Barcelona | The Investor Forum was a first at this year’s ISE – a new platform for investors, start-ups, and established digital signage companies. The focus was on market information, technology trends and business models.
Corporate takeovers are common in the digital signage industry. In recent days, financial investors acquired Navori, Trison took over the American integrator Zero-in, and Stratacache bought a pharmacy POS specialist. Many smaller takeovers are also happening out of public view.
The main drivers are evident: succession planning, consolidation, and changes in the value chain. Size is becoming more important, whether in the installed base for software companies or financial strength for integrators. As a result, small and medium-sized providers are struggling to stay competitive.
For investors – financial investors from outside the industry and strategic industry insiders – the market changes offer many interesting investment opportunities. According to the Avixa Iota study, the market size (2025: 346 billion USD) and growth (5.4% CAGR over the next five years) are attractive reasons to invest in ProAV. The growth dynamics of the digital signage sub-segment is even higher than the overall market and, at 41.4 billion, a very large market.
What has changed since the pandemic, however, is that market developments are more fluctuating – the days of linear growth are over. Donald Trump’s return to the White House is not helping – the threat of punitive tariffs is bringing uncertainties to the markets.
The disruption of AI, the trend towards operational efficiency, a lack of employees and the pressure to reduce costs are causing changes in the market. Weaker market players are losing competitiveness and thus opening up new spaces for new market entrees.
This is where larger providers and integrators from outside the industry come into play. In the panel with Avixa market researchers Sean Wargo and Hasan Sayed Hasan of Master Media Dubai, invidis expert Florian Rotberg discussed the current state of consolidation, reasons, and challenges of transactions and developments in valuations. Â
