OOH seems to be finding favour with more and more advertisers and believers are using it more intensively now. This is reflected in the 13% growth rate OOH achieved in 2023 which is substantially higher than that achieved by TV and Print, the two dominant mediums amongst traditional media.

The Pitch Madison Advertising Report (PMAR) 2024, released today, highlighted that Out of Home (OOH) AdEx has reached a figure of Rs. 4,140 crore, a 13% increase over the previous year and has crossed its pre-Covid level Rs. 3,495 crore. In 2021, OOH’s share in total traditional AdEx stood at 3%, that amounted to Rs 2,178 crore. This touched Rs 3,666 crore in 2022 which was 4% of the share and is now at Rs 4,140 crore.

The Covid crash in 2020 saw OOH understandably collapse from Rs. 3,495 crore in 2019 to Rs. 1,292 in 2020. Since 2022, OOH has maintained its Share of 4%, similar to share of OOH in global AdEx.

PMAR attributed this growth in OOH to the increasing number of airports and metro rails, starting operations in many Tier-1 and Tier-2 cities, upgrading of many outdoor sites and bus shelters and rapid expansion of large digital screens, replacing static sites in prime localities.

This development in infrastructure along with rapid advances in technology have enabled the use of Anamorphic, 3D and CGI, increasing the impact of OOH. All these developments have also enabled OOH to be recognized as a medium that can lend status and prestige to a brand. The ability of OOH to tell a story through video which was earlier the exclusive domain of TV is also an attractive proposition for advertisers.

A quarter-wise analysis also throws up an interesting trend. In the past there have been large variations from quarter to quarter and Q2 and Q3 were much softer with AdEx peaking in Q4. In 2022, we saw a more uniform spend across quarters and this trend has continued in 2023. This augurs well for site owners who can now get consistent occupancy right through the year.

Looking at OOH AdEx by category, Real Estate and Construction Materials maintained its lead, with a 19% Share. FMCG which has moved up in Share to 13% in 2022 rolled back to a 11% Share. Organized Retail maintained its 13% Share. Telecom, which at one time was the largest contributor to OOH ADEX now has a Share of just 5%.

The top 4 categories Real Estate, Retail, FMCG and BFSI dominate ADEX with a 52% Share.

Going forward

The report states that more and more advertisers and brands are using Outdoor and getting convinced about the impact it creates on the consumer’s mind. Outdoor is also another favourite medium of politicians and political parties and the upcoming parliamentary elections should see some intense usage of Outdoor by all Political Parties.

The availability of digital screens both on roads and indoors in hotels, clubs, restaurants, commercial and residential building foyers, etc. has made more and more advertisers who earlier believed that it was not a premium, image-building medium to change their minds.

Factoring the above, PMAR estimated a further 15% growth in Outdoor, taking Outdoor Share to 4.3%. Outdoor’s Share of the global market is projected to be 3.4%.  Outdoor in India has begun to be over-indexed. Large digital format video screens are expected to continue to come up aggressively in prominent areas in cities across India.

And the value should go up from Rs 4,140 crore in 2023 to Rs 4,761 crore in 2024.

Download the Pitch Madison Advertising Report 2024 here.