Digital signage vs printed posters: how to compare the costs

Most poster cost comparisons stop at the price of the print. The print is only one line. The rest is design, reprints, the time it takes someone to change the window, and the days a poster stays up after it has stopped being true.

We haven't put prices on the print side. They vary too much between printers, sizes and runs to be useful here. What follows is the list of things to price, and the Screenli costs we can state.

The printed side

• The prints, at the size and quality your window frames take.
• Design time for each change, in-house or from a freelancer.
• How often you reprint. For an estate agent that means every new listing and every price change.
• Staff time to take the old posters down and put the new ones up, in every window.
• Light pockets or frames, if the window uses them, and their upkeep.

The digital side

• The screen: a TV, commercial display or video wall, bought once. A window that gets direct sun needs a high brightness display. We can supply and fit one, or use a screen you already have.
• The Screenli mini PC: a one-off purchase for each screen, quoted with the rest of your setup.
• Installation, quoted for your site.
• The software: £45 per screen a month for one to three screens, £35 per screen for four to fifteen, and volume pricing from sixteen.
• Design: similar to print for the first version. After that, a change is made in the dashboard and reaches the screen within 15 minutes.
• Reprints: none.

Working it out for one window

Take one window with one screen. The software is £45 a month, which is £540 a year. Add the one-off cost of the screen, the mini PC and fitting, spread over the number of years you expect the screen to last. Put that next to a year of your own printing and design costs, plus the staff time, and you have the comparison.

What the spreadsheet misses

• A window that stays current. For estate agents, new listings, price changes and sales come from the CRM at the next sync, hourly by default.
• Staff time that goes back to customers instead of the window.
• No offer left in the window after it has ended.

When print still wins

Short pop-ups, campaigns that only last a few days, and windows with no power near the glass. In those cases a printed poster is the right answer. If what's in your window changes every week or two, price both sides and see.