Playlists
An ordered list of items, each with its own duration. Reorder by dragging. A playlist can be used on one screen or on every screen carrying a tag, which is what keeps a network consistent.
Digital signage content management system and digital signage CMS for multi-site screen networks
A digital signage content management system (CMS) is the software where media is uploaded, playlists and templates are built, schedules are set and approvals are given before anything reaches a screen. Displayer is a cloud CMS that runs the TVs you already own through their browser, gives every team member a login at no extra cost, and records what each screen played. It costs 19 USD per active screen monthly or 9 USD on the yearly rate, so 25 screens are 2,700 USD a year on Essential.
Build a screen in the CMS right here, without an account
The screen builder below is the same editor you get in the panel: pick a venue, type the messages, choose a layout and an orientation, and watch the screen run its loop on a weekly schedule.
Weekly schedule
- Venue: restaurant, retail store, clinic, gym, office, school, plant floor, church, senior living or real estate office
- Orientation: landscape 16:9 or portrait 9:16
- Layout: full bleed, main plus sidebar, or a menu board in three columns
- Content: your business name and three short lines, prefilled for the venue you picked
The schedule strip underneath shows the same playlist placed on a weekly grid, which is exactly what the schedule view does inside the product.
The media library
- Images, video, web pages, menu boards, notices and tickers in one library
- Folders and tags, so a regional team finds its own material without scrolling the network
- Version history on every item, with who uploaded it and when
- Replace in place: swap a file and every playlist using it updates at the next check in
- Transcoding to the format a screen can play, including 4K on the Professional plan and above
Templates
Layout zones hold your type and your colours: a main area, a sidebar, a ticker and a clock. Build the template once, and every location fills it with its own content without rebuilding the design. A price list, a menu board and a notice board are all templates with different zones.
Content that updates itself
A web page item shows a live dashboard, a menu system or an internal page as it is, so the screen follows the source instead of following someone remembering to re-export a picture.
Roles, approvals and locations
| Role | Can do | Cannot do |
|---|---|---|
| Viewer | See screens, playlists, schedules and reports | Change anything |
| Editor | Upload media, build playlists, draft schedules | Publish to a group that requires approval |
| Approver | Everything an editor does, plus approve and publish | Change billing or workspace settings |
| Admin | Everything, including roles, billing and integrations | Nothing is hidden from an admin |
Every role can be scoped to a location or a group, so a store manager works on their own screens and cannot reach the rest of the network. A group can require approval, which puts a second pair of eyes between a draft and 40 walls.
Most signage CMS products charge per user or cap users by plan, which is why networks end up sharing one login and losing track of who published what. Team members are free on every Displayer plan, so each person has their own account and the publish history means something.
Scheduling from the same place
A weekly grid covers the ordinary week. Dayparts split the trading day, so breakfast, lunch and evening differ. Dated campaigns sit on top for the weeks they run and step aside afterwards, returning the screen to its normal week without anyone tidying up.
Schedules attach to tags, not to individual devices. Tag screens by region, brand or venue type, and a campaign for the Northeast reaches every screen carrying that tag, including the one a new store pairs next month.
An audit trail, not a guess
Every publish is recorded with the person, the time and the screens it reached. On the Network plan that record is a full audit log. Paired with proof of play, it closes the loop: who sent it, when it went, and what the screen actually drew.
A playback log says the CMS told the screen to play an item. A timestamped screenshot shows the item on the screen. When a franchisor, an advertiser or a compliance reviewer asks what was on the wall on a given day, the screenshot answers and the log does not.
What to check before you buy a digital signage CMS
Eight things separate one CMS from another once you are past the demo. The right hand column shows where each sits in Displayer.
| What to check | Why it matters | In Displayer |
|---|---|---|
| Player requirement | A proprietary box per screen can cost more than the software | Browser of the TV you own, every plan |
| User pricing | Per seat fees push teams into shared logins | Unlimited team members, every plan |
| Offline playback | A dropped line should not blank the screen | Every plan |
| Groups and tags | One edit must reach many sites | Professional |
| Roles and approval | Stops a local edit reaching the whole network | Professional |
| Proof of play | Evidence for advertisers, franchisors and audits | Professional, with screenshots |
| SSO and audit log | Required by most corporate IT reviews | Network |
| API and webhooks | Lets other systems drive the screens | Network |
Cloud CMS, on-premises CMS or a hardware vendor's CMS
| Cloud CMS | On-premises CMS | Hardware vendor's CMS | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Examples | Displayer, Yodeck, OptiSigns, ScreenCloud | Self-hosted Xibo, Samsung MagicINFO server | BrightSign with its authoring tools |
| Server to run | None | Yours, with patching and backups | None or a vendor cloud |
| Screens it drives | Any the vendor supports | Any the vendor supports, MagicINFO only Samsung | That vendor's players only |
| Upfront cost | None | Server, licenses and setup time | A player per screen |
| Suits | Multi-site networks on ordinary internet | Closed networks with no outbound access | 8K, video walls and kiosks |
Self-hosting is cheaper on paper and it is a fair choice when a team already runs servers. Our Xibo pricing and Samsung MagicINFO pricing breakdowns put numbers on the server, the licenses and the IT time. For everyone else, cloud based digital signage software removes the server from the plan.
What the CMS costs
Billed per active screen, from three screens. No charge per user, per location or per gigabyte of ordinary media.
| Screens | Essential yearly | Professional yearly | Network yearly |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10 | 1,080 USD | 1,680 USD | 2,880 USD |
| 25 | 2,700 USD | 4,200 USD | 7,200 USD |
| 100 | 10,800 USD | 16,800 USD | 28,800 USD |
Essential covers the media library, playlists, templates, the weekly schedule and email alerts. Professional adds groups and locations, dayparts, dated campaigns, roles, approvals and proof of play with screenshots. Network adds SSO, the audit log, the API and an SLA. Monthly billing is 19, 29 and 49 USD per screen, and the pricing page lists every feature by plan.
What is a digital signage content management system?
A digital signage content management system is the software where you upload media, build playlists and templates, set schedules and publish to screens. It also decides who may publish and keeps a record of what went out. The player on each screen only carries out what the CMS sends.
How much does a digital signage CMS cost?
Hosted digital signage CMS software runs from about 8 to 30 USD per screen per month across the vendors that publish prices. Displayer is 19 USD monthly or 9 USD on the yearly rate, so 25 screens cost 2,700 USD a year on Essential and 4,200 USD on Professional, with every team member included.
What is the best CMS for digital signage?
The best digital signage CMS is the one that fits how many people publish and what you must prove afterwards. One site with one editor is well served by the cheapest tool. A network with regional editors, approvals and an advertiser or auditor asking what played needs roles, groups and proof of play.
Is a cloud CMS or an on-premises CMS better for digital signage?
A cloud CMS suits most networks, because there is no server to patch and screens at any site reach it over ordinary internet. An on-premises CMS fits sites that cannot allow outbound connections at all. It adds a server, backups and security updates to your own IT workload.
Can several people manage content without sharing one login?
Yes. Every team member has their own login on every Displayer plan at no extra cost. On Professional, roles limit each person to viewing, editing or approving, and a role can be scoped to one location so a store manager cannot reach the rest of the network.
Can content be approved before it reaches the screens?
Yes. On Professional a group of screens can require approval, so an editor's draft waits for an approver before it publishes. The publish is recorded with the person, the time and the screens it reached, which is what a brand or compliance team usually asks for.
Does a digital signage CMS work with the screens we already have?
With Displayer, yes. The player is a web page, so any smart TV or commercial display with a browser pairs with a six digit code, and older TVs take a 30 to 100 USD Android, Chrome or Windows device. Many CMS products instead require their own player on each screen.
Can a digital signage CMS show live data from other systems?
Yes. A web page item shows a dashboard, a menu page or an internal page on the screen exactly as it is, so the screen follows the source system. On the Network plan the API and webhooks let a developer push values into the CMS directly.
Put your content somewhere it can be governed
Upload once, schedule everywhere, approve before it lands, and read what played. That is the whole content management system in one sentence.