B'luru OOH: Why stakeholders say civic body's revenue projections are far from reality

For years, Bengaluru’s outdoor advertising scene was a free-for-all, with hoardings of all shapes and sizes sprawling across roads, junctions, and public spaces, often installed without proper permits or oversight. This unregulated environment led to visual clutter, safety hazards, and widespread violations of city planning norms. That changed on July 18, 2025, when the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) issued the final version of the BBMP Advertisement Bye-Laws, 2024, effectively lifting the seven-year ban on outdoor advertisements and introducing a comprehensive regulatory framework.

Notably, the new rules aim to replace the chaotic, unchecked landscape with a system that is orderly, transparent, and accountable, setting clear guidelines for how and where ads can be displayed across the city. The new policy includes a mandatory ₹5 lakh registration fee for auction participation, limits on hoarding size and placement, a ban on video advertisements, and a QR code system for every ad to improve accountability and transparency. Out-of-Home (OOH) advertising under this framework covers billboards, bus shelter posters, checkout advertising, and other public display formats.

Under the new system, advertising rights are also awarded to bidders offering the highest rates for specific roads or clusters of roads. Commercial ads are allowed only on roads wider than 60 feet, except in areas designated as commercial or industrial in the city’s master plan. Hoardings can be installed only on private properties, with written consent from property owners. They must be spaced at least 200 meters apart, cannot appear side by side, and have a maximum horizontal width of 40 feet.

Ads on footpaths, roads, and properties without a valid khata or not listed in BBMP records are banned. Tax-compliant malls are allowed to display ads facing public roads after paying the required fees. The policy also mandates that 10 percent of daily screen time on digital displays and 20 days per year of static hoardings be reserved for public interest messages.

Soon after the announcement, several media reports indicated that BBMP expects to generate annual revenues of between ₹500 crore and ₹800 crore by auctioning outdoor ad rights across eight zones in the city. The policy also triggered intense debate, with local advertisers (particularly small and mid-sized firms) expressing concerns that the high tender costs and capital-intensive auction model disproportionately favour large corporate players with deep financial resources.

While BBMP’s ambitious revenue target of ₹500–800 crore annually grabbed headlines, however many stakeholders e4m spoke to have expressed some doubts about its feasibility.

Revenue projections may face practical challenges

“The revenue expectation of BBMP seems ambitious, as the figure of ₹500 crore appears higher than the current size of the industry in the city,” said Manmohan Singh, Secretary of the Outdoor Advertising Association of Bangalore.

Singh highlighted a few uncertainties that could make BBMP’s revenue projections challenging. For instance, the tender offers non-exclusive advertisement rights divided into eight zones, without granting agencies direct rights to install ads on municipal land. Successful bidders would need to first pay the tender amount and then identify and secure private property locations within their zones.

Additionally, the new byelaws include restrictions on the size and placement of media, based on road width and distance norms, which could make the process more time-intensive and commercially demanding for some players.

He also noted that BBMP has not yet provided a clear list or quantify the existing media in each zone, such as ads on bus shelters, foot-over bridges, public toilets, police chowkis, and underpass panels. “These existing ads may be legal or illegal, but without clarity on their status or contract periods, agencies have no way of knowing how much paid media will coexist with the newly tendered media,” Singh explained.

What has further affected advertising budgets is the uncertainty surrounding the new tender system, restrictions on hoarding sizes and placements, and the limited clarity regarding existing media across the city. The reduced availability of hoardings in Bengaluru has slowed brands’ adjustments to the new media infrastructure. These factors have, at times, led to missed opportunities during key advertising periods, such as the festival season, impacting both advertisers and the wider industry.

Adding to this, Pawan Bansal, Chairman, Indian Outdoor Advertising Association (IOAA), agreed that the BBMP’s projected ₹500 crore revenue is farfetched. “When hoardings were functional in 2017–18, Bengaluru’s OOH market was approximately ₹150 crore. Since the ban, the market has shrunk further. While PPP projects and Digital OOH have filled some gaps, expecting an additional ₹500 crore from this tender is unrealistic.”

He added, “Agencies bidding for the eight zones have the cumbersome task of identifying private spaces to install media. In comparison, tenders in cities like Mumbai or Delhi allow concessionaires to install media on authority-owned land, rather than relying on private landlords.”

e4m reached out to BBMP for clarification but had not received a response by the time the story was published.

Smaller Players at a Disadvantage

Beyond these projections, the new policy has sparked intense debate, with local advertisers, especially small and mid-sized firms, arguing that the high tender costs and capital-intensive model favour large corporate players with deep financial resources.

Many small agencies, some owning just a few hoardings, have been part of the city’s advertising ecosystem for decades. The majority have fewer than 15 hoardings and are not in a position to scale operations. Under the new tender system, these smaller players are effectively excluded, leaving participation largely to large national companies.

This, as per Singh, could lead to monopolies that may be detrimental to the industry, clients, and even BBMP’s long-term revenue goals. “The very agencies that had fought against the previous ban and helped secure the new bye-laws are now caught in a limbo, unable to compete under the current system.”

According to Bansal, the tender is likely to wipe out smaller players. “Bengaluru, like other Indian cities, has historically had a diverse set of media owners. This tender, with its high capex and opex requirements, essentially locks out small players. Only large players can participate, creating monopolies and leaving smaller operators behind. The longstanding issue of legacy hoardings is also yet to be addressed by BBMP.”

However, Fabian Cowan, Director at Connect Network, offered a different perspective on the tender system. He noted that, like any product, businesses have specific target audiences, and a system cannot serve everyone. “The tendering process enforces strict regulatory compliance and attracts serious players, facilitating a fairer and more structured way of operating,” he added.

While the new framework aims to bring transparency and order to Bengaluru’s outdoor advertising sector, implementation has been slow as per experts, adding to the uncertainty. Industry experts note that even after more than two months since the byelaws came into effect, licenses and permissions for existing advertisements have yet to be issued, creating confusion over what constitutes legal and illegal media.