Roadstar’s OOH currency ambition hinges on GroupM, Omnicom buy-in

Roadstar’s bid to become India’s unified out-of-home advertising currency may now be entering its most decisive phase.

Nearly three years after the Indian Outdoor Advertising Association (IOAA) launched the audience-measurement platform, the question is no longer only whether Roadstar works. The bigger question is whether the country’s two largest agency networks will agree to use it as a common planning and buying reference for the outdoor ads.

Read more: Roadstar faces uphill battle

Pawan Bansal, board director of the association, says, “Most of the leading OOH agencies have already adopted the platform, except two major agency systems GroupM (now WPP Media) and IPG (now part of Omnicom).”

That decision could be critical for Roadstar. In media measurement, a tool becomes a “currency” not simply because it has data, technology or industry sponsorship. It becomes a currency when a large number of buyers, sellers and advertisers agree to use it as a common language for planning, pricing and accountability.

Read earlier report on more roadblocks for Roadstar

A year ago, agency stakeholders had raised concerns around Roadstar’s functioning, including privacy-related issues and the need for stronger data robustness. IOAA then asked Relu AI to make upgrades, following which an updated version was shared with agency members for further evaluation. The platform has improved after multiple rounds of feedback by ad agencies and upgrades. 

At present, agencies like Madison, dentsu, Walk the Talk, Interspace, Signpost and OAP Mediatech, have been using Roadstar. 

e4m reached out to WPP Media and Omnicom for comments. While WPP Media remained silent, Omnicom said, “We do not comment on external organisations, as per our policies.”

Narayanaswami  Shekhar, Chairman of IOAA, told e4m, “RoadStar adoption has expanded significantly across the industry—from established players like Madison, Tribes, Publicis, TimesOOH, Dentsu, and OAP to WTT, IThinkMedia, Superherooh, Efficacy WorldWide, and others. This breadth across national and specialized agencies represents a genuine milestone in industry alignment.”

“The conversations with both WPP Media and IPG continue, with encouraging momentum particularly around IPG. The discussions have shifted from replacement conversations to practical integration—how RoadStar's audience measurement and mobility intelligence can complement existing workflows through API connections,” Shekhar, who is also the CEO of Times Innovative Media, noted. 

Currency to push growing medium further 

Television has BARC. Print has established frameworks such as ABC and readership studies. But India’s OOH sector has long operated without a unified common currency. “That absence is becoming harder to ignore as brands scrutinise every advertising rupee amid economic headwinds and demand stronger evidence of reach, frequency and campaign impact,” agencies admit. 

The industry, currently estimated at over Rs 4,000 crore in annual ad spends and expected to grow at 5%, according to Pitch Madison Annual report 2026, has grown on the back of airports, transit media, premium billboards, metro networks, street furniture, mall media and digital OOH formats. 

Yet planning and evaluation continue to remain fragmented. Agencies use different tools-designed by themselves or imported ones-media owners rely on different inventory claims, and advertisers often struggle to compare outdoor performance with television, digital, print or radio.

Roadstar has been designed to solve that problem. Developed by Mumbai-based Relu AI and backed by IOAA, the platform has been positioned as a GPS-led audience-measurement and planning system for Indian OOH. According to IOAA, it covers more than 1,800 markets, tracks over 60,000 media sites, uses data from more than 35 million mobile users and maps consumer movement across millions of points of interest.

But the holdout by large agency networks remains significant. GroupM, now part of WPP Media’s consolidated structure, remains India’s most influential media-buying force. Its acceptance would give Roadstar credibility with a large pool of national and multinational advertisers. Omnicom’s decision has become equally important after its acquisition of IPG, which brings IPG Mediabrands and its OOH capabilities (Rapport) under the larger Omnicom system.

“This consolidation has changed the adoption map. What was earlier a multi-network persuasion exercise is now moving toward fewer, larger decision points. If these large agency systems come on board, Roadstar’s chances of becoming the closest thing to an industry currency improve substantially. If they do not, the platform risks remaining a useful tool for some agencies and media owners, but not a universally accepted benchmark,” said an industry executive. 

Why the hesitation

The hesitation is not without context. Some executives who have used the upgraded version say the software must evolve beyond reach and impression estimates and add stronger consumer classification, deeper inventory coverage, sharper target-group mapping and more advertiser-friendly outcome metrics.

“One recurring concern is the lack of an NCCS-based consumer classification system, which many advertisers still use to define target groups. Besides, movement-based cohorts are useful but not enough, especially for brands investing heavily in smaller towns and emerging markets where OOH planning needs more granular inventory and audience depth. There is also a structural issue around ownership and funding,” industry executives say.