‘An ecosystem that prioritises cost efficiency risks slowing the evolution of the medium itself’

As procurement-led buying continues to reshape advertising decisions across industries, India’s OOH sector is increasingly facing issues around pricing discipline, inventory valuation, and the long-term sustainability of the medium. 

The growing prevalence of reverse auctioning has sparked widespread question within the industry, particularly around whether outdoor advertising is gradually being reduced to a pricing exercise rather than being evaluated for audience impact, visibility quality, and brand-building potential. 

Jayesh Yagnik, CEO, MOMS Outdoor, believes the industry is currently navigating a delicate balance between financial efficiency and long-term ecosystem health. 

According to Jayesh, while cost accountability is important, excessive pricing pressure risks weakening the differentiation that premium outdoor assets are built upon. 

Reverse auctioning is gradually commoditising inventory 

“To an extent, yes,” Jayesh says while discussing whether reverse auctioning has commoditised OOH inventory. 

He explains that aggressive rate-led negotiations have increasingly shifted focus away from media value and towards pricing comparisons alone. “Media assets are increasingly evaluated on price rather than value,” Jayesh notes. 

According to him, one of the biggest consequences of this approach is that unique and strategically valuable inventory begins losing its differentiation within the buying ecosystem. 

“Over time, this creates a market where unique and premium assets begin to be treated as interchangeable commodities,” he explains. 

Jayesh believes this not only weakens value perception but can also negatively affect the long-term development of the industry. 

Premium inventory requires pricing discipline 

For Jayesh, premium outdoor inventory derives its value from multiple factors beyond simple availability. 

“Inventory is premium based on strategic location, high-impact visibility, affluent audience delivery, and brand-building potential,” he says. 

Because of this, he believes maintaining pricing discipline is critical for preserving rate integrity and market benchmarks. 

“Pricing discipline is needed in premium inventory valuation to ensure benchmark prices and rate integrity,” Jayesh explains. 

According to him, excessive negotiation pressure creates inconsistencies that gradually narrow the distinction between premium and standard inventory. 

“As pricing discipline weakens, the gap between premium and standard inventory narrows, making it harder for the ecosystem to appropriately reward quality assets and long-term investments,” he adds. 

Procurement-led buying is increasing pressure on the ecosystem 

Jayesh acknowledges that procurement-led buying has brought greater financial scrutiny and accountability into the OOH ecosystem, something he believes is necessary at scale. 

However, he also believes the current environment often places disproportionate pressure on agencies and media concessionaires. 

“When buying decisions become excessively price-led, the pressure disproportionately shifts to agencies and media concessionaires,” Jayesh says. 

For him, the larger challenge lies in balancing financial efficiency with media effectiveness. 

“The challenge is ensuring that financial efficiency is balanced with media effectiveness and long-term ecosystem sustainability,” he explains. 

Jayesh believes the industry requires a healthier balance between pricing discipline and value recognition to ensure quality media environments continue evolving. 

Innovation and infrastructure investment are directly impacted 

According to Jayesh, sustained pricing pressure also affects the industry’s willingness to invest in better infrastructure, innovation, and higher-quality executions. 

“A highly price-sensitive ecosystem directly affects innovation and infrastructure investment,” he says. 

He explains that shrinking margins naturally reduce investment appetite across the ecosystem. 

“If margins continue shrinking due to excessive pricing pressure, investment appetite reduces,” Jayesh notes. 

Campaign quality, too, becomes vulnerable in a market driven excessively by cost efficiency. 

“An ecosystem that prioritises cost efficiency risks slowing the evolution of the medium itself,” he adds. 

OOH is not expensive if evaluated correctly 

Jayesh believes outdoor advertising is often incorrectly perceived as expensive when evaluated only through isolated pricing comparisons. 

“In some cases, yes,” he says while discussing whether OOH is being viewed as an expensive medium. 

According to him, the real issue lies in whether the industry is measuring the right parameters. 

“A premium OOH site may appear expensive in isolation, but when evaluated through visibility metrics, impact, and contextual relevance, the value equation changes significantly,” Jayesh explains. 

He points out that the industry today already has access to audience and visibility measurement tools including impressions, reach, and OTS metrics. 

“Today we have impressions, reach, and OTS available in OOH which can help evaluate effectiveness more scientifically,” he says. 

The future will move towards value-based buying 

Looking ahead, Jayesh believes the future of OOH will increasingly move towards value-based media planning rather than purely cost-led procurement. 

“With audience and media measurement available today, we can evaluate assets through audience relevance, mobility data, visibility metrics, and brand fit,” he says. 

According to him, the long-term growth of the industry will depend on its ability to demonstrate measurable impact rather than simply selling inventory volume. 

“The future growth of OOH will depend not just on selling inventory, but on demonstrating measurable value and meaningful attention and visibility,” Jayesh concludes.