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BMC elections set to drive 15% surge in outdoor advertising revenue
Meanwhile, industry watchdogs like the Indian Outdoor Advertising Association (IOAA) are urging authorities to crack down on illegal hoardings, especially in a high-stakes election season.
The Maharashtra government recently initiated the long-pending electoral process for 29 municipal corporations, including Mumbai, following a Supreme Court directive mandating the notification and completion of polls within four months.
With elections to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) finally getting the green light, the outdoor advertising (OOH) industry is gearing up for a major revenue spike. Industry players anticipate a 10–15% increase in OOH ad spends during the civic polls — a direct result of heightened political visibility campaigns and the strategic significance of India’s richest municipal body.
The Maharashtra government recently initiated the long-pending electoral process for 29 municipal corporations, including Mumbai, following a Supreme Court directive mandating the notification and completion of polls within four months. As the BMC elections loom, industry leaders say the timing couldn’t be better for the outdoor media sector.
Dr. Yogesh Lakhani, Chairman & Managing Director, Bright Outdoor Media Limited, “Election period always lead to higher spending on outdoor advertising, as parties and candidates want to be more visible and connect with people across the city. For the BMC elections in Mumbai, we expect outdoor advertising spends to grow by at least 10-15% compared to a regular year. Both large billboards and smaller local sites will see strong demand, and the elections will definitely give a good boost to the OOH sector this year.”
Bright Outdoor Media is projecting a 40–45% revenue growth in the current fiscal year, backed by rising digital adoption, infrastructure developments, and upcoming BMC elections. For FY25, the company reported a revenue of ₹126 crore, up 18.8% year-on-year. EBITDA stood at ₹26 crore, reflecting a margin of 20%, while PAT rose to ₹19 crore — a YoY growth of 18.9%.
Lakhani said, “OOH is expected to contribute significantly to overall AdEx during the civic elections. In Maharashtra, we anticipate OOH’s share could rise to around 10-12% of total AdEx during this period, higher than the usual 5-7% share. This is driven by the medium’s unmatched reach, visibility, and ability to dominate key geographies, which is vital for political campaigns.”
Among the 29 municipal corporations included in this process are Pune, Nagpur, Thane, Nashik, Pimpri-Chinchwad, Navi Mumbai, Vasai-Virar, Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, and Kalyan-Dombivli.
Vikas Nowal, CEO of Interspace Communications, called the upcoming BMC elections the "biggest canvas" for OOH in 2025. “The OOH pie — spanning Digital OOH (DOOH), conventional formats, and transit media — is likely to be the largest beneficiary. All political parties are expected to go aggressive, especially the ruling party, which will likely leverage government communication budgets to promote its policies,” he said, estimating that total OOH political spend in Mumbai could hit ₹30 crore."
However, Nowal also flagged a growing challenge within the sector: the cannibalization of conventional hoardings by DOOH. "Unfortunately in the current scenario, the DOOH is eating out of the conventional OOH pie leading to cannibalism since DOOH in its current avatar isn’t leveraged to its potential."
Nowal explained, "The investment in DOOH put together by media owners could make it claim as much as 30% of the total OOH ad spend. Digital is definitely growing at a faster pace since BMC is not approving new sites but the existing ones continue to turn to DOOH.”
On a usual basis, with the same dimension and other relevant parameters, DOOH fetches 2-3X of the regular non DOOH pricing. This is owning to the fact that DOOH runs six ads on the same site compared to conventional OOH. Nowal added.
Despite high demand, the BMC’s freeze on approving new hoarding sites has pushed media owners to retrofit existing spaces into digital formats. This has driven DOOH growth but also intensified competition within limited inventory.
Meanwhile, industry watchdogs like the Indian Outdoor Advertising Association (IOAA) are urging authorities to crack down on illegal hoardings, especially in a high-stakes election season.
“The civic body and election commission must ensure the city isn’t defaced with unauthorized banners and billboards,” said Praveen Vadhera, CEO of IOAA. “Political parties should communicate ethically through legal channels. It's time we preserve Mumbai’s skyline from election-time chaos.”
The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) generated ₹234.783 crore from advertisement and hoarding fees in 2024-25, compared to ₹157.8492 crore in 2023-24, marking a 48.74 percent increase in revenue from BMC's license department.
It should be noted that the Mumbai Traffic Police Department, which issues No Objection Certificates (NOCs) for installing out-of-home (OOH) hoardings in the city, has put all new proposals on hold until the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) finalizes the policy on Guidelines for Display of Outdoor Advertisements 2024.
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