Outdoor advertising in India may finally be coming of age. Figures in outdoor advertising are still guesstimates and are worth about Rs 1500 crore. Of the three major parties involved in the industry, media owners, ad agencies and clients, the ad agencies are happy with their creative freedom in the changing scenario, the clients are awaiting a replication of the advanced markets of Europe and the US, what with the money they are ready to splurge.
According to Sanaya Mehta of Selvel Vantage, a 64-year-old company that owns approximately 2.5 million sq. ft of outdoor advertising space across the country, the industry in India is undervalued. The big players are apprehensive of investing in expensive projects because the government is fickle towards them.
For example, about three years ago, the government limited the size of hoarding in Bangalore to 25'X12' while hoarding were totally banned in Delhi following a bus accident that was believed to have been caused by obstruction caused by hoarding Given such moves, Vantage is not too confident about investing in a Rs 2 crore light emitting diode (LED) display (approximately Rs 1.5 crore for the display and the rest for installation) for fear of the government changing it's mind, Mehta said.
Sudeep Ganguly, director of media owner Accord Advertising, concurs with her but he's all gaga about LEDs as they are considered the next big thing in outdoor advertising among the domestic players. His company has already fixed a deal for two Japanese Panasonic LED full-colour, high-resolution video screens, each 20'X10'.
According to Jignesh Sharma, the former CEO of Posterscope India, "Earlier, outdoors was considered only if there were some budget left over, but today brand custodians make it a point to keep an average of 8-10% of their budgets specifically for outdoor advertising."
