The development of the LED display industry has made indelible achievements so far, but in recent years, frequent changes in the industry have made people in the industry worried. Some people are happy and others are worried about the future development of the LED display industry. As we all know, the development of the industry cannot be separated from the efforts of all enterprises in the industry. Due to the increasingly fierce competition in the development of the domestic LED display industry, many enterprises are exploring new market blue oceans in order to find a suitable path for their own livelihood and development in this environment. To this end, enterprises have made many attempts, which have brought new market opportunities for the development of enterprises. The development of LED outdoor advertising screens is no longer a new field. From the broad market and profit potential at the beginning, to the high vacancy rate of outdoor large screens and the difficulty in operating outdoor advertising media. After experiencing a development peak, the growth momentum of outdoor advertising large screens has gradually faded, which makes people think: while the market prospects are still promising, what has caused LED outdoor advertising screens to fall into a vicious cycle of sluggish business conditions?
With the economic downturn in recent years, the development of all walks of life has shown a sluggish situation. In 2016, the country's overall economic trend continued to slow down, and investment prices continued the negative growth trend since 2015 and gradually expanded. Among them, the growth rate of manufacturing investment has declined most severely. From January to May 2016, the year-on-year growth of national manufacturing investment dropped to 4.6%, 5.4 percentage points lower than the same period in 2015. At the same time, from January to May 2016, the country's total exports were US$1,410.127 billion, a year-on-year decrease of 8.6%. The growth rate of national imports and exports continued to be sluggish, with a relatively large negative growth. Obviously, this economic downturn is difficult to change in the short term.
Judging from the above data, under the weak overall economic situation, the sales and application of LED outdoor advertising screens will inevitably be negatively affected to a certain extent. The advertising industry is an industry that depends on the development of the national economy. Changes in the national economic situation will inevitably affect the entire advertising industry, affecting the whole body. For LED outdoor advertising screen companies, this year's downward economic situation is a direct factor that leads to the unoptimistic current situation of outdoor advertising operations. Under this "problematic" business situation, advertising media and LED outdoor advertising display merchants began to make a series of countermeasures. In order to save costs, advertising media have made corresponding reductions in investment in some advertisements, and the number of large LED outdoor advertising screens has naturally decreased. In order to restore large screen sales and corporate profits, some LED outdoor advertising display merchants have turned to other emerging small fields in the industry.
In addition to the pressure of the overall economic situation, outdoor advertising media lacks a specific special plan for placing LED outdoor advertising screens in cities. Since each city has certain quantity restrictions and regional requirements for the setting up of large outdoor advertising screens, over-building LED outdoor advertising screens will cause huge advertising costs. Qiu Dongming, director of the Outdoor Advertising Committee of the Shanghai Advertising Association, said: "Our current LED outdoor advertising display screen, the annual income of one screen is about three to six times that of a traditional billboard, which means that its content load is also three to six times, but in fact the amount of advertising cannot match." Under the sluggish market conditions, the vacancy rate of LED outdoor large screens is getting higher and higher, and the problem of large screen vacancies is becoming increasingly difficult to solve.
According to research by relevant institutions, about 70% of LED outdoor advertising companies are at a loss, 15% are at breakeven, and only 15% are profitable. More than 70% of LED outdoor advertising displays have a vacancy rate as high as 70%-80%, putting the entire LED outdoor advertising industry in an embarrassing situation.
Under this situation, in order to seek more profit space in outdoor advertising, many companies turn to outdoor small screens to develop, such as community screens, advertising machines, light pole screens, etc. Compared with the shortcomings of large outdoor screens, such as large investments, complex application processes, and high risks, turning to small outdoor screens with smaller investment, convenient installation, and low risks is another path for LED display companies to develop outdoor advertising.
Business opportunities are still there. Where is the breakthrough point for LED outdoor large screens?
Although it is an undeniable fact that the development of LED outdoor large screens is sluggish, it is also undeniable that there are still huge business opportunities in the outdoor advertising industry! Experts predict that in the future, LED outdoor advertising screens will rise to a higher-end, smarter, and more data-based application model. For example, LED outdoor advertising screens are encouraged to develop in the direction of high-end digital media and set up with high standards, high levels, and high creativity. In the future, if the technical foundation allows, this will be the best destination for the development of LED outdoor advertising screens.
In recent years, outdoor advertising has developed rapidly and has become an indispensable presence in every city. With the acceleration of urbanization, the hot spot of the outdoor LED industry has also moved to prefecture-level cities. At present, LED large-screen resources in core spots in first- and second-tier cities in China have been basically enclosed, while outdoor LED in third- and fourth-tier cities belongs to the blue ocean market, which is still in the stage of rapid expansion and has considerable room for expansion.
In addition to the huge space for domestic market expansion, the demand for large outdoor LED advertising screens in overseas markets is also quite large. Relevant statistics show that by 2017, China's outdoor advertising market is expected to reach 160 billion yuan. Compared with foreign markets, China's large LED outdoor advertising screens are lightweight, easy to install and maintain, and cost-effective. Therefore, regardless of whether the outdoor advertising business situation will improve, the domestic small town market and the international market are very considerable.
Market demand will inevitably stimulate product innovation and testing of LED display companies. Under this blue ocean of the market, the outdoor advertising market has gradually become the new favorite of LED display companies. Many LED display companies have made more and more successful cases in creative screens and special-shaped screens. In the first half of 2016, many LED display companies increased the design and application of outdoor advertising screens. In March, Sancai Optoelectronics built an outdoor full-color P10 cylindrical screen, which was successfully lit in Hui County, Longnan, Gansu Province. A neat row of LED cylindrical screens standing on both sides of the river embankment was very shocking. In April, Jindano launched a reversible outdoor advertising display that can be switched freely between the two forms of expression to fully meet the needs of media owners and advertisers; in July, Chip Optoelectronics released a rechargeable LED outdoor advertising display that can be run for more than 12 hours after charging for 4 hours. There are many companies that continue to practice innovative thinking on large outdoor advertising screens and have made certain achievements. In the future, LED displays will have greater business opportunities in creative interactive advertising screens.
This year, small-pitch LED displays have occupied the headlines of industry topics. The development of small-pitch LED displays into smaller spacings has become an unstoppable trend. Many companies are working hard to develop more refined indoor displays. Under this trend, the trend of small-pitch LED displays has gradually spread to outdoor displays. In the future, outdoor small spacing will develop towards P2.5 or even P1.2, but there are still too many uncertain factors as to how large this market capacity will be in the future. In some special applications, such as advertising machines, bus stop signs, and advertising windows, P8, P6, and even P4 cannot meet the needs of such outdoor applications. To achieve a good interaction between content information and the audience, LED display companies need to make more efforts to develop and reserve products and technologies, and actively cultivate emerging markets. This is an important task that companies cannot ignore.
In addition, in recent years, LED display companies have focused on the research and development of energy-saving LED displays. Many display companies in the industry have launched ultra-low power consumption, energy-saving LED products, using high-efficiency and low-energy consumption chip design, saving about 50% of energy based on the power consumption of traditional displays. In the future, applying this energy-saving LED display to outdoor advertising will greatly reduce business operating costs. If this trend continues, LED outdoor advertising large screens will create a new ecological model.
In summary, if LED display companies want to seize the outdoor advertising market, in addition to exploring new small fields, they must strengthen independent innovation capabilities, apply more display technologies to outdoor large screens, and form more digital high-end outdoor advertising display effects. This is the fundamental way to deal with the development dilemma of outdoor large screens.
ANNA