Leading outdoor advertising company Laqshya Media Group said ad spends by brands on billboards have seen a strong revival post the third pandemic wave and the industry is expected to see growth over pre-pandemic levels. The company, which completed 25 years since inception, said it is betting big on technology innovations for future growth. 

Talking about the industry growth, Atul Shrivastava, Group CEO and ED, Laqshya Media Group, said, “The outdoor advertising segment (out of home) was estimated at ₹5,000 crore in 2019. The industry saw a decline in revenues by almost 50 per cent due to the impact of the pandemic. But since March, we are seeing brand spends grow again on billboards. We believe the industry will not only get back to the pre-pandemic levels but see growth over pre-pandemic levels in this fiscal.”

Laqshya Media Group raked in revenues of about ₹500 crore in 2019. “We believe that in this fiscal year we will see a growth of 15-20 per cent over pre-pandemic levels. We began witnessing a revival in March post the third pandemic wave and April is also looking promising with consumer mobility back in full swing,” he added.

Areas of focus

The company said it is focusing sharply on technology-led innovations as well as offering data to brands in terms of reach for their outdoor ad campaigns. “Technological innovations will be a key pillar of future growth for us and we have launched a division called Inventech. It has created 10-12 technology-based innovations which we are offering to our clients now,” he added.

Recently, the company installed a hyper-realistic and immersive 3D Anamorphic installation for Tanishq in Mumbai, which is one of the first of its kind digital out-of-home billboards commonly seen in markets such as US, UK, South Korea, among others.

“One of the key challenges in the past has been the lack of data in terms of consumer reach for brands for outdoor ad campaigns. We have developed a tool that offers brands gross reach and net reach of their OOH campaigns. In addition, we also have set up our digital and experiential marketing verticals. Some of these new divisions will be key for future growth,” Shrivastav said.

While the top cities contribute a larger chunk of the revenues for the OOH advertising segment, the tier-1 and tier-2 markets are seeing a surge in terms of ad rates and spends. “With the development of highways and airports, we expect to see strong growth for the outdoor advertising segment to also come from tier-1 and tier-2 markets. In addition, brand spends are also growing in rural regions on billboards,” he added.

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