Big Street, the outdoor advertising division of Reliance Broadcast Network is on a roll. One of the latest feather in its cap is the advertising rights for the inventory in Airport Express line of Delhi Metro, which connects the 24 km stretch between New Delhi station and Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGI). Overall ad-space available on the route is about 30,000-35,000 sq. ft. Besides, the outdoor division wants to play an important role in digitisation of outdoor. in India. In an interview with Rohit Nautiyal of FE, Rabe T. Iyer , EVP, Big Street and Big Live, Reliance Broadcast Network shares the significance of Delhi Metro, Big Street’s future plans for its different markets and challenges in the outdoor advertising business. Edited excerpts
Do you think that Delhi Metro has managed to transform the OOH landscape of Delhi? If yes, in what ways?
Delhi Metro is the lifeline of the capital city. More than 1.6 million people use the metro every day to commute to their destinations. This is a huge number of captive traveler audiences who can see and experience brands. Metro advertising has now become an integral part of the OOH landscape of Delhi and the diverse demographics of the commuters means that a large number of brands, both premium and mass, are using it effectively to communicate with their audiences. In the highly regulated OOH market of Delhi, Metro advertising offers a measurable and controlled environment for brand communication and today?s marketers and planners are very positive about its potential as a great tool for brand building.
After adding Delhi Airport Metro Express (DAME) to the existing ad inventory of Big Street in Delhi Metro, what have been the changes in the way you market ad space?
DAME is a landmark achievement in Indian infrastructure – the first of its kind in the country. The high quality out of home inventory on DAME provides an excellent opportunity to brands to reach out to the much-sought-after upper SEC consumers traveling in and out of Delhi. With the addition of DAME?s display options to our portfolio, the reach of Big Street in Delhi is unparalleled across all spectrum and strata. To capitalise on our strong position in the Delhi market, we have created a series of solution based packages that include a combination of inventories based on similar catchment areas/demographics. For example, a premium inventory like DAME, when paired with our smart digital PODS displayed across prominent malls in Delhi, offers our clients an opportunity to target the SEC A consumers while they travel or shop.
Though innovations have been happening in the Delhi Metro, yet we are not close to the innovations we see in London Tube or New York Subway. What are the reasons behind this and how long will we see something like this happening in India?
These are quite old and matured inventories and hence have evolved in norms, safety, aesthetics, impact and policies. In India, we are rapidly learning from these markets but are a good three years away as stations are still to be designed holistically. We still have a way to go in lighting, framing, electricity looping etc. to ensure hassle free work. These are fundamental to building revenue. Later comes aesthetics and designing relevant portions for building impactful medium where we need to catch up with the West in terms of technology and digitisation of media. We have already taken keen interest in digitisation. Our Digital PODs (an advertising desplay) in DMRC is the first step.
The central dome area in Rajiv Chowk could have been redesigned to maximise revenue without diluting norms, it has just now got DOME panels. Here, there is opportunity for digitisation. The pillars offer as another medium to built pleasing but highly impactful inflatables.
A few agencies are pushing this further, but yes there is scope to do a lot more.
How is Big Street’s outdoor business growing in markets outside Delhi? Any new formats you may have launched recently?
Currently, we are doing a lot of things in Mumbai. Street furniture project will be a big one for Mumbai and we are also assisting Reliance Infrastructure on some of their marquee projects like Sea Link and Mumbai Metro. So a lot of focus in Mumbai. We will continue with growth in Bangalore and Hyderabad as well. Our focus of formats largely will be led by street furniture, transit and digital centric mediums.
We are also creating a network of digital PODs across key malls in top metros starting with Delhi followed by Mumbai. By the end of this year we will have a network of 100 high definition digital PODS across malls and underground Metro.
How has been your experience in terms of working with various local bodies? Do you feel a need for change in the current tendering processes prevalent in the outdoor business?
The local bodies have certainly grown in understanding the revenue potential of this medium. We have had no issues. There is certainly an opportunity in evolving the tender process. Between bodies it is often noticed that clauses are very different and this is a major issue. There needs to be uniformity in tenders to build transparency.