2025 was supposed to be the year of growth for digital signage – but the boom never came. Instead, the industry is being reshaped by quiet restructuring, consolidation, and AI-driven disruption, forcing integrators and ISVs to abandon legacy structures and fight for relevance. In this new reality, scale, agility, and innovation aren’t optional – they’re the key to survival.
Opinion: The Right to Win Must Be Earned – Every Single Day
Let’s be honest: 2025 has been a disappointment for the digital signage industry. The much-hyped revenue surge? It’s not coming. Even the golden fourth quarter – the one we all count on – won’t save the year. If you’re still clinging to the hope that a few strong weeks will fix everything, you’re living in denial.
But here’s the twist: while the headlines scream stagnation, the real story is happening behind closed doors. Leading integrators and ISVs in Europe and North America have spent this year quietly tearing down and rebuilding their organizations. Staff cuts, standardized offerings, unified tech platforms – painful but necessary moves. Why? Because the old playbook is dead.
The end of comfortable growth
For years, many digital signage market players grew through acquisitions, piling up subsidiaries like trophies. But processes? Integration? Leadership renewal? Those were afterthoughts. Now, the reckoning has arrived. CEOs are being replaced – often by outsiders with no industry baggage – because incremental tweaks won’t cut it. This is a reset, not a refresh.
Strategic acquisitions like Vertiseit snapping up Visual Art and Navori buying Signagelive aren’t just headlines – they’re warning shots. Global players with massive installed bases are rewriting the rules. And if that’s not enough, billion-dollar managed service providers (MSPs) – e.g. Econocom, Ricoh, Forte – are muscling in with scale, efficiency, and margins you can’t match unless you transform.
AI is the game changer you can’t ignore
Generative AI has already gutted the old economics of content creation, flipped software development upside down, and turned marketing into a scientific discipline. And the next wave – Agentic AI – is coming fast. It will make digital signage experiences and retail media networks smarter, more connected, and absolutely business-critical. If you’re not investing in AI-driven strategies now, you’re signing your own death warrant.
Earn your right to win
The era of coasting on legacy structures is over. Integrators and ISVs must earn their right to win – every single day. That means scale, agility, and relentless innovation. The influx of global MSPs isn’t a threat; it’s a wake-up call. The industry is attractive, yes – but only for those willing to fight for relevance.
So here’s the question: Are you ready to tear down what’s comfortable and build what’s necessary? Or will you watch from the sidelines as the future passes you by?
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