By: Ria Banerjee
Last updated : May 26, 2020 10:07 am
Physical damage to the outdoor advertising assets have compounded the business losses caused by the pandemic situation
The impact of Amphan has added to the woes of the industry that is reeling under the impact of the pandemic and lockdowns. Arup Chowdhury, President, West Bengal Outdoor Advertising Association (WBOAA), said, “The effect of COVID-19 has largely disrupted the outdoor advertising business and now ‘Amphan’ has delivered a massive blow to this industry. To survive the debacle, WBOAA has approached the municipal authorities for a waiver of the corporation tax on the outdoor advertising business for the fiscal year 2020-21.” The KMC has also been approached for removal of the hoardings structures that collapsed on the roads in the face of the super cyclone.
The restrictions on people movement in the event of the lockdown inhibited the media owners from removing many of the structures as directed. For instance, Bhubaneshwar-based Torrent Advertisers had removed 20%-25% of their outdoor advertising structures in Cuttack, Bhubaneshwar, Puri and Jagatsinghpur before the cyclone made the landfall. Removal of flexes from other areas such as Ganjam, Balasore and Bhadrak was challenging as those areas were in the Red Zone.
The impact of the super-cyclone apart, the OOH business in Odisha was also hit as the famous Ratha Yatra had been halted because of the ongoing COVID crisis, said N. Dash, Managing Partner, Torrent Advertisers. However, he expects the business recovery to begin by July.