Video walls have captivated audiences since their introduction to the digital signage world, serving as powerful tools that stop viewers in their tracks and influence decisions. Major brands have leveraged these displays to showcase their latest products and messaging to drive purchasing behaviour. While traditionally a passive advertising medium, the integration of artificial intelligence (AI) and Internet of Things (IoT) technology has transformed video walls into smart digital signage capable of personalising content and adapting to environments in real time. This blog post explores the emergence of AI and IoT-powered video walls, how they operate, industry applications, and the future landscape of interactive digital signage.
The Emergence and Evolution of Video Walls
Let’s take a trip back to the early 1980’s when the video wall first emerged. There is some debate over whether they originated in Europe, USA or Japan but as you can imagine they didn’t look quite like what you would expect today. As a standard, early video walls were all based on standard CRT (Cathode Ray Tube) monitors, typically 28-inch diagonal, resulting in a large gap between image sections. There were also issues around achieving the split of the image, which refers to how the overall video/image was split up by the individual monitors.
Video wall technology has evolved dramatically since its birth in 1980. Through multiple iterations, it has eliminated earlier problems with image splits and gaps, creating truly eye-catching displays. Today’s video walls feature vibrant animations with striking colours and brightness that remain visible even in the brightest environments. Minimal bezels allow images to appear as one seamless display rather than individual screens. Additionally, flexible content scheduling enables you to adapt your messaging throughout the day for maximum impact.
But the true excitement isn’t in the hardware, it’s in how these displays can interact with their environment and viewers through AI and IoT integration.
AI: The Intelligence Powering Your Video Wall Experience
Traditional displays rely on pre-programmed content but having an AI-powered system is a game-changer that can adjust your message based on real-time information. Your content can be adapted based on what is happening, this can be audience demographics, traffic patterns and even based on audience emotion deciphered through facial recognition software in specialised HD cameras.
This approach allows you to personalise your advertisements and messaging to resonate with your audience and overall improve the viewing experience.
Some specific examples of how AI can personalise and automate your content are outlined below.
Adaptive Advertising
AI can analyse your audience’s behaviour and display adverts that are tailored to resonate with them. This smart technology tracks viewing patterns, demographics, and engagement to create targeted content that connects and engages with viewers. By adjusting and amending creative elements based on real-time data, adaptive advertising significantly improves conversion rates.
Automated Content Scheduling
AI can schedule your content so that your message targets the right people at the right time. Advanced algorithms determine the optimal timing for different content pieces throughout the day. This smart scheduling maximises audience attention by ensuring your most impactful messages appear when your audience is most likely to be influenced.
Data-driven Insights
AI can collect and analyse data on engagement to refine and improve future content. These powerful tools track viewer interactions, the time a viewer spends looking at your ad and emotional responses, to identify which elements of your content resonate with different audience segments. Through this continued learning pattern, data-driven AI systems help marketing teams and content creators make evidence-based decisions to improve campaign effectiveness.
IoT: The Information Driving Your Video Wall
If we think of AI as the decision-maker in modern video wall systems, IoT would be seen as the support system. Essentially, IoT focuses on collecting and connecting critical environmental and user data while AI creates machines capable of mimicking human intelligence.
Some specific examples are listed below.
Environmental Sensors
Measures such as daylight levels, temperature and air quality can allow the video wall to adapt based on conditions. For example, smart digital signage can increase or decrease screen brightness to ensure messages are read clearly in all conditions or content themes may be adapted based on weather.
Proximity Detection
Bluetooth beacons, RFID, and other technologies enable video walls to determine users’ approach and movement patterns to know when someone is viewing your ad and how long they view it.
Operational Monitoring
Advanced sensors continuously monitor all video wall components, providing comprehensive real-time diagnostics that enable predictive maintenance and ensure optimal performance. This proactive monitoring system identifies potential issues before they cause disruptions, allowing for timely interventions that maximise uptime and extend equipment lifespan. This allows your message to remain consistently visible and impactful to your audience regardless of operational demands.
The Realms of Possibility for Interactive Displays in Industries
The integration of AI and IoT within video walls is a powerful technology paving the way for many opportunities across a vast array of industries.
Retail
Smart digital signage will have the ability to analyse the behaviour of shoppers and display promotions targeted specifically to individuals or groups of individuals, providing personal recommendations as well as adjusting pricing strategies based on real-time stock levels and customer demand.
Office and Corporate Environments
For office settings, video walls will be able to adapt their messaging based on who is in the room, i.e. visitors or employees, what is going on in the building at that time and current organisation priorities. AI & IoT in video walls can effectively work as your eyes and ears to determine the most appropriate message your corporate organisation needs to get across at that moment.
Education
Interactive learning environments can use AI-powered video walls to adapt content difficulty based on student engagement signals to select and create personalised visual learning experiences and messaging at scale.
What Does the Future Hold for Smart Digital Signage?
Looking ahead AI is an industry set to grow considerably for the foreseeable and the lines between physical and digital experiences are set to get thinner and thinner.
Video walls enhanced by AI and IoT will continue to evolve into responsive environments that not only display information but actively participate in shaping how we experience spaces, receive information, and interact with organisations and their messaging.
Investing in AI Video Walls
For businesses looking to invest in AI and IoT-enhanced video walls, the key is approaching this as part of a wider digital transformation programme and an upgrade to your ecosystem rather than simply an upgrade to your hardware.
To be successful in your implementation you’ll need to be mindful that it requires many teams to get the most out of creating a personalised, immersive experience. You’ll need people from the technology side of your business to manage integration, marketing experts to draft content that is engaging and user experience designers to make the messaging seamless.
The goal is to not just push information but to create a more interactive and personalised experience which AI can take and grow from based on the environment and audience.
Ready to Personalise Your Messaging?
Since 2009, LamasaTech has pioneered innovative digital display solutions for businesses of all sizes.
Our video wall displays deliver outstanding image quality in indoor environments including universities, offices, retail stores, bars and restaurants.
Get in touch to find out how we can bring your vision to life.
