Digital signage ROI is total benefits minus total costs, divided by total costs. Benefits are print and ad savings, staff time saved and extra sales. Costs are software, players and setup time. With the assumptions below, four screens at EUR 12 per screen per month pay back in under three months.
How do you calculate digital signage ROI?
Digital signage ROI is the net benefit of the screens divided by their total cost over the same period. The formula is ROI = (total benefits - total costs) / total costs, shown as a percentage. Payback time is the upfront cost divided by the monthly net benefit, where monthly net benefit is monthly benefits minus the monthly software fee.
Pick one period, usually 12 months, and count every cost and every benefit inside it. A benefit belongs in the calculation only when you can name how it will be measured.
What costs go into a digital signage ROI calculation?
| Cost item | Type | How to estimate it |
|---|---|---|
| Software subscription | Recurring | Screens x price per screen per month x 12. Screenbird costs EUR 12 per screen per month billed annually, excluding tax. |
| Media players | One time | One per screen unless the display has a built-in player. Use the price of the player you plan to buy. |
| Displays | One time | Zero when you reuse existing TVs. Otherwise the purchase price. |
| Mounting, cabling and power | One time | An installer quote, or your own time. |
| Setup time | One time | Hours for pairing screens and building the first content x hourly cost. |
| Content time | Recurring | Hours per month for updates x hourly cost. Subtract the hours you spend on printed signs today. |
| Extra storage or support | Recurring | Only when the plan you choose charges for them. |
Where do the returns on digital signage come from?
| Benefit | What changes | How to value it |
|---|---|---|
| Print and advertising savings | Posters, menu inserts and flyers are replaced by screen content. | Last 12 months of print spend x the share the screens replace. |
| Staff time | One person updates every screen from a dashboard instead of printing, cutting and hanging signs. | Hours saved per month x loaded hourly cost. |
| Extra sales | Promoted products and menu items sell more. | Extra units x margin per unit. Use margin, not revenue. |
| Energy | Screens switch off outside opening hours. | Display wattage x hours off x electricity price. |
| Paid ad slots | You sell screen time to local advertisers. | Slots sold x price per slot. Only count this if you sell slots. |
| Internal communication | Notices are seen without repeated emails or questions. | Hard to price. List it as a non-financial benefit unless you can measure it. |
Worked example: ROI of four screens in a small shop
The example is a shop with four screens, open 26 days a month. All four screens are existing TVs, so the display cost is zero. Every figure below is an assumption chosen for the example, not a market average or a research result. Replace each figure with your own.
| Input | Value | Basis |
|---|---|---|
| Screens | 4 | Existing TVs, no display purchase |
| Software | EUR 12 per screen per month, billed annually: EUR 576 per year | Screenbird list price, excluding tax |
| Media players | EUR 40 each, EUR 160 in total | Assumed price per player |
| Setup time | 6 hours at EUR 25: EUR 150 | Assumed |
| Print spend today | EUR 120 per month | Assumed |
| Print replaced by screens | 75 percent: EUR 90 per month saved | Assumed |
| Time spent on signs | 4 hours per month today, 1 hour per month with screens: 3 hours saved at EUR 25, EUR 75 per month | Assumed |
| Extra sales | 2 extra units per open day at EUR 2.50 margin: EUR 130 per month | Assumed, the least certain input |
Year-1 cost is EUR 576 for software, EUR 160 for players and EUR 150 for setup, EUR 886 in total. From year 2 the cost is the EUR 576 software fee. Monthly benefits are EUR 165 from print and time alone (EUR 90 plus EUR 75), or EUR 295 when the extra sales are included.
| Result | Print and time only | Including extra sales |
|---|---|---|
| Annual benefits | EUR 1,980 | EUR 3,540 |
| Year-1 cost | EUR 886 | EUR 886 |
| Year-1 net benefit | EUR 1,094 | EUR 2,654 |
| Year-1 ROI | 123 percent | 300 percent |
| Year-2 ROI (cost EUR 576) | 244 percent | 515 percent |
| Payback time | About 2.6 months | About 1.3 months |
With these assumptions, the four screens pay back in under three months from print and staff-time savings alone. Extra sales are the least certain input, so the first column is the safer planning figure.
The break-even point for sales is also useful. If print and time savings were zero, the screens would need about 355 extra sales at EUR 2.50 margin to cover the year-1 cost of EUR 886, or about 1.1 extra sales per open day over 312 open days. In year 2 the figure falls to about 231 extra sales, or 0.7 per open day.
The example shows the method, not a result you should expect. Your print spend, hourly cost, margin and number of screens decide the outcome. The cost per screen calculator runs the cost side with your own figures and shows how much extra revenue the screens must bring in to pay for themselves.
How to measure digital signage ROI after launch
- Record a baseline first. Note three months of print spend, the hours spent on signs and the unit sales of the products you plan to promote, before the screens go live.
- Confirm that content played. A proof of play report lists what played on which screen and when, so a missing campaign is a playback problem and not a content problem.
- Compare sales. Compare promoted-item sales before and after launch, or compare a location with screens against a similar location without. Adjust for season and price changes.
- Track responses. Put a QR code or an offer code on screen and count how often it is used at the till or online.
- Log staff time. Ask the person who updates the signs to log hours for one month, and compare with the baseline.
- Review uptime. Check the share of opening hours in which screens actually played content.
A before-and-after comparison shows correlation, not proof. Weather, season, price changes and promotions also move sales, so use a comparison group when you can.
Which mistakes make digital signage ROI look better than it is?
- Counting revenue instead of margin. An extra EUR 10 sale with EUR 2.50 margin adds EUR 2.50 to the benefit.
- Ignoring content time. Screens need fresh content, and the hours spent on it are a cost.
- Crediting the screen with every sale. Count only the extra units compared with the baseline.
- Mixing periods. Put one-time costs and monthly benefits on the same 12-month timeline.
- Including benefits nobody will measure. If you cannot name the measurement, leave the benefit out.
How Screenbird handles this
Screenbird has one plan with every feature: EUR 12 per screen per month billed annually, or EUR 15 billed monthly, excluding tax. That makes the software line of the ROI formula a single multiplication, and the current figures are on the Screenbird pricing page. Screenbird includes 10 GB of storage per screen.
Screenbird covers the measurement step with proof of play reports that show what played on each screen. The staff-time saving comes from scheduling playlists for digital signage, where one update reaches all assigned screens at the set times. Screenbird's designer with 250+ templates keeps content time low. The 7-day free trial needs a credit card, and cancelling within 7 days means no charge.
Digital signage ROI: frequently asked questions
What is a good ROI for digital signage?
No single benchmark applies to every business. Judge digital signage by payback time against your own costs: the worked example above pays back in under three months on its stated assumptions, and your figures will differ.
How long does digital signage take to pay back?
Digital signage payback time is the upfront cost divided by the monthly net benefit. In the four-screen example above it is about 2.6 months from print and time savings, and about 1.3 months when extra sales are included.
How do you measure the sales effect of digital signage?
Digital signage sales effect is measured by comparing unit sales of promoted products before and after launch, or against a similar location without screens. Offer codes and QR codes on screen add a direct count of responses.
Is digital signage ROI only about sales?
Digital signage ROI also includes print and advertising savings, staff time saved on updating signs, and lower energy use when screens switch off. Internal communication benefits are real but hard to price.
How much does digital signage software cost per screen?
Digital signage software pricing depends on the vendor and the billing basis. Screenbird costs EUR 12 per screen per month billed annually or EUR 15 billed monthly, excluding tax.
Do I need to buy new displays for digital signage?
Digital signage usually does not need new displays. A display with an HDMI input can run a small media player, which removes the display purchase from the cost side of the ROI calculation.
Related guides
Sources: Screenbird pricing · Return on investment (definition)