We earn Rs 200 crore per year from OOH in Mumbai: Sanjog Kabare, BMC

Mumbai is the hotbed for OOH advertising and has the highest number of out-of-home advertising structures, claim industry players. The country’s commercial capital also reportedly gets the largest share of an OOH advertiser’s budget.

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) or Municipal Corporation of Greater Mumbai (MCGM) has been at the forefront in providing support to the sector to ensure its smooth functioning. To learn more about the civic body’s initiatives and plans, exchange4media spoke to Sanjog Kabare, Deputy Municipal Commissioner of Special Projects, who oversees the functioning of the OOH industry in the city.

Excerpts from the exclusive conversation:

How is BMC helping the OOH industry in Mumbai?

As far as OOH is concerned, there has been a different corporate policy in place since 2008, which was to be revised in 2018. So, we sent a modified version to the government and came up with a policy. It was not completely revised but a few modifications were made in the original one. 

Some key changes included reducing the distance between two hoardings from 100 metres to 70 metres. We have now given the go-ahead for hoardings on tall structures like skywalks and bridges that were earlier barred because of some accidents. However, the players need to procure a structural establishment certificate for the hoardings. The government has also allowed hoardings in residential areas. 

The Chief Minister was of the opinion to convert the boards into digital structures, and that was one of the points in the beautification project. We have reduced the fees for DOOH and now it is at par with illuminated hoardings. Since the capital investment in DOOH has been much higher, we want to help the industry in all ways possible.

Talk to us about the revenue received by BMC from the OOH sector. What percentage of it comes from DOOH?

We charge around Rs 1.75 lakh per month for a 40x40sqft structure. Generally, we earn about Rs 200 crore per year from the OOH business. The role of BMC is to facilitate the industry’s growth but it has to evolve itself. 

We are not seeing DOOH as an additional source of revenue because the fees are made at par. Digital outdoor business is not going to give us more revenue but it can give an aesthetic appearance to the city. It may help the advertisers to have more options as it has the durability of 6-10 seconds. We can have more advertisements as well as advertisers coming in. 

What are you doing to raise awareness in order to decrease violations?

According to our rules, the licences of owners have to be renewed every two years and they need to provide documentation like a structural stability certificate, traffic police NOC and insurance policy. There are certain guidelines also in place for the renewal process a structure. In case of repeated violations, we have the power to cancel the licence. 

We have one inspector in every ward that looks after the licensing of the structures. We have established a proper system and are currently trying to update our database as well. We are trying to appoint a data analysis agency like KPMG or EY that can help us with that. A proposal is already in the pipeline.

What are BMC’s plans for the sector in 2024?

BMC spaces are not being fully utilized for OOH, so we are planning to draft policies to allocate more space for structures, wherever possible. Some social spaces are also in the pipeline to be given out for commercial purposes.