Korea’s two electronics giants ― Samsung Electronics and LG Electronics ― are expanding their presence in the digital signage sector, seeking a new breakthrough in highly competitive electronics market.
Samsung said Sunday it has installed a 360-degree LED screen at the State Farm Arena in Atlanta, the home arena for the Atlanta Hawks NBA basketball team.
The State Farm Arena was first opened in 1999 and recently reopened on Oct. 20 following a $192 million renovation program. Samsung said 21 LED displays have been installed throughout the arena, for a total 12,047 square feet of LED video.
The highlight is the center-hung video board, which is the NBA’s first 360-degree LED screen. Samsung added the screen also boasts HD-quality video. With the 360-degree screen, fans at the arena can enjoy every bit of the action whether they sit courtside or in the upper deck, the firm said.
Kim Seog-gi, vice president of Visual Display Business at Samsung said the firm “will continue to supply quality LED signage products not only in sports stadiums but also for outdoor billboards.” The firm already installed its LED signage at the National Stadium in Kuala Lumpur, the SK Happy Dream Park in Incheon and the AT&T Bank Stadium in Baltimore.
LG said on Oct. 25 it will set up a joint venture with Lufthansa Technik, a subsidiary of German airline Lufthansa to develop electronics systems for aircraft cabins.
The two firms will launch the new firm, which will be based in Hamburg, in the first half of next year. Using LG’s OLED technology, the new firm will develop electronics systems including digital signage products to venture into the in-cabin aircraft application market.
Digital signage is a centrally controlled content distribution platform used to convey messages, videos and images in digital formats.
According to data from market researcher IDC, the digital signage market is on the rise as more than 870,000 signage products were shipped in the second quarter of this year, up 15.9 percent year-on-year.
Samsung has topped the market for the 22nd straight quarter through the second quarter of this year with the largest market share of 33.9 percent, according to IDC.
It shipped nearly 300,000 digital signage products solely in the second quarter. To beef up the sector, Samsung acquired U.S.-based LED display manufacturer YESCO Electronics in 2015 and rebranded it as Prismview in 2016.
LG Electronics is the second-largest provider with a market share of 8.5 percent as of the second quarter. It shipped about 74,199 digital signage products in the cited period according to IDC. LG is followed by China’s Goodview with a share of 8 percent, Japan’s NEC at 7.4 percent and Taiwan’s Foxconn at 6 percent.
The entire digital signage market is forecast to grow to 3.5 million this year and 4.4 million by 2020 because more business operators continue to adopt the digitalized platform for advertising and digital information purposes.
While Samsung had seen explosive growth in the digital signage market in Canada and Latin America regions with a year-on-year growth of 40.5 percent and 215.8 percent respectively, Samsung is trying to push its reach in the U.S. as well.
Source : www.koreatimes.co.kr