One thing that has arisen due to the internet and introduction of digital cameras, is the ability for nearly anyone to create a film or video. YouTube remains one of the most popular internet sites where thousands of videos are uploaded each day, and increasingly, YouTube has become a platform for companies and businesses.
Most media savvy organisations now have a YouTube site, where videos featuring company news, information and product demonstrations, help generate brand awareness and leads. But the internet is not the only platform where businesses can communicate to customers via video.
Digital signage provides an ideal opportunity to communicate directly to customers, and increasingly companies are using screens around stores and business locations to speak to their customers in an environment uncluttered by other media.
One of the latest companies to incorporate their own TV channel is McDonalds. Using screens around their restaurants, the fast food giant is planning to relay information and news as well as entertainment features.
The McDonald’s Channel will first appear in 800 restaurants in Southern and Central California and are expected to reach up to 20 million customers each month, which is more than many prime time TV shows manage.
Advantages of Corporate TV Channels
Corporate TV channels provide several advantages to larger businesses such as McDonalds as they take advantage of the high numbers of people that not only come through the doors, but also remain to eat, becoming a captive audience.
But even smaller businesses that don’t receive the scale of customers of McDonalds can benefit from corporate news feeds on their digital signage networks, as it allows companies to speak directly to their customers, bypassing news organisations and advertising companies. And with television becoming a fragmented market, due to the rise of digital technology and increase in channels, corporate television is becoming an increasingly popular method of reaching customers.
As with the McDonalds example, providing news, entertainment and feature programming, helps to encourage viewership of a digital signage screen. When content is all commercial, viewers soon mentally switch off, but by interlacing branding and advertisements in with something an audience wants to see, commercial TV can effective at advertising and generating brand awareness.
As Leland Edmondson, founder of ChannelPort, the company behind the McDonalds TV network says: “The intention is to catch and engage the customer, and then enhance their experience … This network is not intended to be all about McDonald’s. It is all about the consumer.”
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