How to Manage Digital Signage Across Multiple Locations from One Dashboard

Managing one digital display is easy. Managing twenty screens across five locations is a different challenge entirely — unless your platform is built for it. Multi-location management is where cloud-based digital signage earns its keep, turning what would otherwise be a logistical headache into a straightforward workflow.

Here’s how to approach multi-location signage management and get the most from a centralized platform like IntelDisplay.

The Multi-Location Challenge

When businesses expand their signage network beyond a single site, several problems surface quickly:

• Content consistency: Making sure every location shows the correct, current promotions and branding.
• Location-specific needs: Some locations need unique content (local events, regional products, different languages).
• Device monitoring: Knowing whether screens at a remote location are actually on and displaying the right content.
• Scaling operations: Adding screens at a new location without requiring an IT team on-site.
• Time zone handling: Ensuring schedules trigger at the right local time, not your headquarters’ time.

An on-premise system would require a server (or VPN access) at each location, separate management interfaces, and significant IT coordination. A cloud platform handles all of this through a single browser-based dashboard.

Centralized Content Library

With IntelDisplay, all your media lives in one cloud library accessible from the management console. Upload once, use everywhere. This means:

• Your marketing team uploads new campaign assets to one place.
• Those assets are available to assign to any display at any location.
• There’s no need to transfer files between servers or manually update individual sites.

The platform supports over 200 image formats and all major video codecs, with files up to 3 GB and chunked, resumable uploads. SHA256 deduplication ensures the same file isn’t stored multiple times, keeping your storage usage efficient across your entire display network.

Each display includes 5 GB of cloud storage, so a 20-display deployment has 100 GB available — more than enough for most content libraries.

Shared and Location-Specific Playlists

The key to multi-location management is a layered approach to playlists:

Global playlists contain brand-wide content — your logo loop, company announcements, chain-wide promotions. These are assigned to displays across all locations and managed centrally.

Location-specific playlists contain content unique to a particular site — local hours, regional promotions, location-specific wayfinding, or staff communications. Each location gets its own playlist that only its displays play.

Campaign playlists are temporary, high-priority playlists for promotions or events. Using IntelDisplay’s priority-based scheduling, you can overlay a campaign playlist on top of regular content for a specific date range. When the campaign ends, displays automatically revert to their standard playlists.

This layered structure lets you maintain brand consistency while accommodating local needs — without duplicating effort.

Adding a New Location

One of the biggest advantages of cloud-based signage is how easy it is to scale. Adding displays at a new location follows the same simple process as your first screen:

1. Mount the display and connect an Android TV device (or use an Android TV with a built-in app store).
2. Install the IntelDisplay player app.
3. Note the 6-character registration code that appears on screen.
4. Enter the code in the web console to register the display to your account.
5. Assign the appropriate playlists.

That’s it. No server setup at the new location, no VPN configuration, no IT deployment. The new screens appear in your dashboard alongside all your existing displays, ready to manage.

Real-Time Monitoring Across All Sites

When you can’t physically see every screen, monitoring becomes essential. IntelDisplay’s dashboard shows the status of every registered display in real time:

• Online/offline status: The player app sends a heartbeat every 30 seconds. If a display goes offline, you see it immediately — not days later when someone at the location happens to notice.
• Current content: See what each display is playing right now.
• Device information: Resolution, orientation, and connection details for each screen.

This visibility is what transforms multi-location signage from “hope it’s working” to “know it’s working.” If a screen at your downtown location goes dark at 2 PM, you know about it at 2 PM — and can troubleshoot remotely or alert on-site staff.

Scheduling Across Time Zones

For businesses with locations in different time zones, scheduling can be tricky. A “play from 9 AM to 5 PM” rule should mean 9 AM local time at each location, not 9 AM at headquarters.

IntelDisplay handles this correctly — each display follows its own local time for schedule evaluation. You create the schedule once, and it applies appropriately regardless of where the display is physically located. A restaurant chain with locations on both coasts can set lunch menu playlists to start at 11 AM, and each location will switch at its own 11 AM.

Practical Tips for Multi-Location Success

Standardize your naming conventions. Name displays and playlists consistently — e.g., “NYC-Lobby-Left,” “NYC-Lobby-Right,” “CHI-Window-1.” This makes it easy to find and manage specific screens as your network grows.

Use consistent hardware. When possible, use the same Android TV devices across locations. This simplifies troubleshooting and ensures uniform playback performance.

Assign a content calendar. Plan your content updates weekly or monthly. Knowing when campaigns start and end helps you prepare playlists and schedules in advance rather than scrambling last-minute.

Leverage priority scheduling. Set your default content at a low priority and layer campaigns on top at higher priority. This ensures displays always have something to show, even between campaigns.

Scale with Confidence

Whether you’re managing 5 screens or 500, the workflow stays the same: upload content, build playlists, set schedules, and monitor from one dashboard. IntelDisplay is built for this — every display gets all features at $5/display/month, with no per-location fees or enterprise upsells.

Get started with IntelDisplay and bring all your locations under one roof.