours a day. Digital signage consultancy Invidis predicts that similar measures are likely to be adopted more widely across Europe.

Broadsign’s energy-saving features and tools

Although the current circumstances may present some uncertainty for our clients in EU countries, we at Broadsign want to ensure that running your network remains as painless as possible. With that in mind, we’ve put together a list highlighting a few of the automation tools we offer that might help relieve some of the pressure.

1. Dayparting

Define a site’s/display unit’s “opening hours” to adjust bookable airtime and control when content plays on your screens. This means you can easily set up a schedule that respects new regulations—and change it at a moment’s notice.

Automatically halts content playback during mandated “off” hours
Adjusts available airtime for campaign bookings
Note: Doesn’t actually turn off/de-power screens

Broadsign’s Day Parts feature lets you assign a defined set of playback characteristics to your digital signage display(s) during set hours. In addition to controlling things like frame layout, day parts can be also used to define a display’s “opening hours”—i.e., the available airtime when scheduled content will play. Essentially, the start and end times of a day part make up the maximum bookable airtime for any displays it has been assigned to.

You can assign multiple day parts to a single display unit to have different frame layouts at various times of the day or to associate different criteria values with each day part. However, while it’s possible to define a site’s opening hours by using multiple day parts with different start and end times, we’ve come up with an even easier way to set opening hours that adhere to your area’s new energy saving regulations: a dedicated Opening Hours tab in the Day Parts editor.

Defining a site’s opening hours by creating a single all-day day part in the Opening Hours tab is simpler, and it ensures that a site will be automatically excluded (or included, as the case may be) if its opening hours change over the course of a campaign. So you can easily set up a schedule that adheres to your area’s new energy saving regulations, and effortlessly make changes if you need to.

For more details, and to learn how to set up Opening Hours in Broadsign Control, check out our Day Parts technical documentation.

2. Remote device management

Suspend/resume screen(s) according to a display unit’s predefined opening hours. That way, your players will automatically send your screens into standby mode in addition to halting content playback.

Further reduces energy use by sending screens into standby mode
Automatically suspends screen activity according to opening hours

Dayparting is a great way to ensure your digital screens aren’t running (or booking/selling) content during mandated off hours. However, the Opening Hours feature won’t actually turn off the display(s) it’s been assigned to. To go the extra kilowatt when it comes to reducing your energy consumption, you should suspend screen activity in addition to halting content playback. Don’t worry, Broadsign has a built-in solution for that, too!

In combination with Opening Hours, it’s also possible to suspend and resume screen activity remotely. This feature can be activated from within the Day Parts editor by selecting Suspend/Resume screen(s) according to opening hours. When outside of opening hours, your player(s) will automatically send a “no signal” message that will put your screens in standby mode. Conversely, the players can also send “wake-up” messages, turning your screens back on at the start of your site’s designated opening hours.

Powering down your screens in accordance with your opening hours will help you further reduce your DOOH-related energy use—and it will also save you time and effort by automating the entire process!

For more details, scroll down to the “Opening Hours” section of our Day Parts technical documentation for Broadsign Control.

3. RS-232 screen controls

Remotely control RS-232-attached screens at a granular level with settings that allow you to do things like lowering the brightness of your screens to consume less energy.

Makes granular adjustments to your device settings to help save energy
Remotely executes any device operation that’s defined in Broadsign Control Administrator

Device control operations in Broadsign give you finer-grained control over a screen’s device settings; they’re commands sent to a display by the Broadsign Control Player to verify its status or perform an action. Crucially, they can be used to do things like lowering screen brightness to consume less energy and powering the display completely off (or back on). If your screens have a RS-232 connection to the player, you can use the RS-232 action (via the Broadsign Control Player API) to remotely execute any device operation that you have defined within Broadsign Control Administrator. This means you can make granular adjustments to screen settings that have an impact on energy consumption, from anywhere.

RS-232 commands can also be sent automatically based on the display unit’s pre-defined opening hours. For example, you could schedule an operation to set the screen brightness back to 10% every five minutes in case someone happens to adjust it. You can do this by configuring the RS-232 commands on a player’s assigned configuration profile and setting up the rules on the configuration’s Device Control tab to execute on opening and closing hours. This way, the commands will continue to be sent at the correct time even if you adjust the opening hours on your networks as the situation evolves.

For more details, and to learn how to set up device control operations in Broadsign Control, check out our Device Control technical documentation.

4. System-on-chip player

Power down your network’s smart display screens remotely with our System-on-Chip player.

Makes it easy to power down ALL of your network’s display screens by bringing smart screens into the Broadsign fold.

Additionally, if you’re operating smart displays, you can also turn screens on and off remotely with Broadsign for System-on-Chip, our digital signage player made specifically for smart screens.

Our system-on-chip solution lets you centrally manage all of the screens in your network and saves you time by streamlining your DOOH management tasks. In particular, it can be used to turn your smart display screens on and off remotely—making it easy for you to power down all of your network’s digital displays in accordance with new energy-saving regulations.

For more details, and to learn how to set up our System-on-Chip player, check out our Broadsign Control for System-on-Chip technical documentation.

To learn more about these features, reach out to us at services@broadsign.com

Product News | October 11, 2021

Broadsign’s Sell-Side AI Agent Joins With Global Netherlands and Draft Digital to Deliver First-Ever End-to-End Agentic AI-Powered OOH Campaign

Collaboration paves the way to faster, more automated, and data-driven OOH buys

MONTREAL (May 27, 2026) – Broadsign, the leading global platform for managing and monetizing out-of-home (OOH) media, today announced that its sell-side AI agent and digital marketing agency Draft Digital’s buy-side agent, planned, booked, and executed the first-ever fully agentic AI OOH ad campaign. The agentic AI solutions enabled the end-to-end media buy for Lot of Happiness on premium OOH inventory in collaboration with media owner Global Netherlands.

Agentic AI powered the buy from beginning to end, using the brand’s campaign goals to inform audience and venue targeting, media selection, campaign setup, creative workflow and approvals, and execution. The AI agentic solutions used the AdCP protocol and Broadsign’s industry-leading OOH sell-side technology and data infrastructure. Moving beyond chatbots layered over existing tools, the collaboration proved the power of agentic AI in enhancing the effectiveness and efficiency of OOH campaigns from start to finish. Together, the buy and sell-side agents rapidly coordinated complex tasks across parties, with human oversight and guardrails.

With the largest global OOH media supply – including the largest aggregation of video-enabled displays, in-store media, and on-screen cinema inventory – Broadsign’s goal with this campaign is to unlock the power of agentic trading for OOH. The company is committed to bringing greater scale, data, and efficiency to buyers and opening up more demand for sellers.

“Agentic AI allows us to double down on our value proposition of leveraging technology to support media owners in achieving their business goals,” explained Bryan Mongeau, CTO, Broadsign. “Overlaying AI atop our global static and digital OOH supply, in concert with advanced data and execution capabilities, such as screen-level audience indexes, dynamic creative, guaranteed in-advance buying, and more, sets the stage for a paradigm shift that will transform the OOH business. This innovative collaboration is only the beginning.”

“A number of us at Draft Digital were early adopters of programmatic DOOH years ago, so being first to move on this next leap, fully agentic OOH, is genuinely exciting. Agentic advertising lets us build true multichannel experiences for our clients, backed by first-party performance data and a much cleaner ecosystem,” shared Aliks Röling, Digital Marketing Consultant, Draft Digital. “It pushes us into tighter collaboration with quality publishers and partners and ultimately delivers sharper strategic impact for brands like Lot of Happiness.”

As a growing charity lottery with around 100,000 participants and over €50 million donated to good causes, Lot of Happiness is always looking for smarter ways to expand its reach. Without the media budgets of larger lottery players, the organization relies on creativity and innovation to fuel its growth. “As a growing organization, we have to be creative and find efficiencies that larger players simply take for granted. Agentic DOOH is one of those opportunities where we want to be at the forefront, and we’re excited to see where it takes us.” Leo Nijs, Online Marketer, Lot of Happiness

“In today’s competitive media landscape, digital out-of-home must be as easy to discover, plan, buy, and measure as any other channel, and this collaboration proves it’s possible,” said Mink Zwolsman, Business Development Director, Global Netherlands. “What excites us most is that no single party could have done this alone. By combining Broadsign’s infrastructure with buy-side intelligence, Draft Digital’s ambition and our diverse digital out-of-home offering, we’ve shown that outdoor can be planned, bought, and activated with the same speed and data-driven precision as any digital channel. For Global Netherlands, this is a meaningful step toward making our inventory more accessible to buyers who want seamless, omnichannel campaigns and we’ve only just begun to uncover the advantages.”

Marketers and media owners looking to learn more about Broadsign’s sell-side agentic solution can get in touch with the company.

About Broadsign

Broadsign develops the leading global platform for managing and monetizing out-of-home (OOH) media. The company, which also operates Place Exchange by Broadsign, the largest independent SSP for Digital OOH, empowers media owners, media buyers, and retailers to harness the power and reach of out-of-home to connect with audiences in ways unlike any other advertising channel. More than 2.8 million static and digital signs along roadways and in airports, shopping malls, grocery and convenience stores, health clinics, transit systems, and more run on Broadsign. https://broadsign.com

About Draft Digital

At Draft Digital, we are setting the new standard in marketing and media. We believe that standing still is falling behind; an organization that isn’t growing is already losing. Built on a foundation of relevance and trust, we guide clients through a digital journey that never ends. We are leading the transition to Agentic Advertising, where intelligent Agents handle the operational burden of media buying. This shifts our focus from execution to pure strategy and innovation. By merging classic marketing theory with AI, we deliver scalable creativity and perfected measurement. We are not just service providers; we are the architects of digital growth.

About Global Netherlands

Global is a media operator and market leader in the (Digital) Out-of-Home sector, offering advertisers the opportunity to advertise in high streets, supermarkets, shopping centres, at railway stations, petrol stations and along motorways. With a nationwide digital network, Global meets advertisers’ needs to reach their target audience at precise times and locations. Thanks to these exclusive concessions across these diverse networks, advertisers can reach the masses or, conversely, target specific audiences very precisely in a wide variety of locations.

About Lot of Happiness

We believe in a better world for everyone. Charities, both big and small, drive this mission, they all deserve our support. By playing in our lottery, we together contribute to their missions. Playing = impact. You choose which charity receives half of your contribution. We are flexible: you decide how often you play and with what amount. This makes Lot of Happiness the lottery where your voice counts and your impact is big. And you can win fantastic prizes, from €1 million in the bank to a brand-new electric cargo bike. A true win-win.

Product News | October 11, 2021

How Osmow’s achieved a 33.9% lift in restaurant visits with programmatic DOOH

To support its next phase of national growth, Osmow’s, a leader in the Canadian quick-service restaurant (QSR) space, launched a high-impact programmatic digital out-of-home (pDOOH) campaign to reach its target audience at scale. Specializing in modern Middle Eastern and Mediterranean cuisine, the brand sought to strengthen its position as a category leader and drive measurable foot traffic to restaurant locations across the country.

Objective

The campaign aimed to increase brand awareness and category share for Osmow’s, leveraging three tailored executions to support its diverse product offering. A core objective was to drive in-restaurant visits across urban, suburban, and rural markets, while positioning the brand as a value leader during the competitive post-holiday period.

Strategy

Osmow’s partnered with Involved Media and Broadsign to launch a data-driven programmatic digital out-of-home (pDOOH) campaign, activating premium inventory across 4,912 screens. The campaign leveraged a diverse mix of placements, including large-format billboards, transit shelters, and campus screens, to deliver broad reach and sustained frequency.

Using the OutMoove DSP, the campaign employed programmatic triggers to engage consumers at high-intent moments throughout their daily routines. To maximize relevance and efficiency, ads were programmatically dayparted to peak during lunch (11 am–2 pm) and dinner (5 pm–7 pm) consideration windows. By utilizing proximity targeting near restaurant locations across Canada, the campaign ensured that tailored messaging reached audiences at the moment of choice.

Results

Foot Traffic Lift: Achieved a 33.9% lift in visits across 30 restaurant locations compared to the non-exposed control group

Sales Impact: Delivered a 5% contribution to total sales throughout the campaign period

“With over 240 locations, we are always looking for ways Osmow’s can stay top-of-mind while driving traffic to restaurants. Programmatic DOOH gave us the flexibility to do both at once. We were able to maintain a massive presence across the country, but with the additional layer of dayparting and proximity tools needed to reach the right people during the key lunch and dinner windows. It’s been a very effective way to bridge our digital strategy with the physical restaurant locations,” says Effie Ambida, Director Strategy & Planning at Involved Media.

Want the campaign highlights? Check out the infographic below.

Product News | October 11, 2021

Best practices for high-impact out-of-home creative

The out-of-home (OOH) ads that stop people in their tracks, spark awareness, and drive action all share a common thread: they’re built on proven creative principles shaped by real-world testing and what works in today’s evolving OOH landscape.

Effective OOH creative relies on bold design, minimal text, and clear branding. But what works on a static highway billboard may not have the same impact on a digital out-of-home (DOOH) screen or a crowded subway platform at rush hour.

That’s what makes OOH unique. It reaches audiences as they move through real-world environments like airports, malls, roadways, and city centres across both static formats and dynamic, data-driven digital displays, offering far more creative flexibility than the medium often gets credit for.

This guide explores the OOH and DOOH creative strategies that consistently deliver results before you plan your next campaign.

OOH creative fundamentals

When developing the creative for an OOH ad, there are core principles to keep in mind.

Define your goals: What does the ad wish to accomplish? Is the aim to drive in-store traffic? Stand out from competitors? Remind existing customers of an ongoing promotion? A firm strategy narrows the focus and clarifies the message.
Be bold: Most out-of-home ads have only seconds to reach audiences. When producing OOH or DOOH creative, employ boldness to stand out.
Keep it simple: A less-is-more approach is typically most effective. Messaging should be clear, direct, and to the point.
Let brand personality shine: Use humour, surprise, intrigue, even edginess to amplify your message.
Context is key: think about how your creative fits into its surroundings. Incorporating messaging that speaks to current events or relates to live data can boost performance and turn your ad from informative to innovative.

Think Design

Great OOH design is built for how people experience it. In fast-moving environments, you have seconds to make an impression, so clarity and visibility matter more than complexity.

At its core, effective design comes down to a few essentials:

High-contrast colours that cut through busy surroundings
Simple, focused layouts that are easy to process at a glance
Bold, recognizable imagery paired with clean, legible type

KFC’s bold, recognizable imagery makes this billboard instantly identifiable

Context matters just as much as design. What works on a roadside billboard viewed at speed won’t translate the same way to a street-level or place-based screen where dwell time is longer. Simpler creative performs better at a distance, while closer environments allow for more detail, as long as clarity isn’t compromised.

And while best practices exist for a reason, they are not rules. Intentionally breaking them can be just as effective when done with purpose.

Get the Specs Right

Even the strongest creative can fall flat if it is not built for the screen. OOH and DOOH formats vary widely across billboards, transit shelters, retail environments, and place-based networks, each with different dimensions, orientations, and file requirements.

A few fundamentals to keep in mind:

Design for both vertical and horizontal formats so layouts translate cleanly across environments
Stick to supported file types like JPG or PNG for static, and MP4 or HTML for digital placements
Keep file sizes within recommended limits to ensure smooth delivery and playback
Always build with the final screen size and placement in mind to avoid cropping or distortion

Below are some of the most common specs for digital and video displays in the US.

Most Common Display Sizes:

1920 x 1080
1080 x 1920
1400 x 400
840 x 400

Most Common Video Sizes (15-Second):

1920 x 1080
1080 x 1920
1400 x 400
1280 x 960

For more guidelines on proper format sizes, read our Best Practices Guide: How to create DOOH campaigns that get results.

Let’s talk about text

It’s not just about what you’re saying, but how you’re saying it: typeface and formatting contribute to how the ad, and its messaging, are received.

Large, bold typeface is easier for people to read, especially from a distance
Avoid thin or serif typefaces, which can be harder to read
Proper spacing between letters, words, and lines will help improve readability and visibility
Keep the copy short and sweet, and limit messaging to five to seven words
Stick to one simple, direct message and call-to-action

Viewing Distance	Minimum Readable Text Height
5’ – 50’	1” – 2” (72px – 144px @ 72dpi)
50’ – 100’	2” – 4” (144px – 288px @ 72dpi)
100’ – 200’	4” – 8” (288px – 576px @ 72dpi)

Virgin Active’s OOH display delivers big impact with minimal text

Video creatives

A recent study found that full-motion video OOH ads drive a 65% increase in “intent to learn more” compared to static creative, along with a 41% lift in perceived relevance, clear indicators of stronger audience consideration.

That’s why incorporating motion into your digital content is such a powerful way to capture attention. In most environments, videos should run no longer than 10-15 seconds; however, longer videos can be impactful for audiences in specific venue types with longer dwell times, like gyms, doctors’ offices, or bars.

Note: Place Exchange by Broadsign can seamlessly adapt social media and in-app vertical video creatives for portrait-mode screens, so you can get maximum value from a single video.

Creating personalized and dynamic content

When vying for a consumer’s attention, optimizing a digital out-of-home campaign with Dynamic Creative Optimization (DCO) can be the x-factor in reaching target audiences.

DCO means adjusting and optimizing DOOH ads for real-world contexts and environments, pulling data to deliver ads in response to current events or trends, such as the weather, sports scores, financial markets, audience profiles, or other nearby events or relevant information.

With DCO, ads can deliver more personalized experiences and stronger audience relevance. In fact, according to the OAAA and The Harris Poll, 81% of respondents exposed to weather-triggered ads featuring relevant product offers found them valuable. Thinking about where your ad will live along the consumer’s journey, and in what context, is an opportunity to create a high-impact ad that resonates with your target audience.

To create a high-impact ad, thread in creative that responds to live signals like time of day, weather, audience demographics or current events for a more targeted activation that reaches audiences at key moments.

Some ideas include:

Modify messaging based on relevant data inputs (e.g., weather, sports scores, etc.): Entice customers on rainy days to pop by for a warm cup of coffee, or advertise air conditioning units on extremely hot days, display sports scores during high-ticket events.
Schedule time-sensitive or product-specific promotions
Incorporate daily countdowns for popular movies or big events with universal appeal

McDonald’s weather-triggered OOH campaign in Qatar

Tracking and measurement

Knowing how your current campaign performs is crucial for planning the next. Use ID markers like QR codes, SMS messages, short-link URLs, hashtags, emails, or phone numbers to track and measure your ad’s performance. Adding a Call to Action (CTA) to your creatives can enable you to directly track “click-through” response to your OOH creative.

The winning formula for an out-of-home ad that gets noticed and delivers on ROI is to combine brand-safe creativity, outside-the-box thinking, and contextual relevance. With these OOH creative best practices in your toolkit, you can successfully create an ad that stands out.

Ready to launch a high-impact, creative out-of-home campaign that delivers results? Browse our inventory catalog to see the complete network of high-impact digital screens available.

Product News | October 11, 2021

De’Longhi drives 121% lift in brand preference with programmatic DOOH

To strengthen its position as a leader in premium home coffee experiences, De’Longhi partnered with Broadsign to launch a programmatic digital out-of-home (pDOOH) campaign across Poland during the competitive holiday shopping season.

Objective

The campaign aimed to move audiences from brand awareness to purchase intent, positioning the Eletta Explore as the preferred choice for holiday gifting in a competitive retail landscape.

Strategy

In collaboration with agency partner Salestube PL, the campaign used the OutMoove DSP to activate premium pDOOH inventory across major Polish markets, focusing placements exclusively within high-traffic shopping mall environments.

Indoor screens in major shopping malls reached consumers in high-intent environments close to the point of purchase. By concentrating on mall inventory, including spectaculars, concourse screens, and food court displays, the campaign captured the attention of gift-seekers while they were actively browsing and shopping.

Dayparting aligned ad playouts with peak shopping hours, ensuring strong visibility during periods of elevated foot traffic throughout the holiday retail season.

Creative

The campaign featured cinematic video creative starring global brand ambassador Brad Pitt, accompanied by the localized copy: “To nie tylko idealny prezent. To Perfetto” (“It’s not just the perfect gift. It’s Perfetto.”).

By combining a recognizable ambassador with motion-driven creative across high-traffic placements, De’Longhi established a memorable presence during the year’s busiest retail window.

Results

121% Lift in Brand Preference: The campaign achieved a significant increase in brand preference, successfully strengthening De’Longhi’s positioning against key competitors in the premium coffee category.

190% Lift in Intent: The campaign effectively influenced consumer behaviour, delivering nearly a 3X lift in consumer intent to interact with the brand or visit the De’Longhi website.