This Onam, Kerala OOH ad spend expected to grow 20%

Every year, Onam gives Kerala's advertising industry its biggest test of the calendar, and this year, out-of-home (OOH) media is emerging as the format punching well above its weight. While digital and television have long cornered the lion's share of festive ad budgets nationally, industry leaders say Kerala's Onam season is proving that OOH is no longer the also-ran of the media mix. Inventory is getting locked in earlier, rates are climbing, and brands, both local and national, are treating the state's billboards, transit sites and digital screens as a strategic part of their festive plans rather than a reflexive add-on.

OOH demand is on the rise

Across the board, industry estimates point to double-digit growth in Onam-linked OOH spending this year.

"We are seeing a strong increase in demand for OOH inventory in the run up to Onam 2026. Compared with Onam 2025, we estimate that Onam related OOH advertising spends have grown by approximately 15–20% this year," said Vishnujith PK, Director at Malabar Advertising. "premium locations are seeing particularly strong demand, with advertisers planning campaigns earlier than usual to secure high visibility sites," he added.

Read e4m report on Onam’s media mix

Shivalika Anand, CEO of DGTOOHL, a Mobiyoung Group company, arrives at a similar figure, saying festive-driven demand is "projected to rise in the range of 15–20% over last year, especially across premium, high-footfall formats."

Mandeep Malhotra, CEO & Founder of Srishti Media, is slightly more conservative but tells a consistent story: "Based on current demand and market conversations, I would estimate that Onam-related OOH expenditure is approximately 10–15% higher than in 2025. The increase could be stronger for premium locations and digital formats."

"Festive advertising activity appears stronger, driven by increased competition among brands and a greater focus on building visibility during the festive period," Nipun Arora, Co-founder of OSMO noted.

Jewellery, retail and the widening category race

Ask who is actually writing the cheques, and the answer is remarkably consistent: jewellery and retail sit at the top, but the list of categories getting involved is getting longer every year.

Malhotra offers the most granular breakdown, ranking advertiser categories by activity: "Jewellery and fashion retail, consumer durables and electronics, automobiles, FMCG and food products, real estate, e-commerce, quick commerce and food delivery, and banking, financial services and insurance." 

He explains the cultural logic behind it: "Jewellery and retail brands remain especially prominent because Onam is directly connected with family purchases, gifting, weddings and festive shopping."

Read e4m report on marketers’ Onam bets

Vishnujith echoes the retail and jewellery lead but flags a specific brand-level trend. "consumer durables and automobile brands are increasingly using OOH as part of their Onam led promotional campaigns."

"Retail, jewellery, automobiles, and real estate continue to be the strongest demand drivers this Onam," said Arora. He grounds it in a real campaign, pointing out that OSMO is "seeing this first-hand through campaigns being executed for brands such as Renault, which has rolled out an Onam-focused campaign across key markets in Kerala this season."

Partho Ghose, CEO, Insync, Tribes, widens the category lens beyond the usual suspects, noting that Kerala's OOH market draws "local and regional advertisers contributing significantly across categories such as retail, jewellery, healthcare, education and real estate."

Premium sites command a festive premium

Rate inflation is where the numbers get more scattered, a sign that pricing power in Kerala's OOH market is concentrated in a narrow band of high-demand sites rather than spread evenly.

Vishnujith is direct about the scale. "Compared with Onam 2025, we estimate that rates for premium OOH inventory have increased by approximately 8-12%, depending on the location, format, visibility and duration of the campaign," adding that "the increase is more pronounced for strategically located sites where availability is limited."

Malhotra’s estimation lands on in nearly the same band. "Average rates appear to have increased by approximately 8–12% year on year", while cautioning that "standard inventory remains negotiable, while premium, uncluttered and strategically located assets command a clear festive premium".

Anand puts the increase a notch higher at "an estimated 10-15% increase during the peak festive period, driven by heightened demand for high-performing sites". Arora, by contrast, avoids a specific figure, saying only that "rate movement varies by market, location, and format", though "premium assets are naturally witnessing higher demand".

On occupancy, the two operators willing to put numbers on it diverge sharply. Vishnujith is bullish. "We would broadly estimate 100% occupancy for premium inventory during the peak Onam period, with the strongest locations approaching full occupancy."

Malhotra is more measured, estimating "premium Onam-period inventory in the strongest locations could reach approximately 85–95% occupancy, while the wider market is likely to remain more varied by city and format", flagging this as "an indicative range" rather than "audited statewide occupancy data."

Regional roots, national ambition

A recurring theme across every conversation is that Kerala's OOH growth isn't being driven by one type of advertiser. It is a tug-of-war between deeply rooted regional players and national brands increasingly recognising the state's distinct festive economy.

Vishnujith frames it as a shift in strategy. "One noticeable trend is that brands are increasingly looking at Kerala as a market that requires a dedicated Onam communication strategy rather than simply extending a national festive campaign."

Malhotra goes further on what makes that localisation work, arguing that "the strongest national campaigns are those that localise their communication, not merely by translating the copy into Malayalam, but by reflecting Kerala's culture, humour, family dynamics and festive purchasing behaviour."

"I would characterise the market as regionally anchored but increasingly supported by national investment," he summed up the balance succinctly.

Arora and Ghose both affirm the same dual-track pattern more briefly, with Arora calling the demand "fairly balanced" and Ghose noting that "national brands are also increasing their Kerala-focused spends during the festive period" alongside strong regional participation in "retail, jewellery, healthcare, education and real estate."

Beyond billboards. OOH's underdog moment!

If there's one place where Kerala's OOH story stops being just about billboards, it's here. Every respondent describes a market where traditional large-format hoardings still deliver scale, but Digital OOH, transit, airports and mall media are becoming the fastest-growing layer of the mix.

Arora flags a specific asset type gaining traction: "Kochi Metro pillar backlit inventory has been particularly active this season", alongside strong interest in "airport media, premium transit inventory, and digital OOH."

Ghose added that "premium assets, including airports and transit hubs, are seeing significantly higher occupancy", while stressing that OOH isn't fighting digital for share. Instead, it is increasingly working alongside it: "OOH is not competing with digital but increasingly complementing it, with advertisers adopting integrated strategies where outdoor builds reach and digital enables deeper engagement and performance."

Malhotra's list of hot formats is the most exhaustive: "premium billboards on arterial roads and major junctions, high-street locations close to jewellery, fashion and electronics retail clusters, digital OOH screens offering flexibility and multiple creative messages, mall and retail-environment media, airport and transit-linked inventory, highway sites connecting major cities and consumption centres." He also noted that "QR codes, location-specific messages, sequential creatives and vernacular communication are becoming more common."

On geography, he and Ghose both singled out Kochi as the clear leader, followed by Thiruvananthapuram, Kozhikode and Thrissur.

Anand articulated the broader shift most sharply. "OOH is no longer just a mass-reach festive medium. It is steadily evolving into a more precise, strategically deployed layer within the Onam media ecosystem."

That's the real story of Onam 2026. A format long treated as background noise to TV and digital is being booked out months in advance, commanding double-digit rate premiums and pulling in brands that once wouldn't have looked twice at a hoarding.

As Vishnujith puts it, the shift is structural, not seasonal: "OOH is increasingly being treated as a strategic festive medium rather than just a mass reach support medium." For Kerala's advertisers, the underdog has arrived, and it's booked solid.