 Welcome to our second webinar on out-of-home advertising. It is one of the sectors that has been impacted by COVID-19 the most. However, now that we have learned to live with the virus around us, mobility has started, many offices have opened again, restrictions have eased. So is this now the time again for marketers to reconsider spending on out-of-home? That is what we are trying to discuss today and also our media companies ready for perfect solutions for brands. The topic today is out-of-home advertising ready to make streets feel alive. We have a very, very esteemed panel with us and I'm going to go in the alphabetical order. We have Mr Ajay Mehta, M.D. Kainate Kindiya. We have Mr Gautam Hirani, M.D. Italk Media Ventures. Mr Pramod Bhandula, Executive Chairman, J.C.D. for Mr's camera has some issues, but he's audible, he's very much with us. Mr Siddharth Bhutalia, CMO of AirAsia. Mr Upindir Singh, Project Director, Edge One Outdoor Media Management Software. Ms Vinku Chakravati, Business Head, Rappu, India. Welcome all of you. I think I was reading it too fast. Welcome to each one of you on the panel. I hope we all are audible to each other and before we start the discussion, I would first open it up with a very, with a generic question that now that the lockdown has eased, things are trying to get better. How are you, as agencies, Vinku and Ajay can start, either of you, are trying to reach out to clients and agencies again? Clients again? Vinku, you want to start? Nasiya, first of all, thank you for inviting me to this panel to answer your question. We have been working on plans and we have been sharing a lot of data with our clients. There's a lot of data nowadays which is available about the consumer. And we have our own bespoke planning tools, spaces which we are able to understand the consumer mobility, understand the traffic movements. And we have been sharing these data inputs with the clients and in some cases we have also shared plans with them. And a couple of campaigns have even started in the last week of June. So this is how we are in touch with the clients and internally we are gathering a lot of information across the markets whether it is tier one, tier two, tier three, so that we actually get to know the news from ground zero, what's happening, what's changing, because there is so much of dynamism in today's situation that what is right today might not be right tomorrow. So it's imperative at our end to collect the most relevant and the correct information. So we are armed with this data and the information we are reaching out to our clients and discussing with them about future plans. And what is the kind of response that you are getting? See, we are also skeptical because we are getting a lot of news from all across, from all the channels and they are getting questions, are getting asked especially about the metro markets. Because if you look at the entire country I would say metro markets are the most affected. And traditionally speaking metro markets take away the lion's share in terms of value and volume of total out of form. So they are the most affected but again if you look at tier two markets or tier three markets I would say the situation is much more better there as compared to tier one markets which are the metro markets right now. So there is a lot of skepticism, questions are getting asked and we are having debates with the clients and that's how we are making, we are moving forward on the plans. Mr. Mehta, you agree you have something more to add? I'll say again thank you for following me here and more than sharing any gyan with everybody I'm taking this as an opportunity to learn from such an esteemed panel because I think in this industry I'm probably the youngest at least as an entrant that's what I mean. So my view is very simple, traditional media is dead whether you are talking out of form or you are talking any other media and I think COVID has just ensured that that has happened in a faster, quicker manner. Any medium who has to survive and thrive in this kind of environment has to be completely result oriented and how do you make it result oriented is by being completely data enabled, data driven, technology enabled and digitally charged. If today you do not know what your ROI is I don't think any advertiser will put in any money about the kind of money they used to in the past on any medium. So while Vinku spoke about mobility data and stuff like that that is really the base on which this medium has brought a comeback. We have to change the way we function in the past what has brought us here will not take us into the future and which really means the entire ecosystem whether it is technology providers such as EdgeOne who is on this panel or it is the digital out of form media owners like Gautam is here or it is agencies such as our competitors and us we all need to reinvent this business. Of course clients are coming back I mean as compared to April, May obviously the business is improved but April, May was zero. So even one is infinitely more than zero but if we have to claw back and gain a rightful place in the system and become a growth medium rather than just defending what we have we need to completely revolutionize from top to bottom the way this medium is bought, sold, traded and evaluated. We will have, we will at least want to dedicate five minutes to what kind of innovations and revolutions are required for the medium going forward but to begin with I want to bring in Pramod sir into the debate and ask him what according to you is the situation right now and is the right approach to go to a brand. Thanks, Nazia. Thank you very much for having me on the panel. I really agree with that Jay like you know it is not going to be the same as it was post COVID we need to innovate we have to have a different approach and different tools to really sell our medium. Having said it's very easy but I think the way the industry has been really conducting their business in the past and overnight it's not going to happen really while he was touching this for digital advertising it's very many stool in this country it's in compared to the world data it's hardly 3.5 or 4 percent and still to go a long way to really to establish its presence across so it's a major issue really there for the DOH we know that things will change we all know that how they will change still remains a mystery because we all have gone through such a situation which nobody all of us has never heard never seen of course we have heard about 1918 or something but we had no idea about really and nobody had talked about repeated so it is a challenge it is going to be a challenge and my feel is like if all the stakeholders they can get together have a brainstorming find a new tools to really approach advertisers they are ready they will come back all of them they will come back sometimes people say oh some of the categories will vanish and new categories are going to emerge I'm pretty sure that everybody is going to come back and I have so much of faith in this medium this medium will be faster than any medium it will come faster undoubtedly but yes we all have all stakeholders have to get together have a new approach different approach with different tools we need to really think towards that to really bring them back advertisers are ready as right living some of them are coming back more are waiting just they are waiting really that one category goes and the other will follow so I think it is our responsibility as an industry we all are stakeholders, major stakeholders agencies are mature like no more than 50% of business is being handled by them so we have to have a hand holding really for that to go back to the clients bring their confidence and start working and going forward on it thank you sir Gautam and Mr Singh if I can bring you into the debate I mean what kind of digital solutions or technology innovations can you suggest to your partners here which can help bring brands help convince people like Mr Bhutalia to get back to advertising aggressively on your medium Gautam if you can start being a digital first organization we have always invested heavily into our technology infrastructure and to an extent we are reaping some benefits from there today in last two months we have been able to create our in-house tool it is called people we will unveil it on Wednesday and we have been able to very importantly quantify the number of people walking into work because at this point of time my network big stock is live so we have been able to quantify, classify which again is very important and the third aspect to it is we have created a platform so which we get mobile IDs which gives an opportunity for brands to retarget them either programmatically through an exchange or we do it for them this at least has started helping us track ROI which is very important today looking back at numbers what used to be back in the day the footfalls today they are going up by 7-8% week on week basis and we have been able to do between 22-28% footfalls across corporate hubs and co-working spaces so it is only improving as public transport is available and you know brands are very curious it is very interesting in last two months the kind of conversation it has been 12 years for me in the out of home industry and the kind of conversations we are having are completely different both briefs and our pitch have changed in last two months everything is purely data driven earlier I think being an out of home professional we used to talk about size of the display hey this looks good today the conversation has moved to hey how many people and who are they how am I reaching is the media relevant am I connecting if I am connecting can I measure impact there are so many questions we had to invest and come up with this tool and now we have been able to get some traction moving forward Mr Singh before I get you into the debate I just need to make one quick announcement that we are already live on Facebook, LinkedIn, Insta and please feel free to send questions for the panelists which I can take up post 4.30 when I am done with my questions so please keep sending your questions so Mr. Singh so what kind of technology solutions you think can help the domain again thank you to have given me a platform with these dignitaries the way we look at this entire scenario we actually look at the entire industry being a service provider to IT partners to media agencies as well as maximum media on us the all major big media on us in India and even overseas so what we look at is the technology means the entire industry has to evolve all big players the way Gautam has told they have got a new product developed they are measuring so things are those parameters are same means the sentiment the brand has to have a sentiment that yes he is getting deliveries whatever investment he is making he is visible to people so different people are actually doing different kind of working measurement is something very crucial things data is something which is very important part of the entire thing but yes we need to look at the entire industry perspective and in this kind of scenario what I believe is that we need to do some kind of initiative we need to take some kind of initiatives which are actually going to support the industry if industry is there me running alone want to be making that kind of benefit so coming back to the point of technology yes we have done initiative just very recently and we are actually we have thought in the last 3-4 months that yes we should give industry some kind of technology which should be a non-commercial initiative from our side where anyone and everyone in the industry like from a small player to a bigger player and we have been launching that kind of thing on the measurement thing again so that measurement will be on your static locations that measurement will be on digital deliveries so that kind of holistic tool which will be accessible available to all means even a small media owner working in tier 2, tier 3 city will be able to access it there won't be any you can say very minimal kind of cost coming to him but yes he will be able to take the benefit of the technology so what all big players are today able to afford but there is a very big quantum in our tier 2, tier 3 cities there are a lot of media players there are a lot of brands there are small time players so big players can definitely afford all the things but we are trying to you know give something from our side to industry where we are trying to give some technology push to those players which are actually not able to you know perform on a larger perspective so we have recently come with a platform we are going to very soon we are going to you know dedicated to the industry as such so that platform will be more focusing on the measurement kind of thing and it will be a non-commercial platform again brief resume coming back again to that thing so that won't be commercial platform there won't be no exploitation of the data which is getting collected so that kind of data will be means we can even link it to the industry bodies, associations and all so that's how we look at it so technology is yes as an industry, as an outdoor industry the most important thing is delivery the sentiment which a brand has to have is yes whatever he is investing what ROI is coming back to him how he can retarget that kind of audience how he can reach to the correct audience reach to the correct people so today you don't have to sell a location I 100% agree to Gautam so Ajay went to that yes we don't need to sell a site we need to sell people we need to sell audience so that is the key mantra which we need to do today and in this 3-4 months of lockdown we've experienced we were not free even for a single day even we were having 2 times pressure on us the way we normally had so most of the companies actually they started cementing their backbones their systems, their business processes how quickly they can share a proposal how quickly that proposal can have more and more data related to audience related to demographics, related to gender so that kind of integrations with their inventory, their locations so those kind of best practices and even we have worked a lot with many customers who have actually tried to get more and more processes into the system rather than have their businesses people driven they are now having them process driven so those kind of changes have come that's what we've experienced understood so that if I can have you now in the debate everyone all the agency heads people from technology front they have told you how they get back to outdoor what is on your mind and you know do you feel convinced now as a marketer somebody who has been doing a lot of advertisement on outdoor particularly in Bangalore what is the way forward as for you so first of all thanks for having me and honestly it's very encouraging to hear some of the things which I've heard so far as a marketer across the board and I know especially for my team one of the things that we look forward to is media planning and taking campaigns live and that has taken a massive hit in this period just to keep the excitement going and to take campaigns live to reach out to consumers in the best manner possible is something that everyone looks forward to we have traditionally spent actually more than 50% of our advertising budgets in the outdoor media and we've always been asking some of the questions for example Gautam said or this thing was talking about in terms of who are the audiences who we need to talk to, how many impressions etc I think that's something which has always been top of mind for advertisers like us but it's never had the same credits or importance because the industry didn't feel the need to reinvent itself and that's why a lot of spends traditionally have moved on to digital formats even today if you look at it there is a lot more comfort for us spending on digital than it is on traditional media because we don't know who the audiences are and how relevant they are I must say that I can completely empathize with a lot of what you are saying because apart from running an airline a large part of what we also do is from an ancillary revenue perspective sell media on our own sites that includes our inflight magazines that includes our menus but it also includes probably one of the largest and most innovative outdoor formats which is the aircraft livery itself so we were in discussions with clients before the lockdown happened and it's the same questions which we are getting asked how many people are actually flying whether those people will be flying how many people will get to see it are they the same kinds of people who are flying that were flying earlier all of those one thing certainly which I think is going to have a massive impact and which is encouraging for us is that the nature of the media the lack of clutter that there is in the market affords an opportunity for those that are able to take the first step forward to actually get a lot more visibility and that's the same which is true for digital media as well the cost of spends on digital media including the likes of publishers like Google is significantly lower today than it was earlier because there is a lack of other advertisers so there is a first-mover advantage to be taken and brands that are bold enough to take that I think will definitely get the advantage of that the second is that the reinvention certainly needs to be their digital will lead the way forward for that we've seen that happening in the aviation industry itself with travel and technology so those players who deploy technology faster will not just make their pitches more appealing but will actually have a long-term impact on shifting spends from other categories on to out of home which is long been something that should have done so that's something that I think is certainly moving in the right direction I think what will happen is that the trends which would have taken 2 or 3 years to have come upon will get accelerated as an opportunity in this case that crisis would have converted into an opportunity so as advertisers I think we certainly look forward to that and it's very encouraging to hear some of the things that I've heard today honestly we've not given a definitive answer how soon are you going back we'd like to go back as soon as possible so very honestly we have not gone back with any other form of advertising so far whether it be on print except digital we've done digital, we have done a bit of television with LBAL recently in the campaign I think one of the struggles that we have with Outdoor and what will probably help us is that with the nature of uncertainty that there is currently in the market the dynamism that there is in terms of even what we should be communicating which route should we be advertising will there be travel to certain destinations what are the state restrictions going to be the same kind of things which so one of the struggles is that with Outdoor it's a large format which you typically put up our investment has traditionally also been quite a lot in the airport media or in certain cities like Kolkata where there is digital media available in outdoor spaces because the flexibility and the adaptability to change the communication of the campaign is something that will play an even greater weight for us now so as long as there are media that we can change quickly as long as there are media that afford the same kind of reach I think with a cost perspective certainly Outdoor is one of the most effective and so I mean I certainly see us coming back into that space with larger investments to the tune of what we had earlier sooner rather than later with a definitive timeline honestly I don't know at the moment also because yours is one of the sectors which has also been as badly impacted as the Outdoor in media domain so I have already got lots of questions from audiences so I want to ask some of my questions as quickly as possible and we will try to keep the answers crisp because we are almost like 6-7 people on the panel Pramod sir I want to bring you back into the discussion there have been two recent high court judgments one was about with regards to taking down COVID mandated ads so will that now that you have your space back will that lead to growth I mean how is it going to help you in the coming weeks or days can you repeat your question please regarding high court judgment in Bombay recently gave a verdict with regards to taking down COVID mandated ads so will the growth of campaigns from your clients see us fight now the government mandated COVID ads were displayed for a period of 3 months which caused a grave financial constraints should there be a compensation package for all out of home owners for this so I have these two questions see it's a force measure situation which is prevailing today it's an act of God so each concession which we signed with the authorities have this kind of provision or an article already in so we almost everyone media owner have gone back to the authorities to their principles revoking that particular article and asking for the relief I don't foresee any problem in that it might take some time because the government and the bureaucrats they don't have any idea neither we have an idea nothing has happened this kind of situation well before in the near past so it is going to be a bit tough fight but it's a clear written on the wall like yes we are going to fight back and to get some relief one two when you're talking about Bombay particularly as a market like yes government had initiated to put all billboards to pull down all of the commercial ads and to put covid related messages and appropriately they waived off the license fee for that particular time so these that's a part but yes as an industry we are going to fight back and we are already fighting but it's going to be it's going to be a tough fight and a long fight with the government it's not easy just around like we are going to get anything quickly or in a weeks okay Vinku what do you want to answer the first part of the question that I asked that now that the space is available to you will it seek some kind of spike in you know clients coming back to you and asking for that space Nazia right now we are facing a problem in terms of metro cities what I mentioned earlier in terms of if you look at the total numbers total impressions which are getting generated you can measure the impressions that we see in different markets so we see that the impressions in metro markets today are not equivalent to what used to be pre covid era you know the bounce back is much more better in tier 2 and tier 3 markets so one I would say to some extent in the last two months we have seen high traction of traffic movement and talking about traditional media right now but again it is not what it was earlier so I think that gap needs to be filled up and we have seen in the last couple of days restrictions coming up in different markets be it Mumbai market or Bangalore or Chennai for that matters the markets are affected right now especially the metro markets currently even in terms of corporate spaces you know wherein we have a lot of digital the numbers are impacted right now even in metro cities so this has been absolutely if in terms of percentages I asked you how much has it been better than April May can I can I answer this question because I have a data for 4 cities which is the latest and it is by the Apple mobility and the data was generated on 2nd of July for 4 cities only in India but it is another world they have already given the first is Bangalore which is the traffic I am talking about it is minus 44% Chennai it is minus 76% Delhi 49% minus 49% Mumbai minus 67% so now you have seen the numbers what Ramoji just talked about right now you guys really have a very tough job now it is tough I mean that is what I said like you know it is going to it is a mystery it is going to take some time it is not so easy like you know we can talk really you know even initially I was I was opinion no it is going to be June end and we have to come back fast as fast but as we all see like you know it is tough difficult times Ajay if you can join us back in the debate what I would want to we all now I mean Pramod sir has given us numbers so that the situation out there is really grim what kind of innovations do you suggest the industry should do do we need to come up with new touch points should be because we plan travelling should we move out of airports to you know residential areas what is that new skill set that outdoor agencies need to adapt in the post-long-term environment very interesting question because you have to follow what the consumer is doing right if you look at April and May we were all completely at home hardly anybody stepped out but now what you are seeing in spite of the numbers you know which Pramod ji gave out people have at least started coming out of their homes they may be just going to the local market to the local supermarket or just going on like I went on a drive last night just you know within my neighborhood just about 2 kilometers so people have started getting out of their homes the touch points can be created or activated around residential areas for one what you can call hyper local so as you get out as you are going stepping out of your apartment or your flat you may not be going to the Juhu beach or to India gate you are definitely starting stepping out to as we are seeing offices reopen most of your out of home activity is going to be going to your office and coming back so while of course there are considerations of 20% 40% 30% whatever is the office capacity but you are seeing a whole lot of SMEs already back in action they kind of want to shut their homes so your out of home journeys are really going to be only to office and back and slowly it will keep improving so that's the second thing third thing if you look and divide all out of home really into two things either routes or destinations some of the destinations the malls for example or cinemas for example those will probably take a longer time to come back but routes are definitely going to be are already seeing some sort of traffic and while we are 60% 40% 50% down the important thing is that number is improving day on day, week on week so we may or may not come back to 100 in a month or two months or even longer but you will come back to and which probably is a good thing our routes will be better our traffic will be lesser but from the perspective whether they will reach a sizable mass I just think it's going to come back very quickly so routes and destinations focus on routes and focus on hyperlocal whether it is near residential and to your specific question of airports I think what is interesting and I was looking at some data already if you look at Delhi airport and of course Siddharth is much better equipped to answer that but I think Delhi already has a sheer number of flights seems to be increasing quite I am not so sure of how many people per flight but at least in terms of sheer number of flights a lot of holidays have been postponed a whole lot of leisure travel has been pushed back but man by nature is a social being as and when a certain amount of assurance comes that it's okay to travel I see a huge amount of pent up demand coming I mean I can tell you my two daughters every third day are asking me we didn't go on a summer holiday I hope we are going to go during this air I see a whole lot of pent up demand and airports are in a unique position to deliver premium audiences in an environment where they have time that cannot be replaced overnight that's just an extremely unique touch point which is going through an immediate challenge to come up Ramod sir would you want to add to that what kind of do we need to change the touch points what kind of innovations do we need to bring in see it's a good question that's what I started with my brief like most which was like agencies the major stakeholders media owners of course we need to really if we can I mean it's a very crazy idea I have in mind like you know 70 minutes are low the numbers I have given yes they are they will increase in the coming months of course but in spite today almost we have 50% traffic on the roads in Delhi but there is no campaign hardly a couple of them few of them maybe one or two which Vinku was talking about and that too and we have been pushing for last since May onwards the lockdown was uplifting my point is that it has to be something we cannot have the same tools what we have been doing really in the past we have to go back to the clients together to show to tell to give the data and to bring their confidence to tell them yes the audience is there on the road actually was rightly said that less number of traffic but this outdoor can be perfectly great like you know with less number of people because you are at Lyser in driving you have a more visibility and you have better you can see the outdoor so you also think that we need to have new touch points we need to go ahead for local yes we need to innovate something really which can bring the confidence back of the advertisers and the first it could be really you know we as a media owner also can really start with the local retailers, local retail and brands to really bring them back so that it is very important if one category is there on the on the outdoor the same category the people they follow this has to be a new start it has to be a new start would you have any kind of suggestion in your head you know things that you are planning to do if you can give specific examples of you know what kind of innovations can we bring in before I answer that question Nasi I would like to just say that you know our country is a huge country you know if there is a dip in the spans in metro markets today let's not assume that there is a dip in the tier 2 market as well what we are currently witnessing is a very urban very very metro specific phenomenon which is in play because of multiple reasons we know that these cities are the ones which are the most impacted by covid right now so that is one point second point I agree with Ajay and with Pramodji also that you know we need to use more of hyperlocal branding right now because all the travel that we are doing is within the catchment areas of so more within the hyperlocal area outside outer form also there is a lot of outer form I would say medium which can be built within neighborhoods so have you actually started doing it what we are doing is that you know already in multiple cities there are mediums which are available both hyperlocally and also within the complexes itself so we are proposing that to our clients and hopefully we should get to use these mediums as well in the immediate future too Gautam you want to add to it so I agree with all three Ajay Pramodji and Vinku I think we can bridge that gap by understanding both how consumers lifestyle has changed one what is the brand sentiment and what is the solution so as far as agency which is concerned I am sure Ajay and Vinku know best but whatever has helped us I would like to share so whenever I am talking to a client today first thing I start when I start fresh I say let's start from 0 let's not think about what used to be there let's stop today so let's say we have media in about 6 cities in corporate parks restaurants which obviously start gaming destination even if you look at let's say 25-30% of old numbers today across India reaching 2.5 lakh people in a captive environment is a very good proposition for a brand now as media owners and agency why can't we propose commercials that compliment the size of the audience that is something that needs to come in over edge earlier out of home was always sold on let's say size of the media or location un pure gut feeling today we have been able to sell media I think we are starting campaigns this week and you will obviously come to know and these are good budget campaigns that we have been able to convert everything is data driven if there is 30% audience out there my price is quoted accordingly plus we are trying measuring that's what you mentioned in your previous thing also that now we need to not go by size of this coding but size of the people you know where in fact one of our one of our viewers has given a very good solution and I mean these were the kind of solutions I think I was I am keen for from each one of you to share that he is saying why don't we use elevators you know for because I mean irrespective of what people are still using elevators they are going up and down to do whatever their local you know movement so the elevator companies are coming with the digital outdoor solutions for the elevators you can advertise on the elevator doors elevator walls etc digitally how successful do you think these solutions will be Mr Singh you want to talk about it yes sure so these solutions will be actually very effective means if we can have more solutions you know this is such an innovative idea you know it's an innovative idea and things are already moving like there are already players who are offering this elevator ads spaces and already we are doing it so the way I look at it like we when we have to go to brands we need to go them with a solution not just with a service the way Gautama said that earlier things were being sold by the size of the location now it has to actually we need to do some homework we need to be more prepared more better driven and we have to go to the brand telling him that yes this will be the impact what all you are going to invest we do need to have some kind of working on making some kind of impact reports where we are going to them with yes this is the audience this could be the impact this will be the investment and this is how it will get converted so it will be a very brand centric kind of approach we need to take from now so to each individual brand brand agencies media owners now they have to do a lot of homework while going to them and they have to give them a solution just not a kind of space that yes this is what where you can come and do your branding so that's what I feel and the idea of elevators that is something which is something like whatever happens that will always be there so that is something very beautiful media format which can be used and all media agency should think over that we have 20 minutes left and we have already got some 20 questions I'll now start asking questions which have been directed to particular people so I'll take this up for Siddharth why have few of Air Asia campaigns went down from why did I think he wanted to say went down from domestic airports post covid as you mentioned the first two words will have advantage when do you think of restoring your airport campaigns quickly with respect to domestic route promotions provided you get good digital media presence there so excellent question to answer the first part why did they go down they went down because we were not flying and nobody was so airport media didn't make sense for us to have and because of the same reason a lot of the arterial routes that we've taken for example coming in from the airport into Bangalore city we had acquired over a long period of time quite a few years in fact something which we were very proud of which is we taken a string of about 20 odd hoardings as we grow our destinations we sort of grew that number of outdoors in a string of about 30 or so coming to where the toll booth was now it's important to understand the way in which some of these media plans happen and what the logic of these are one of the reasons why we take a toll booth campaign for example we took 30 hoardings over there is because there is a long waiting time of the toll booths right so I'm willing to pay a premium for that because I know that people are sitting over there with nothing else to do and I know that there is a lot of traffic coming in from there now in the current scenario I know how many people are actually coming from the airport the nature of that demand is moving from the non-discretionary travel slowly to more discretionary travel and so as soon as that discretionary travel audience comes up it makes sense for us obviously to advertise again over there but some of these other factors waiting times at these locations we'll play against another location for example now what we had taken earlier for instance a lot was bus shelters we were cognizant of the fact coming into the same city in Bangalore that we had a lot of traffic which was organized towards these spaces now we were also in touch with organizations like car rental companies right to see whether we take out of a media in those spaces those no longer make sense however at the same time it makes a lot more sense for us if you look at and we were similarly to the statistics which were shared there is reports which are published by Google which are actually for healthcare they're the COVID-19 mobility reports it tracks your Google maps data and tells you how much sector by sector people are going up or down right if you look at retail and recreation versus the baseline which was there earlier around May there was an 85% drop that is now only a 60% drop right supermarkets and pharmacies are only 5% down to where the baselines were but they're hyperlocal markets like where they are now so it makes sense to advertise in those destinations public transport which was down about 65% is now down about 39% now what is happening in our minds is a lot more people are not taking shared or car rental services and are driving themselves or not taking public transport but are self-driving that means the audience that I want to reach are actually looking out of the window a lot more people are a lot more aware of where they are going when you speak of elevators or you speak of public places supermarkets malls etc wherever people are going they no longer sitting and watching their phones so telephone advertising is actually losing to a lot of our media because people are looking around a lot more and seeing where there is so honestly for us we are trying to reimagine the way in which we are looking at how media is consumed and we haven't fully wrapped our heads around that airport media will always be something that we are very keen on and that is something that if you look at the government the mandate has been so far that every airline on a sector operates only till about 33% or one third of their capacity that is now increased to 45% as that ramps up and those capacities increase the number of travellers increase I just spoke about Delhi airport for example it obviously makes sense for us to be in those media because those are relevant audiences that has been a good rate of growth if it has already reached 45% 45% is honestly the capacity which you can operate at from where you are you are already running full in a way so you are not running full 45% is your cutoff and you are getting 45% 45% is the cutoff for how much you can operate as an aircraft for example if you are operating say 100 routes on Bombay Delhi now you can operate 45 routes on Bombay Delhi so the traffic itself the max capacity is down to about will be down to 45% was currently 33% the loads are also slightly lower where you are getting 85%, 84% loads those will be down to about 60% so cumulatively you are down to about a quarter in terms of the traffic of what it was earlier which is slowly ramping up and will reach I think about 40% so from that perspective any media that affords me an opportunity of a cost reduction of a similar number say of a 60% cost reduction makes sense to advertising and those media are becoming increasingly available now and as I said the clutter, the fact that the people who are travelling are more resilient for example you will see younger audiences travelling you will see people being more aware of their surroundings and looking out for communication with little audiences by the nature of the people who are travelling so those are individuals who you would want to reach out to much more than the wastage which was there earlier is a lot less now so those opportunities honestly are there now and it's just a matter of a branch like us and I said the first over advantage will go to those who act first being able to engage with sellers with partners who are selling those media being able to convince internal stakeholders as well and all of these organisations you must recall while marketers are fairly keen given the financial pressures that there are discussions to be had with our respective CFOs other stakeholders internally board members to say look it makes sense to advertise now and some of the data points that we talked about today actually will help as those proof points to be able to do that so I see that coming back certainly with the likes of digital media with the likes of digital out of our media and airports coming back a lot quicker and we are quite keen to take ownership again of the media that we have let go because we are cognisant of the fact that it took us many years to build up those media assets so we are quite keen to have those back and we will be planning to do that I don't want to share too much of that because it's competitive strategy that one would give away fair enough we actually are flooded with questions and I have very little time left I am scared I might have to take 5-10 minutes more of your time because at least I should take up some questions from the audiences I also request now I have a question from all the agency heads if you can give me crisp answers in like maybe 2 sentences or 3 sentences this is for Viku, Ajay and Pramod sir everyone is apprehensive about coming back to advertise right now who will take the lead and which categories will follow so if you can Pramod sir if I can start with you which other categories you think will quickly now hopefully will start advertising on outdoor considering that we have festive season coming from August it usually starts from August so what are the categories you are hopeful will start coming back to you soon one is the local retailers I feel like if really the right approach we all have with them they will come back of course I am looking at OTT is doing pretty well no doubt about it they have done a lot before covid also they were doing very well and now of course during covid they have done a wonderful job and they must be loaded with lot of money and it has a right approach by media owners and agencies I think agencies plays a vital role in getting that particular segment on board that will be a great contribution to the OH FMCG I feel like is should be more active they should be more active and so as automobile I feel like the two wheelers and the automobile will do a great job if a right strategy again agencies have to play a vital role in it really you know because they are the face to them they should be Vinku you agree or you have some new categories to add I agree with Kamoji and I will add on to his list I also think that mobile handsets will be advertising more BFSI category would be advertising more along with consumer durables and e-commerce in the coming months because entire festive season is there do we had 3 months of no campaigns but we will definitely have 5 to 6 months of more campaigns happening now Ajay they pretty much covered all the categories but I just want to add something to what Siddharth said and I think that's a very interesting point he spoke about the fact that there are various stakeholders in an organization and as agencies or as media owners we have to make sure that we help our clients people such as Siddharth convince the other stakeholders to come back and that for me is the key because it's not just about people coming back on roads advertising budgets are going to be looked at far more closely and whether it is something as basic as Google mobility data or the building profiles which I think got them touched upon in terms of audience profiling if we can convince our clients that there is return on investment with their OOH investments all categories can come back if we don't do that you don't have any birthright to even one penny of the advertisers budget Gautam there is a quick question for you please try to answer it as precisely as you can in India which is a very price sensitive market post-COVID commercial places are not sure if they will have the same traction of football in their premises how do you see the prices for digital advertising face an impact I think I just spoke about this in my what prices now so that's what I said so the way we've been selling so we start from zero let's forget whatever the budgets were earlier placed into commercial complexes so even if it is a let's say between 20 to 30% of what it was back in the day our commercial the money that we are quoting compliments the audience that is present there so clients actually do not have any problems they do not also kinetic as an agency kinetic joined hands with the entire transition was happening I think pre-COVID we were able to do a lot of business with the access so the entire out of home which was very vanilla branding today is ROI driven so being a digital platform the cost is flexible we sell impressions and you know can optimize a campaign as per budget Ramotsa there is a question for you thanks Gautam Ramotsa there is a question for you about just lost the question it was about the high court order that if we renegotiate I just would renegotiation on taxes by government and rate revision help to get more clients on board really with the industry is suffering really you know because there is no business and your license and your minimum guarantee which generally you commit to the government or with your principal is to be paid back to them whatever relief the industry get that will be so less and will be good for them to sustain otherwise it's going to be tough some of the media owners so this question anyone of you can take since COVID-19 outbreak is there and out of our media owners have been losing business too will it be justifiable if agencies asking for discounts from media owners clients like OTT platforms which are doing so much better are asking for huge discounts so does this make sense is what somebody who named himself anonymous has asked can I answer this I would request agencies to please support media owners because we coexist and as I said that almost 50% of the total business is being handed by agencies so my appeal and request to agencies is that they should support at this time and release entire money which is for the campaigns which has already been done and they have got the money so this way we will be helping the media owners to really sustain and to come back in a positive manner really so this is very important for agencies to really not to ask for any discount yes the measurement has always been an issue with your domain this gentleman called Mr. Ravi Ambrose to ask wouldn't it be better that media owners and agencies come out with a monthly traffic count report as that would help build confidence among brand owners I will take that so I think definitely that is one idea but there is a whole lot of stuff which as an industry needs to happen I think there was an article in exchange for media only recently about one common measurement system one common which is absolutely necessary I mean you can't have pockets of Gautam trying to do something and someone else trying to do something second interview Ajay I have been in this industry for three and a half years and every four months we do that article but I have not seen that industry come up so that is something I can only report it's for all of you to put that I am very rightfully so till the time you do not come with a currency and which covers everything whether it is measurement whether it is monitoring whether it is in terms of CPM measures etc where is it stuck I honestly wouldn't know that I would just come into this industry and now that you are in a crisis now that you are in a crisis is it even not more important for you guys to have a measurement system I definitely think people like Binku or Pramodji and you know who are leaders in this space thought leaders and agencies such as us need to come together and have a dialogue on this and absolutely any crisis is an opportunity and this is the time so to answer the gentleman's question yes there is absolutely a need for all of that and I think the industry will be doing itself a big disservice if it lets its personal you know aspirations or egos come in the way of any specific system I think you wanted to make a point yes actually I wanted to make a point on this so what Ajay is saying now or Pramodji has said now that is something which I said in my introductory discussion that yes we need to coexist so we today being serving more than 100 media owners of all scales we took this initiative 3-4 months back and we as I have already told you that yes we are means when you make some measurement tool everyone is making means every agency is having some measurement tool or some data tool or something and when they go to the brands means different numbers are actually coming we are trying to do we are coming up with a non-commercial again I am repeating it non-commercial and that kind of platform where no data will be used for any kind of commercial activity which we are trying to because we are having more than 100 media owners for whom we are already serving and they are differently using different applications for measurement and all other things and we are actually trying to do it for last 3-4 months that we are coming up with a platform which could be a common platform using all of them when you look at the measurement or different kind of demographics of locations because already those companies are using our tools they are automating their business processes on H1 so it is being easy for us because we are already working with them for a long time now so it is very easy for us to just make them to convince them to have their data on one platform and we being just a technology player not having any kind of interest in media selling or that kind of arena so I believe we are trying to make that kind of platform for the industry and I think yeah no I mean I am just saying whether it is Mr. Singh or someone else there is a need for the industry to come together and have a common direction in which it is going now whether it is in terms of using technology platforms provided by third party players or something else that is something to be debated and discussed is there a need for a common measurement system without any doubt yes also you are a veteran if you can just tell us where exactly is it stuck because you know even in March when we did that event I remember there were conversations that you know maybe in another 15-20 days or another one month we will have it and now where I mean apart from Covid where else is it stuck good point see it is a very relevant concern of the industry of advertisers of media because we cannot grow until unless you have currency IOAA I am also part of that one of the members there can share a little bit like what we have been pursuing we have been working very seriously along with triple eyes of advertising agencies of India association very closely and finally we have reached to a consensus where we are in a process of working on an RFP which we are working but we are working on an RFP which will be floated very soon maybe within this year very soon has to have a date a date I can't give you date because we haven't met the board haven't met together for last 3-4 months so I think I will be able to give a precise answer in couple of weeks but yes for sure Ajay I can guarantee you as a media owner industry body yes we are seriously working on it Ramaji let's have a chat a short offline and let's work on this I actually wanted to I am sorry I have to step out I have something else but it's been a it's 5 o'clock we are closing it only I actually wanted to end it on festive seasons predictions because that's one happy positive time that we look forward to not just for business even personally and we are hoping that things will start to settle by then people will fly more would you want to just Ajay if you have to move out I mean you can I can say one thing and you can start your closing remarks what are your expectations from festive season and then we are going to close it anyway so as they say the king is dead long live the king like the out of home industry the way we knew it is dead that is a new industry which has to be born everybody needs to change if we change why festive we can even do well in this time if we don't even festive can't serve us that's my view great Ajay thanks Ajay thanks for joining us thanks Vinku your final remarks yeah so Nazia there are a couple of launches which happen in the previous quarter so those launches across categories will definitely happen in the coming months right now and in there advertising has been skewed towards festive so if you even pick up any year which has been a normal year there is a big skew not only of out of home but all out of home mediums towards festive so definitely we are higher uptake of all mediums specifically out of home also in the coming months and advertising would be across categories it will not be one category specifically multiple categories, multiple players who would be advertising in markets Kartham if you are able to close business at this point of time I will consider it as festive season it has been pretty bad out there and with the whole festive season we keep making ourselves happy and I would like to stick to that and end on a positive note but yeah things are picking up it's not that bad anymore so I only if things stay well it's going to be good for UH any percentage that you are looking at that maybe so we have been able to convert some business in last two weeks which was not expected unfortunately it did not come to me from out of home it has come either directly or digital channels which is another very big learning for UH how to sell media in today's time need to quantify so we are also learning I think it's a new era for out of home and we are all still in the learning stages good luck Mr Singh your closing remarks on festive season or whatever anything that you want to every day is a festive activity we are on right track if we are target oriented we are part of all processes proper ways we can do anything that means every day can convert so it's just not a festive season so I 100% agree to what Ajay have said that we need to change we can change we can do everything to that thank you I tend to agree I think we have been mapping the sentiment from in three phases that isolation phase which was very fearful and anxious it's moving towards a more cautious kind of optimistic stage at this point of time it's a fairly unsure for the festive season starting of September we are looking at something which is very exploratory which is very celebratory which also doesn't take for granted the things that we have so far whether that is the freedom of movement, the freedom of travel connecting with communities so all of that will be a big play I think if we are able to with individuals in that period those that reinvent themselves will see a good sway because this is a revolutionary time so it's opportunities for some and for those that sort of stay behind yeah it won't be Ramod sir will you close it for us okay thank you I would say Siddharth thank you really you did validated that OOH just works really and it's been really pretty for Ajay and we know that all across Asia you are doing phenomenally very well and doing great some of the great outdoor one can see really I do hope we will have better festive season then what is being experienced presently I mean it's as I said that is tough time but we will be through soon but of course it cannot be compared with the previous years in this year that's for sure but yes from here to the festive season will have better days we will have better thank you so much each one of you for joining us we have already left the words behind us and going from here we will only have good news to share and you all have good business to do which will also give us good business in future thank you so much stay at home stay safe even if you have to fly take care of yourself and take all the precautions thank you each one even if you have to fly Air Asia thank you I can try thank you thank you