What Are the Different Types of Digital Signage?
A complete guide to the types of digital signage: menu boards, wayfinding, video walls, electronic signage boards, LED billboards, e-paper shelf labels and more.
"Digital signage" covers everything from a $30 stick behind a cafe TV to a stadium video wall costing six figures. When people ask what the different types are, they are usually asking one of two questions: what job can it do, or what hardware do I need.
This guide answers both.
Types by Purpose
1. Digital Menu Boards
Screens behind a counter showing items, prices and photos. The most common commercial use, and the easiest to justify: prices change without a reprint, and dayparting swaps breakfast for lunch automatically.
Used by: Restaurants, cafes, bars, juice bars, food trucks. Why it wins: A menu reprint costs real money each time. A screen changes for free. See digital menu boards and restaurant sales.
2. Promotional and Point-of-Sale Displays
Screens near the register or product that push a specific item, offer or upsell at the moment of decision.
Used by: Retail, salons, pharmacies, service counters. Why it wins: Decision-point placement. The customer is already buying.
3. Wayfinding and Directories
Interactive or static maps and building directories that help people find where they are going.
Used by: Malls, hospitals, offices, campuses, apartment buildings. Why it wins: Replaces printed directories that go out of date whenever a tenant moves.
4. Information and Announcement Boards
The classic electronic signage board: schedules, hours, notices, event listings, weather, transit times.
Used by: Schools, gyms, coworking spaces, apartment lobbies, clinics, places of worship. Why it wins: The information genuinely changes often, which is exactly when a screen beats print. See how to display announcements on a TV.
5. Workplace and Operations Dashboards
Live metrics on a wall: sales numbers, support queues, production status, safety days.
Used by: Offices, warehouses, call centers, factories. Why it wins: Shared context without a meeting.
6. Interactive Kiosks
Touchscreens for ordering, check-in, product lookup or self-service.
Used by: Quick service restaurants, clinics, banks, retail. Why it wins: Removes work from staff. Costs more, and needs hardened hardware.
7. Advertising and DOOH Screens
Screens that sell time to advertisers rather than promoting only the venue itself. This is where a screen stops being a cost and becomes revenue.
Used by: Cafes, bars, gyms, salons, lobbies, any venue with steady foot traffic. Why it wins: The venue is paid for attention it already had. With PiAds, screens that enable approved ad slots are free and the venue keeps 70% of cleared ad revenue, with every ad requiring venue approval. See what is DOOH advertising.
Types by Hardware
Standard LCD or LED Televisions
An ordinary consumer TV plus a media player. Around 300 to 400 nits, fine for any normal indoor space away from direct sun.
Cost: $250 to $500 for the panel, $30 for a player. Best for: The large majority of small business signage.
Commercial Displays
Built for 16 or 24 hour duty cycles, brighter panels, better warranties, often with a built-in player slot.
Cost: $700 to $3,000+. Best for: Screens running long hours, bright rooms, or anywhere failure is expensive.
High-Brightness and Window Displays
2,500 nits and up, designed to stay readable in sunlight, usually for storefront windows facing the street.
Cost: $2,000 to $8,000+. Best for: Retail windows, any screen fighting daylight.
Video Walls
Multiple thin-bezel panels tiled into one large canvas, driven by a controller.
Cost: $10,000+ typically. Best for: Lobbies, showrooms, stadiums, brand statements.
LED Billboards and Large-Format LED
Direct-view LED panels rather than LCD, scaling to enormous sizes and full outdoor brightness. This is the format behind most roadside digital billboards, and brightness at night is a frequent source of local complaints and regulation.
Cost: Tens of thousands and up. Best for: Outdoor advertising, large venues.
E-Paper and Electronic Shelf Labels
Low-power e-ink tags replacing printed shelf price cards. Walmart's rollout of digital shelf labels made these mainstream, with staff reporting large time savings on price changes and some shoppers voicing concern about how easily prices could change. Colour e-paper at large sizes is now shipping too.
Cost: A few dollars per label, plus infrastructure. Best for: Grocery and large-format retail with thousands of prices.
Transparent, Stretched and Flexible Displays
Specialty formats: transparent panels over merchandise, long thin "stretched" bars for shelf edges and transit, and flexible or curved LED. Samsung, LG and several Chinese manufacturers keep pushing these, along with glasses-free 3D.
Cost: Premium. Best for: Flagship retail and experiential spaces.
Touchscreen Kiosks
Free-standing or wall-mounted touch units with hardened glass.
Cost: $1,500 to $5,000+. Best for: Self-service and wayfinding.
The Media Player Layer
Whatever the panel, something has to drive it:
| Player type | Cost | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Streaming stick (Fire TV) | ~$30 | Cheapest reliable option for most venues |
| Android TV box | $40 to $80 | More storage and ports |
| Raspberry Pi | $60 to $100 | Scriptable, can control TV power over HDMI-CEC |
| Built-in smart TV | $0 | Convenient, limited, some platforms closed |
| Dedicated signage player | $150 to $500 | For large managed deployments |
Consumer streaming platforms differ in openness. Fire TV and Android TV allow signage apps to be installed and run. Roku is a closed platform without a general signage app path, so Roku TVs typically need a stick on a separate HDMI input.
Which Type Do You Actually Need?
For most local businesses reading this, the honest answer is the simplest one: a standard TV, a $30 player, and one of the purpose types above, usually a menu board, a promo loop, or an announcement board.
Start there. Move to commercial panels when hours or brightness demand it, and to video walls or LED when the screen itself is meant to be the statement.
FAQ
What are the different types of digital signage?
By purpose: menu boards, promotional displays, wayfinding, announcement boards, dashboards, interactive kiosks, and advertising or DOOH screens. By hardware: consumer TVs, commercial displays, high-brightness window screens, video walls, LED billboards, e-paper labels, specialty transparent or stretched panels, and touch kiosks.
What is an electronic signage board?
Any screen replacing a printed or letter board sign, usually an indoor panel showing announcements, prices or schedules updated remotely.
What is the difference between digital signage and DOOH?
Digital signage is the screen and software. DOOH is the advertising channel that buys time on those screens.
Not sure which fits your venue? Browse digital signage by industry.