Sub-screens: split one display into multiple zones

What are Sub-screens?

A Sub-screen is a virtual screen that lives on a single physical device. One player, one hardware output, but the device behaves as if it were several separate screens. Each sub-screen has its own content, schedule, overrides, and Proof-of-Play report. From the dashboard you manage them like fully independent screens, even though they share one device and one license.

This is different from a Split Screen design or template. Read the next section to understand the difference before you start.

Sub-screens vs the Split Screen app

Both features divide a display into regions, but they solve different problems.

The Split Screen app is a content item. You build a fixed layout with content baked in, save it as one item, and then push it to a screen or add it to a playlist. The split is part of the content. Changing what plays in a region means reopening the Split Screen editor and republishing.

Sub-screens is a property of the screen itself. Each zone behaves as its own screen in the dashboard. You push content to it, schedule it, apply overrides to it, and report on it independently, exactly like you would on any other paired screen. Nothing is baked in. You can swap the content of one zone without touching the others, and the schedule on zone A keeps running while you push a flash promotion to zone B.

When to use which:

  • Use the Split Screen app when the layout and content belong together as one piece, for example a designed dashboard with fixed widgets that you want to appear inside a playlist alongside full-screen items.
  • Use Sub-screens when each region of the display needs to be managed independently, with its own content, audience, schedule, or report.

When do you use Sub-screens?

Example 1: dual-sided LED billboard

A roadside LED billboard is mounted between two lanes of traffic, with one face pointing north and the other south. There is one player driving the entire LED surface. With Sub-screens you split the device into two zones, one per direction. The north zone runs a campaign aimed at drivers coming from one city; the south zone runs a different campaign for the opposite direction. Each side has its own schedule and its own report for the advertiser.

Example 2: airport departure display with paid advertising

An ultra-wide display in an airport hall shows live departure information on the left and rotating advertising on the right. Both run on one media player connected to one screen. The left zone plays the departures feed driven by a schedule; the right zone plays an advertising playlist that the airport sells to brands. Each brand gets a Proof-of-Play report covering only its own zone.

Other common scenarios:

  • A retail display combining product information next to a promotional video
  • A lobby screen mixing a welcome message with a live menu or news feed
  • A hotel display showing wayfinding on one side and a sponsor loop on the other

Activating Sub-screens

  1. Go to Screens in the sidebar.
  2. Click on the screen you want to split.
  3. Open Settings and scroll to Advanced.
  4. Under Render mode, choose Sub-screens.
  5. Click Configure sub-screens to open the configurator.

Configuring zones

In the configurator, choose a layout and define each zone.

Use a template

The Templates tab offers ready-made layouts:

  • 50/50 for two equal zones, perfect for two viewing directions
  • 70/30 for a main zone with a sidebar
  • Three-way split for three equal zones
  • Quarters for a four-zone grid
  • L-shape for an asymmetric layout
  • Picture-in-picture for a small zone overlaid on a larger one
  • Free to start with an empty canvas

Custom layout

In the Screens tab you can add zones manually, rename them, and drag the corners to adjust their size.

Canvas resolution

Set the canvas resolution using the toolbar at the top. Common presets are Full HD (1920x1080) landscape or portrait, and 4K (3840x2160). You can also enter custom dimensions for non-standard displays.

Click Save to confirm the configuration.

Pushing content to a sub-screen

Once your screen is split, each zone appears as its own row in the Screens list, indented under the parent device. From this moment on, a sub-screen behaves like any other screen.

  1. Open Files or Playlists.
  2. Select content and click Push to screen.
  3. In the target list, the sub-screens appear with their parent name as a prefix, for example "Reception Display - Screen 1".
  4. Choose the sub-screen and click Push.

You can push different content to different zones in the same operation by selecting multiple sub-screens. You can also push the same content to the parent device of a sub-screen and to a zone of another device in one go.

Schedules, overrides, and reports per zone

Because each sub-screen is a screen in its own right, every per-screen feature works at the zone level:

Schedules can be assigned to a sub-screen the same way as to a regular screen. Each zone follows its own schedule independently.

Temporary overrides can be targeted at a single zone. The other zones keep playing their normal content. This is useful for a flash promotion on one side of a billboard without interrupting the other side.

Proof-of-Play reports support zone selection. When creating a report, choose whether to track the entire device, a specific zone, or multiple zones across different devices. Each zone produces its own playback data, which is essential when different advertisers buy different zones on the same display.

Removing the split

To return a sub-screen device to normal whole-screen mode:

  1. Open the screen settings.
  2. Under Render mode, choose Standard.
  3. Click Save.

All zones are removed and the device resumes whole-screen playback on the next heartbeat.

Tip: Sub-screens do not count as extra licenses. The split is a configuration on a single device, so your billing is unchanged. Hardware resolution stays the same; the canvas dimensions only describe how the zones are laid out logically across that one physical output.

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