3D Digital Signage; Spill-over from the 3D Movie and 3D TV Hype?

By Chris Connery – Vice President, PC and Large Format Commercial Displays, Jennifer Colegrove – Director, Display Technologies, Gerry McGinley – Director, Business Development, DisplaySearch

In the display industry, it is hard to escape the hype associated with 3D. While all eyes are focused on the future of bringing 3D TV to every home, 3D infrastructure and content must be developed before 3D in the home becomes a reality.

Hollywood is leading the charge (with sports media not far behind) to increase the amount of 3D content available. With movies like “Avatar” carrying a high profile, consumers are being exposed to 3D every day. But what about those who base their opinions of 3D on movies made in the 1950s and 1980s, or the red/cyan anaglyphic presentations like the 2010 Grammy Awards? How do advertisers promote 3D to users who do not yet have the ability to view the latest implementations of 3D in their homes (think chicken-and-egg)? Here is where the worlds of digital signage-digital out-of-home (DOOH) advertising is a sub-set-and 3D start to converge.

Over the years, many different types of digital advertising displays with a variety of auto-stereoscopic 3D displays (the kind that does not require special glasses) have been used to grab the attention of passersby. However, the newly published DisplaySearch 3D Display Technology and Market Forecast Report confirms that those 3D public displays have not yet shipped in high volumes due to technology limitations. The “sweet spot” for viewing the 3D effect is limited with auto-stereoscopic displays, and the resolution and the overall quality of auto-stereoscopic 3D effects do not match the movie theatre experience, where stereoscopic 3D using active or passive glasses to generate a stunning 3D experience. But people seeing digital advertisements for those movies at bus shelters, in malls or in other public venues are clearly not going to be wearing 3D glasses, so OOH advertising companies like Clear Channel Outdoor and JC Decaux who want to use 3D must use auto-stereoscopic displays.

So the question is whether showcasing 3D movies (and TV) in an OOH environment with a 3D technology that does not do justice to what consumers would see in 3D theaters or on 3D-enabled TVs really helps to push the technology forward in consumers’ minds.

One example is Clear Channel Outdoor’s ad campaign in the UK to promote the 20th Century Fox movie “Percy Jackson & The Lightning Thief” (which is not a 3D movie). The 3D ads are running in at least four high-profile bus shelters in London. The displays come from 3D Exposure, and the description of the LCD panel used in this implementation (a 42″ FHD commercial-grade panel) suggests LG Display as the source. 3D Exposure claims that 3D public displays have “four times the stopping power of standard 2D advertisements, up to 10 times the average dwell time [and an] increased brand recall rate.” No one doubts the stopping power that a 3D image has in a public display environment, but now that the display is intended to promote the very thing that it is demonstrating, there is a new dynamic at play.

Since the technology being used to showcase 3D to the masses (auto-stereoscopic) is different than what they will see in the theatre or at home (stereoscopic), it will be interesting to see if the hype surrounding 3D will help increase the sales of 3D stereoscopic public displays (for digital movie posters and the like), or whether this type of 3D technology try to disassociate itself from the movie theater or home TV 3D video experience and simply remain an eye-catching technology.