ASCI regulations not enough to curb betting ads on OOH or digital: Praveen Vadhera, IOAA

Despite strict regulations, there has been a steep rise in the number of illegal betting/gambling ads in the OOH medium.

Praveen Vadhera, CEO of the Indian Outdoor Advertising Association (IOAA) said, “The entire segment is very visible on digital as well, not just OOH. And they have taken some very creative ways to bypass some of the regulations that have been brought in by the Advertising Standards Council of India ( ASCI ) and even by international regulation bodies.”

He states that there is a larger issue, which requires a larger intervention from the government's end. It is not enough for ASCI to come down and impose regulations against these companies because it has only become effective on TV as far as ASCI ’s regulations are concerned.

Hence, it requires a larger intervention from the regulatory authorities than just individual mediums putting bans on it, according to Vadhera.

Recently, RMG players also met with officials from the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) to request intervention against the widespread OOH gambling ads in cities.

On Roadstar, he shared that there is a substantial headway in terms of adoption. "AAAI is more or less on board. There are a couple of agencies we just met who are in the final stages of adopting it," he revealed.

IOAA has started going to the brands and clients as well, showcasing the entire tool to them. It is expected that there is momentum and Roadstar will probably take off by this year-end or first quarter of next year.

“Even smaller agencies are adopting it; like we have Optitalk who is using it extensively. So most of the agencies which kind of matter or are on the ascent are using it fairly well,” he added.

The only point to keep in mind is that adoption or change of any common currency with any media is always tough and that is true for this particular aspect as well.

Vadhera added, “So for example, shifting from socio-economic classification to NCCS format, the media also took about 4-5 years. There is always a kind of resistance, skepticism on change and that is true for even this particular tool.”

Globally there are systems in order which actually measure the ROI and that's why the brands are willing to invest in OOH. Right now, technology is an expensive proposition in India but the clients are not very sure if they are ready to invest that amount of money.

“We are hoping when Roadstar is implemented and when it evolves, clients will see those numbers in terms of reach and frequency which compete with even a medium like television. Then, there will be higher spending and better adoption of technology. My expectation is that it will kind of increase both the portfolio of brand spending as well as the amount the brands are spending,” he said.

Further, speaking about the learnings from the Ghatkopar billboard incident, Vadhera has seen that they have increased focus on safety. They are looking at structural stability more closely on a more continuous basis than just a one-time exercise.

He mentioned, “The other aspect is that most of the media owners have taken third-party insurance as well. Almost every media owner in Bombay and almost every site is now covered under third party insurance. So in case any incident happens, the insurance is going to cover the damage payouts. So steps like these have been taken with increased focus on safety.”

The BMC policy is in abeyance right now because of the elections and it will only come into play after elections. During elections, the Model Code of Conduct comes into operation and they can't implement any policy decisions.

“The state government has asked BMC to keep it in abeyance till the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) commission report comes in,” he shared.

At a holistic level, the only way that illegal holdings can be reduced is by solving the fragmentation of the media. At low entry level costs there are bound to be a certain amount of illegal structures and non-authorised structures which are going to come up but there is no national level policy in place.

Vadhera explained, “There are grey areas everywhere which are taken advantage of by some elements within the industry. So as a first step, what we try to do is put together a database of structures, illegal structures which are being authorised or allotted or tendered by any of the regularised or recognised bodies.”

Since the largest spends are in top 5-6 metros and add also about 45% between Delhi and Bombay, the intent of IOAA is to first put the database together on these two so brands, clients and agencies know which ones are illegal sites and which are the sites that they can take on board.

Towards the end, Vadhera spoke about the festive season for OOH industry. He said, “The festive season is looking good. There's an estimated 15-18% rise in ad spends, but that's a little premature to say because the exact numbers will only come to us by the end of November.”

There is a very large surge of local retail as well which occupies a larger part this year. At the national level there are the standard brands that we see which includes, automobile and has a very large share in this. Jewellery, Consumer durables, Apparel have a large share too. E-commerce too has been fairly heavy.