CHICAGO, IL -- (Marketwire) -- 11/20/08 -- The Strategy Institute and MediaTile, a world leading provider of cellular digital signage solutions, today announced that the majority of industry leaders and luminaries attending the Fourth Annual "Building Your Digital Signage Business" Summit agree that the industry will sustain strong growth in 2009 and 2010 despite the economic slowdown. More than 80% of speakers and panelists participating at the summit indicated that as vendors, agencies, integrators, service providers or network operators, they continue to see strong growth and demand for their digital signage products and services, and expressed a positive outlook on forecasts and pipelines relative to market conditions. Many believed this could be directly attributed to the increased need that advertisers and brands have in getting their messages directly in front of consumers at the point of sale, where and when it matters most, and in a medium that is both highly impactful and measureable, unlike TV, radio or print promotions.

The Summit, chaired by Keith Kelsen, Executive Chairman of The MediaTile Company, was held over two days in Chicago, IL. "Although aggregate brand spending may shrink in 2009, the digital signage industry is beginning to see a reallocation of that spend to this new medium," said Mr. Kelsen.

"I believe Retail Media is the next great form of mass media, but we are not going to get there by approaching this business as a land grab for real estate," said Richard Fisher, President, PRN. "Especially in today's economic climate, retailers are looking at retail media as a strategic tool to better serve their shoppers. If we can strike the right balance between 'serving' versus 'selling,' we will win on all fronts because customers who have satisfying shopping experiences engaging with retail media will become a magnet for advertisers."

"We expect that gross advertising spending in Q1 for digital out of home networks will be light, but we have already seen significant bookings for Q2 and for the remainder of 2009, as pent-up demand is met for this influential and growing medium, and as the economic situation stabilizes," said Peter Corrigan, President, Submedia & The University Network.

"In the beginning of 2009, overall advertising spending will be down, but as digital out of home network metrics become better understood, we believe brands will continue shifting dollars to this medium," said Patrick McSteen, Associate Media Director, Zenith Advertising.

"NSR is confident of its near term forecast for growth in digital signage sites and advertising revenues for the period of 2008 to 2010, even in lieu of the change in economic conditions that have occurred in the few months following the release of our latest digital signage report," said Christopher Baugh, President, Northern Sky Research (NSR). "NSR believes there is enough pent up demand in the market, and with digital signage positioning itself as a cost effective alternative to mainstream advertising, the stronger players will be able to pull the market through to the $1.5 billion Advertising Revenue mark by 2010."

These comments were also echoed by ABI Research, according to their recently published press release: "The digital signage market will more than double in size over the next few years, according to a new report from ABI Research. Driven by a desire by retailers and advertisers to better target consumers in the out-of-home media market, the overall market for digital signage software, hardware, installation and management services in the United States will grow from a $641 million market in 2008 to nearly $1.4 billion by 2013." The full release can be viewed here.

About The MediaTile Company

The World's First Provider of Cellular Digital Signage(SM)

MediaTile is a worldwide supplier of award-winning, all-in-one cellular digital signage and kiosk solutions that are remarkably easy-to-deploy and operate. Just add power to MediaTile Digital Sign in a Box(TM) or Kiosk in a Box(TM) systems and use the web-based MediaTile Broadcast Portal to manage and monitor your advertising, informational or interactive communications network. Backed by MediaTile best practices, a 99.9% uptime guarantee, end-to-end service and support, and a creative media team, your network will be up and running in record time, with record results. www.mediatile.com

About The Strategy Institute

The Strategy Institute is an independent, research-based organization which monitors and communicates changes and trends in business and business strategy. The objective of the Institute is to provide decision-makers with strategic business information and executive education to enhance their business judgment. www.strategyinstitute.com