Asia’s digital signage market shows a clear divide between China and India. China remains focused on hardware and on-premises installations, driven in part by software piracy. India, meanwhile, is emerging as a global hub for cloud-based innovation—contributing code and shaping the future of digital signage. An invidis Opinion Editorial.
Opinion: Why India Embraces Software – and China Still Doesn’t
As Asia’s digital signage market matures, a striking divergence has emerged between its two largest economies: India values software, China resists it. For Western software developers, this contrast is more than cultural—it’s commercial. In China, widespread software piracy has stunted the growth of Software-as-a-Service (SaaS). Instead, vendors rely on bundling software with hardware in a model that feels like a throwback to the 1990s: Software-as-a-Box (SaaB). One-off, on-premises installations remain the norm, and the idea of paying for cloud-based services is still met with resistance.
India, by contrast, is powering the global software economy. With millions of developers employed by multinational corporations, the country has become the global machine room of cloud-based innovation. Also, in digital signage, India isn’t just developing the code—it’s shaping the future. Many of the world’s leading digital signage market players like Stratacache, Poppulo, and Navori rely heavily on Indian development talent.
But the story doesn’t end there. Homegrown providers like Pickcel are expanding beyond the subcontinent, winning clients in the Gulf and even Europe. At the same time, premium Indian customers—those who need more than just basic CMS functions—are opting for Western platforms with advanced integration capabilities, such as Broadsign, Quividi, and SignageOS. These solutions cater to specialized, scalable needs like retail media networks, DooH, and data-driven signage experiences. Meanwhile, standard and non-business-critical applications are increasingly being handled by local signage solutions, which offer a cost-effective alternative to pricier Western options. Overall, the Indian digital signage software market is only beginning to enter the mainstream.
As we approach Infocomm India 2025 and the invidis Digital Signage Conference in Mumbai, it’s clear that India isn’t just a market—it’s a mindset. One that values software not as a commodity, but as a strategic asset. For Western providers, the opportunity is immense—but only if they understand the difference between selling software and building solutions that scale with India’s specific market requirements.
