OOH will go through numerous changes in UP: Y Srinivas Raju

Calling himself an avid explorer and marking his first visit to Lucknow, Y Srinivas Raju, VP - Planning & Insights, Milestone Brandcom presented a statistical overview of the OOH industry's current status & growth in UP. Presenting his topic at UP Talks OOH 2015 in Lucknow, Srinivas touched the points like UP being the largest state with a sizeable population of 19.9 crores, Srinivas expressed his visualization of the state as changing gear of India in politics (85 percent MPs are from the state) and economy. Following some interesting facts like UP, if separated as a country, can fit as 5th largest country after Ireland, Australia, Finland and China and the fact that UP's population is growing steadily at 4 percent which will lead to 44 crores in 2050, Srinivas reported the state to have biggest opportunity that no investor can negate. According to him, out of 71 districts of the state, 62 towns are cosmopolitan while having a growing purchasing power along with population resulting into a collective curiousness looking at upgrade. There are cosmopolitan cities like Lucknow, Kanpur, Agra, Bareilly while tier-I and Tier-II cities like Muzaffarnagar and Agra are catching up.

• Why OOH is important in UP:
• Core Hindi speaking markets (best and must for media and entertainment industry), where UP's contribution is equivalent to Mumbai i.e 9%)
• Cost Vs Viewership makes it a critical market.
• High telecom penetration (1.96 cr telecom users already)
• Rise of FMCG in small towns
• Increased purchasing power towards automobiles
• Boom in real estate, with 12 smart cities already proposed in UP
• Start of Metro rail operation by 2017
• Proposal of 7 new airports
• State with most young population - consumer leaders and women empowerment.

"Despite the fact that UP has been witnessing fast growth, OOH market of the state has not grown at that pace. Also, OOH is the second most reachable media in UP. In coming years, it's going to go through numerous changes. Let us leverage on the pull factors and upgradation of the state,” Srinivas concluded.