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Home » Viewpoints » ‘OOH can play a key role in Mumbai city beautification’

‘OOH can play a key role in Mumbai city beautification’

By Nimisha Shah - July 13, 2018

The Mumbai OOH landscape is at the threshold of sweeping changes. The Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCGM) circulated for review the Policy Guidelines on the Grant of Permission for Display of Sky-Signs and Advertisement under Section 328 & 328 A of MMC Act 1888. Nidhi Choudhari, Deputy Commissioner - Special, MCGM, talks about the corporation’s outlook on OOH advertising in the city

The draft advertisement policy that you have unveiled to the advertising industry and consumers at large for their feedback, has the makings to totally transform the outdoor advertising landscape of Mumbai. What key factors were kept in view while drafting such a comprehensive advertising policy?

In 2008, as directed by the Hon. Bombay High Court, Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation introduced a detailed, comprehensive advertising policy 10 years, that was valid until 2018. Now, when a new advertisement policy had to be drafted, we took into account the new and emerging segments of OOH advertising business in the city. That is why, instead of approving the continuation of the old policy, we drafted a new policy that covers all kinds of outdoor advertisements that fall within the jurisdiction of Greater Mumbai Municipal Corporation.

Among the many pioneering steps advocated in the draft policy, there is ample thrust on the promotion of digital OOH media in places like shopping malls, commercial buildings, multiplexes, and fuel stations. The license fee for digital media is also proposed to be kept at par with the fee on non-digital media. However, digital OOH media is still in its infancy in India. How do you plan to bring in robust private investments in this area in Mumbai?

After joining GHMC I observed that digital OOH in the city was still in infancy. However, I do believe that digital OOH advertising is the way to go and has a bearing on the city’s aesthetics. As such, digital OOH media has a strong market presence in the developed markets, and I strongly believe that it enhances the city’s aesthetics, much more than
the traditional, conventional hoarding media would. Hence, the move to extend the support for digital OOH.

Initially there were suggestions that we must levy a higher fee on digital OOH media via-a-vis the non-digital formats as being a relatively new area the industry would be vying for it. However, we felt that digital OOH which makes up a mere 5% of total OOH media in Mumbai, and in fact in other cities as well, will need an enabling policy environment for it grow. Therefore, we thought of giving a thrust to digital OOH media.

Moreover, in places like shopping malls, commercial buildings, multiplexes, and fuel stations, the traditional media no more looks good. It’s actually too old to be allowed to continue. Digital OOH will make the city look much more modern in terms of advertising. That’s why the license fee for digital OOH has been kept at par with those for non-digital media.

We hope and expect that private investments in digital OOH media will increase. I would really appreciate if the multiplexes could change their exterior media displaying movie advertisements to digital ones. All the fuel stations having hoardings too could shift to digital screens. The same could be done at the malls too.

But, would digital screens on the exteriors of malls, multiplexes and fuel stations raise the issue of traffic hazard?

That should not be an issue, in my view. Just that they should obtain an NOC for the same from traffic department.

As such, any kind of advertisement on the street affects the moving traffic, but in our policy it is clearly mentioned that the traffic NOC will be a one-time NOC. Until there is a change in façade of the building or the structure of the hoarding or the digital media, the traffic NOC once obtained will hold good.

Yes, the initial processes will be robust, and once the traffic NOC is in place, getting the digital advertisement permit will not be difficult at all, and the renewals too will be seamless.

The draft policy provides for 10% rebate on fee on media illuminated with solar energy in the first year. Do you think that rebates alone will be sufficient to get the media companies to invest in solar lighting?

We have been receiving suggestions from hoardings industry association that if the rebate is provided for only 1 year, the investments on solar lighting will also be done accordingly and that the solar lighting may become dysfunctional in due course. So, there is a suggestion that this rebate should be extended as long as the solar lighting is functional. We are evaluating the suggestion.

The idea is that solar lighting not only benefits the corporation but also the advertiser in terms of lesser expenditure on electricity consumed. So, hopefully they will all move to solar illuminated media.

The installation of CCTV on the media structures has also been given weightage. This isn’t anything to do with the security of hoarding or with the corporation itself. Instead, the CCTV footage can be shared with the disaster management department of the corporation and the police department when required. It is an initiative to ensure that the skyline of Mumbai is under the lens. This has been proposed keeping the larger security angle in view.

As you have mentioned, the draft policy states that permission will be granted for installation of CCTV cameras atop hoardings to be connected with the MCGM Disaster Control Room, and those media owning firms will be granted 10% rebate on advertisement fee for the 1st year. Is the industry warming up to this provision?

So far, yes. We have been getting positive response from the hoardings association and advertisers, and they have welcomed this move. They would also like to ensure that the Mumbai skyline is safe.

Through this policy, you have advocated that all outdoor media need to be of standard size and format. What steps would you advocate to ensure that the industry adheres to these provisions?

The industry itself maintains that not much research had gone into deciding on media size and formats in category A, B and C zones. We felt there was no logic in proposing different sizes in different wards and zones. That should indeed be left to the market. The GMMC as the regulator should be giving only the minimum and maximum cap and the advertiser should be able to do the business as per demands of the market and in any innovative way.

Our approach has more to do with the ease of doing business.

Mushrooming of unauthorised media has been the bane of the outdoor advertising industry in most markets across India. How do you plan to root out this problem in Mumbai?

Unauthorised media is the bane not just for Mumbai but for most other cities across the country. One reason for the problem could be that authorised media is expensive. With digital OOH media, that on any given day by multiple advertisers, we expect the cost of advertising to come down.

As a matter of fact, most of the unauthorised advertisements are put up by the political parties,; they need to exercise a certain restraint in this regard. Moreover, if the advertisement rates come down, the political parties should be able to spend on the OOH media from their respective budgets.

We will anyway sustain our action on unauthorised media. On a larger plane, it is always good to have self-regulation in place of regulation by the government.

To what extent can the OOH industry contribute to the beautification of Mumbai city landscape?

There is a lot that the industry can do to beautify the city. Many of the hoardings in the city are very old and need to be revamped. I can say that at least 70% of the hoarding structures are not aesthetic at all. They don’t look good. So, it is my appeal to the industry to convert them into modern unipole and bi-pole structures, and we will be more than happy to support that.

The industry’s ways of doing business is actually becoming the reason for the administrator to adopt a very constricted, restrained and tough policy.

Our policy is only to ensure that the city maintains its aesthetics. If they old structures can be converted into digital formats, that will enhance the aesthetics. We are living in the smart era, but the outdoor hoardings are not that smart.

Do you also see a role for the industry in the development of public utilities that can also serve as advertising media?

100%, especially when it comes to bus queue shelters where OOH firms have played a key role. We would appreciate even if the bus queue shelter media also get converted to digital bus shelter media. Community toilets too can be developed by the industry in the context of Swachh Bharat Abhiyan. The outdoor media can do a lot there.

While more traffic islands, gardens, etc., could be maintained by the industry, compounding of public lands can also be done and used as media.

Other street furniture like stalls on the streets, and POCs run by physically challenged people can also be developed as media.

It is seen that vegetable and fresh fruits hawkers and flower vendors occupy lot of space on the roads, giving the financial capital a rustic look. A vertical vending facility could be created with advertising media. The more we create authorised media, the rate of advertising will come down, thereby pushing out unauthorised media.

What would be your suggestion to the outdoor advertising industry in regard to the industry’s regulation and adherence to best practices?

Many a times we are at loggerheads with the industry and end up meeting in courts, which is not required. The Government’s objective is to introduce a policy that improves the face of the city. If there are any issues that are detrimental to the interests of the industry, they should give that to us in writing now.

Also, there are several other stakeholders and organisations other than MCGM that float tenders for media rights, and many of their sites are street facing. Any street facing media comes directly under section 328 of MMC Act, and it is the responsibility of the corporation to regulate that media and to charge license fees. But, those organisations generally don’t go through our policy before floating their tenders. That creates unnecessary red tapism. Hence, it is an appeal to all those organisations to make tenders applicable in Mumbai in compliance with our policy.

We want the city to look good and with that intention if we say that a distance of 100 m should be maintained between hoardings, and that a standard size for hoardings in any given place will look good.

 

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