Delhi Metro plans for more advertising opportunities on its network

Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) plans to introduce more trains and rakes on its network by the month of October that in turn will also open up more OOH advertising opportunities – both inside and outside the trains. This was stated at the DMRC 23rd Foundation Day observed at the Metro Bhawan earlier this week. Pertinent to note that non-fare revenues account for some 20% of the total revenues of DMRC.

In an exclusive interview with Media4Growth, Anuj Dayal, Executive Director, Corporate Communications, DMRC, said: “A substantial part of the non-fare revenues comes from outdoor advertising. DMRC always had a vision to maximise its earnings from the non-fare revenue category and outdoor advertising has stood strong in achieving the DMRC targets”.

The outdoor advertising opportunities will increase further once DMRC launches its Phase III network. Will the advertising ratio on Metro trains increase? Confirming this, Dayal said, “Yes, new coaches and trains will have advertising displays both inside and outside”.

Advertising options like train wraps and semi-naming rights have added a new dimension to Delhi Metro. Dayal see this as a profitable venture both ways. As he explained, “Big brands always want to be associated with a successful venture and DMRC has become a part of CoMet group i.e. world's metro benchmarking groups. It means DMRC is counted amongst the largest size metros of the world. And vice-versa it is good for DMRC as well to have national names associated with it.”

Whilst analysing all the existing advertising formats, train wrap appears to the biggest draw with advertisers. Currently some 120 rakes are allotted for the wrap, however keeping in view the demand and profitability, DMRC will be increasing the allotted number of metro trains for the wrap, confirmed Dayal.

Currently, DMRC has 28 lakhs of average ridership every day, out of which Rajiv Chowk, the biggest injecting hub, sees 6 lakh travelers.