Playlists & Playback

A playlist is a collection of media that plays in sequence on your screens.

Instead of displaying a single image or video, you can combine multiple content types into one continuous presentation. For example, a playlist might include promotional videos, product images, social media feeds, company announcements and weather updates.

Playlists make it easy to keep your content fresh whilst reducing the amount of day-to-day management required.

Playlists allow you to display more than one message without constantly updating your screens.

Rather than replacing content every time you have something new to promote, you can simply add it to an existing playlist or create a new one.

They're ideal for:

• Retail promotions
• Digital menu boards
• Corporate communications
• Reception displays
• Waiting areas
• Educational environments
• Healthcare facilities

Playlists also help ensure your content is displayed in a consistent and professional manner.

Imagine supports a wide range of media within the same playlist.

This includes:

• Images
• Videos
• PDF documents
• Web pages
• RSS feeds
• Weather widgets
• Scrolling tickers
• Live dashboards

This flexibility allows you to create dynamic, engaging digital signage experiences from a single playlist.

Absolutely.

One of the strengths of Imagine is its ability to combine different media types within a single playlist.

For example, you could display:

• A promotional video
• Product images
• A company announcement
• A weather widget
• A scrolling news ticker

Everything plays together seamlessly, giving your audience a varied and engaging viewing experience.

Yes.

Every item within a playlist can have its own display duration.

For example:

• Image – 10 seconds
• Promotion – 15 seconds
• Company announcement – 8 seconds
• Video – Plays until complete

This gives you complete control over how long each message remains on screen.

Yes.

By default, videos play from beginning to end before the playlist moves to the next item.

This ensures your audience sees the complete message without the video being cut short.

Of course.

Creating and editing playlists is simple.

You can reorder content at any time using drag-and-drop, allowing you to quickly change the sequence without rebuilding the playlist.

This makes it easy to prioritise new promotions or refresh existing campaigns.

Yes.

Duplicating playlists is a great way to save time.

Rather than creating a new playlist from scratch, simply duplicate an existing one and make the necessary changes.

This is particularly useful for seasonal promotions, regional campaigns or similar content across multiple locations.

Absolutely.

Playlists can be updated whenever you need them.

You can:

• Add new media
• Remove existing content
• Change the playback order
• Adjust display durations
• Replace outdated promotions

Once you've saved your changes, simply republish the playlist and the updated version will be distributed to your selected screens.

Yes.

Every screen can have its own unique playlist.

For example:

• Reception screens can welcome visitors.
• Retail displays can promote current offers.
• Restaurants can display menus.
• Staff rooms can show internal communications.

This flexibility allows each screen to display content that's relevant to its audience.

Yes.

Playlists can be scheduled just like individual media.

You can choose:

• Start dates
• End dates
• Times of day
• Days of the week
• Specific screen groups

Once scheduled, Imagine automatically manages the playback for you.

Absolutely.

If you're managing multiple locations, screen groups or tags make deployment much simpler.

Instead of assigning a playlist to every screen individually, you can publish it to an entire region, department or group with a single click.

Yes.

Before publishing, you can review your playlist to ensure the content, playback order and durations are correct.

This provides peace of mind and helps avoid mistakes before your content goes live.

Yes.

Many organisations create dedicated playlists for individual stores, departments or regions.

For example, a national retailer may have:

• National promotions
• Regional promotions
• Store-specific campaigns
• Internal staff communications

This allows every location to display content that's relevant to its customers whilst still maintaining overall brand consistency.

Imagine checks that content has been successfully downloaded before playback begins.

If a particular file becomes unavailable or has been removed, the player continues with the remaining content in the playlist, helping to ensure uninterrupted playback.

Our monitoring tools also make it easy to identify and resolve any issues quickly.

Absolutely.

Many customers create dedicated playlists for breakfast, lunch and dinner menus, or morning, afternoon and evening promotions.

Combined with Imagine's scheduling engine, the correct playlist is displayed automatically at the appropriate time, without any manual intervention.

Yes.

Once you've created a playlist, it becomes part of your content library and can be reused as often as you like.

This saves time when running recurring promotions, annual campaigns or content that needs to be displayed across multiple locations.

There's no fixed rule. Whether your playlist contains five items or hundreds, Imagine has been designed to manage it efficiently.

For the best viewer experience, we generally recommend keeping playlists concise and ensuring each piece of content adds value.

There's no one-size-fits-all answer, but shorter playlists generally perform better.

As a guide:

• Reception areas: 2–5 minutes
• Retail promotions: 3–6 minutes
• Waiting rooms: 5–10 minutes
• Corporate communications: 3–8 minutes
• Digital menu boards: Keep playlists short and easy to read

The ideal length depends on how long your audience is likely to be looking at the screen. A customer waiting in a queue has very different viewing habits to someone walking past a shop window.

Yes.

Imagine allows you to quickly identify which screens or screen groups a playlist has been assigned to.

This makes it much easier to manage larger networks, especially when updating or replacing content that's used across multiple locations.

Yes you can. We have an attractive template that shows all media items, durations, and attributes that can be emailed, downloaded or exported in CSV format.