Be a nitwit (the good kind)
Your outdoor advertising success can be massively affected by the brightness of your screens. If you put into your window a screen designed for indoor use - like your living-room television - your content may appear washed out or unprofessional.
But a screen designed for out-of-home usage can communicate true professionalism and serve as a rich marketing channel. It depends on a few factors, but most importantly nits, a measurement of a screen's brightness.
What are Nits?
A nit of a screens "candlepower" - or candelas - but taking into account the screen's size.
The formula is
nit = (cd/m²).
or one nit per meter squared. Put simply - if a 1000-nit screen were to suddenly double in size it would need to twice the candlepower to maintain the same level of brightness.
How do Nits relate to Digital Signage?
Because ambient light washes out an image, a display must emit enough light of its own to fight back.
Indoors, 300 nits is plenty to start with. Office lights won't wash out your screen and it will help make your messaging more apparent.
In a sun-drenched shop window you need more - 600 nits or higher will help overpower daylight.
Outdoor, all-weather kiosks often reach 2,000 nits or more, using high-output LED backlights and aggressive local dimming.
So match the nit rating to the lighting conditions: With enough nits your content keeps its intended color, contrast, and impact. The good news it this might be cheaper than you think!
How to use a screen designed for indoor use in a window?
Say you already bought a screen, put it in the window, and come 3pm it looks washed out. You're now realizing you bought the wrong screen - what can youdo.
Schedule content - ensure that during daytime hours the text and images are less detailed and require less reading. Ensure the colors have better contrast during these times.
Schedule brightness - unsure that dynamic dimming/powersave is turned off, and rather ensure that your screens have the maximum brightness during the daytime hours.
Angle better - this might require some trial and error but you can probably arrange your window to prevent washout. For example many screens allow a 30-degree downward tilt to prevent avoid sun - this is especially impactful in portrait mode. But if the screen is fixed in landscape, still consider using a swivel or bias toward the light source.
On the cheap - Add a matte film like 3Ms antiglare filters or even apply this to your window
If your current screen is still too old to work with these issues - just get a new one! With prices dropping you should be able to replace your display for 900 dollars or less, and have a model suitable for window usage.
And then you should be able to move your original screen inside where it will help champion your branding.