The Hindu : Front Page : BBMP sees big money in LCD hoardings

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Monday, Feb 18, 2008
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BBMP sees big money in LCD hoardings

S. Rajendran

— Photo: K. Gopinathan

New strategy: A digital advertisement board at Minsk Square in Bangalore.

BANGALORE: Bangaloreans will have a taste of more and more giant LCD hoardings all set be installed on several arterial roads with the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) deciding to opt for such commercial screenings given the enthusiastic response from advertising companies, including one run by the Reliance Group of Anil Ambani.

The hoardings will be located at intersections where motorists, used to red lights and crawling traffic, can while away their time scanning what the hoardings are trying to sell.

The LCD hoardings will not only feature an advertisement every minute, but also some important announcements of the BBMP.None of the prime locations approved for such hoardings are known accident spots.

While the seven LCD hoardings put to tender-cum-auction in January fetched a rental of Rs. 30 lakh per hoarding per month, the next round of 13 hoardings will be put through a similar auction shortly. It is said that these hoardings may not fetch a high price, as they were away from the core areas.

Bangalore had beaten even New York in revenue generation from public advertisement hoardings when the BBMP netted Rs. 30 lakh per month for a state-of-art hoarding which is stated to be nearly twice that of the revenue earned by the New York civic authorities for a similar sized hoarding.

Vantage points

BBMP Commissioner S. Subramanya and Assistant Commissioner (Advertising) G.M. Gangadharaswamy told The Hindu that all the 20 LCD hoardings would come up on BBMP property.

The 13 new vantage points that would be put to auction are Vijayanagar bus stand, Magadi Road, Airport Road (Domlur), Trinity Circle, Sankey Road (Bhashyam Circle), Madhavan Park (Jayanagar), BTM Layout (near Central Silk Board), J.P. Nagar 18th Cross, Ring Road, Ulsoor bus stand, Rajajinagar (near Navrang theatre), Sampige Road (Malleswaram) and Mysore Road (BHEL Junction).

They said the seven LCD hoardings (auctioned earlier) which were expected to be commissioned by March 1 would be delayed by a month due to various reasons.

Apart from these, there are three other relatively smaller LCD hoardings on private land which were commissioned a few days ago. It is these hoardings which prompted the BBMP to prefer LCD hoardings.

Dr. Subramanya said: “BBMP’s effort at evolving new strategies to step up revenue generation is now paying off. We will easily net over Rs. 100 crore from advertising before the close of the current financial year.” A decade ago, the BBMP was netting a revenue of just Rs. 1 crore from outdoor advertising.

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