Proof of play is a record of what a screen actually showed: which item, on which screen, when it started and how long it stayed up. A schedule says what was meant to play; proof of play says what did, including the moments it didn't.
Who asks for it
- An advertiser, a landlord or a partner who bought time on your screens, and wants evidence the slot ran.
- Auditors and regulators, where a notice has to be shown, such as a rate, a safety instruction or an emergency message. A record that it played is the evidence a review asks for.
- Your own operations team. On a large fleet, the record shows content that failed to load, screens that went dark and schedules that put the wrong thing on the wrong screen.
What a good record contains
| Field | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| The item | What was shown, by name, not just a file ID |
| The screen | Which device showed it |
| Start time and duration | When it went up and how long it stayed |
| How it ended | Finished, skipped, or failed to load |
Gaps matter as much as entries. A screen that was off for an hour should show as an hour with nothing played, not hide behind the schedule.
What proof of play is not
A schedule is a plan. It cannot tell you that a video failed to decode or that the screen was unplugged.
A screenshot shows one moment. It proves what was on the screen at that instant and nothing about the hour around it.
An audit log records what people changed in the dashboard. It says nothing about what the screen played.
What to ask a signage vendor
- Is the record kept by the device itself, or inferred from the schedule?
- Does it record failures, not only successful plays?
- What happens to records while the device is offline?
- Can you export them, and in what format?
- How long are they kept?
Where Screenly stands
Screenly records proof of play on request, on any screen. Each record holds the item, how long it played and why it ended, including anything that failed to load, and a ScreenlyOS device keeps its records for up to 31 days through an outage before uploading them. It is off by default, the dashboard does not show the records yet, and the retention period is not published. The security and compliance answers keep this current.
