‘Young, tech-oriented professionals will ride the next OOH growth wave’

As the economy opens in the course of Unlock 5.0 and businesses across the spectrum take nascent steps to re-establish the connect with consumers, especially with the onset of the festive season, Indian OOH is expectantly waiting for the tide to turn in its favour. As such, roadside media is attracting brand advertising campaigns. The moot question is, will transit media get back on the rails in H2. Sharing this thoughts on the current scenario, S Kumar, Managing Director of Srishti Communications, which holds exclusive advertising rights at airports, such as Trivandrum International Airport, Mysuru Airport, among others, as well as ad rights at key railway stations that include New Delhi Railway Station, KSR Bangalore Central Station, states emphatically that in the immediate run business revival is contingent on the volume of passenger movement at the transit locations.

Kumar adds that advertising volumes do not grow with gradual opening up of the transit networks for passenger movement. “A certain critical mass of audiences ought to be there for advertisers to plan significantly for transit media advertising,” he said, while adding that with most curbs of people movement lifted, there is renewed hope that the audience volume will pick up in the coming months.

When asked if marketing the media itself has become a challenge in the emerging circumstances, and whether any reinforcement of the team with onboarding of senior OOH industry professionals would help the cause, Kumar said that transit media networks at airports and railways are becoming increasingly digital technology led and so Srishti Communications would look to build a team of “young, tech-oriented professionals who will catch the next OOH growth wave”. “In that sense, people who have held senior positions in the OOH industry managing the businesses in the earlier mode may not find meaningful roles in the organisation,” he reckoned.

The Railway Display Network (RDN) project executed by Srishti Communications in the Bengaluru Division of South Western Railway is illustrative of the strong technology orientation of transit media.