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Nirmal D. Menon

Mumbai , Sept. 14

MEDIA planners in need of information on the effectiveness of outdoor media can breathe a sigh of relief, with the Media Research Users Council (MRUC), the governing body of Indian Readership Survey, planning to set up a research product to measure the effectiveness of outdoor media.

Mr N. P. Satyamurthy, Director General, MRUC, told Business Line, "Outdoor medium is a completely disorganised medium, and buying, and spending here is largely based on the gut feel; therefore, we felt there was a need to introduce science into this medium."

MRUC will complete the ongoing due-diligence on this project by mid-October and will kick off fieldwork by November. The first-ever audience research report on outdoor media will roll out by the first quarter of 2005, Mr Satyamurthy said.

As most outdoor advertising avenues are part of public utility services, little information is shared through Government agencies, according to a source. This is despite having records of these media such as bus tickets issued on a particular route or the number of railway season-ticket holders between two stations.

"There is an urgent need to organise the out-of-home medium before it draws major media spenders to exploit the opportunities to the fullest, and this can be achieved if there is a certain level of audit and feedback is introduced in this medium," said a spokesperson of a leading outdoor advertising agency based in Mumbai.

The MRUC audience research report on outdoors in its initial phase will cover the top 12 cities of the country and will study key media vehicles such as hoardings and bus shelters. The survey will also cover public utility outlets in Delhi.

The survey in outdoor media has to be comparable to the metrics of traditional media such as print and television, Mr Satyamurthy said. He also said the research will study variables such as reach, frequency, delivery of each vehicle, combinations of various outdoor vehicles and optimising funds in them.

On the issue of ad tampering, a disadvantage most advertising agencies dealing in outdoor media face, Mr Satyamurthy said MRUC has considered it and will monitor sites across its sample cities every month once the tracking phase of the project starts.

The audience research report will also reveal key insights such as profile of the media consumer and the efficiency of the medium in question, he said.

According to a seminar held recently on the trends in out-of-home advertising by Primesite, the outdoor division of Mudra Communications, it was revealed that the outdoor medium today constitutes 10 per cent of the media mix, up from around three per cent five years ago.

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