With the out-of-home measurement tool Roadstar being evaluated during the pilot testing phase, chatter around its SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) has been making rounds in the industry.
Even though most people seem enthusiastic about the model, others are skeptical about new system, which is yet to prove itself. Also, it's quite limited in terms of the cities covered, audience data and inventory across the country.
GroupM and Rapport had earlier raised red flags with Roadstar’s developer Relu AI over data safety and legal agreements associated with deploying the tool as well, but were addressed later with software updates.
Where are the roadblocks?
A major problem that still persists is the Indian Outdoor Advertising Association (IOAA) is having a tough time getting more media owners onboard for the unified measurement tool. But why?
According to sources, “There are a couple of challenges. One is obviously, you have to have a holistic overview. So, we have different players and Roadstar has over 21,000 media units. Now, these small players are not okay because they cannot cover the units.”
In India, there are roughly around 100,000 digital screens. Additionally, the outdoor inventory is roughly around Rs 3-4 lakhs. Then there are airports and other environments. So, the system has to cover everything, he further explained.
A digital advertising platform like Lemma follows the Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) standards for all their advertising technologies and Roadstar can be one of the things that they would utilise for data but it's not supported by the IAB, which acts as a hurdle in its adoption.
Furthermore, one is on the third party data which is media inventory. Then comes to the first party data which is integration of customer data. “If I have a client like Tata Motors which has distribution across multiple cities, can the global system integrate the first party data, distribution data or any challenges which are there?” questioned an expert. When it comes to digital platforms, they are able to integrate the first party data which is not there in Roadstar.
Another issue he mentioned was the coverage of 500 cities. "In India, there are over 6,40,000 towns, cities and villages. Now people might say, 500 towns are covered which is more than enough. Yes, more than enough. Maybe it might cover 60-80% of the market, but still it is not in-depth.”
Concerns over integration of census GIS or metadata or any other form of audience data too is difficult as of now and according to a source, as long as that is not there, it is just a software which is just showing 10 sites without integrating. A real software should give you a real life solution, like in digital and television, only then it would be beneficial for the industry.
Experts in favour say…
According to experts in favour of Roadstar, any new software has some initial bugs or flaws but as and when people use it, it always improves. This has happened in all the industries outdoor media is no exception.
Dipankar Sanyal, CEO of Platinum Communications, stated that the industry largely agrees with IOAA's approach to Roadstar. Large agencies, which comprise almost 70-80% of the business, are evaluating it, testing it, and a lot of feedback is going on.
“As long as the larger agencies who are handling the larger portfolio of clients are okay with it, accept it, and the clients also accept it, that's a great start. Then obviously the smaller agencies would follow suit or they can choose not to be part of it,” he added.
As far as Madison Outdoor Media is concerned, CEO Jayesh Yagnik elaborated that Roadstar basically has two modules. One is the planning module and one is the measurement module. Measurement module is something which is the need of the hour.
Who pays for implementing Roadstar?
Sanyal explained, it's a subscription model so whoever subscribes to it, gets to use it. But the kind of data which is applicable to a media owner vis-a-vis an agency is different, depending on the size of it. Something which is of this scale or something the industry body approves of, everybody puts in their money. Media owners put in their money.
“If you look at the UK model or US models, everywhere the media owners have put in their money. Because at the end of the day, it benefits them more than an agency and helps them sell more. It helps them price better and gives them that competitive edge,” he further added.
Yagnik supported Sanyal’s ideology and underlined that Roadstar will operate on a subscription-based module and the subscription is not exorbitantly high that one cannot afford it. "At least for the large scale agencies, it's not that high. Having said that, there are talks going on between IOAA and the top five agencies involved, including us. So, it is going on that we should have a standard cost for the first two years by the time the bugs get fixed," he noted.
Finding the middle path
Another expert suggested we have to figure out a way to find vendors on IOAA. Once that is done, then we can charge fees to these vendors. That is how your mainline associations work.
“First the consolidation of the industry itself is crucial and then comes the consolidation of the software. So, I think we have to reach a middle ground. After that, almost 60-70% of the vendors should be on IOAA,” he added.
Even if someone personally doesn't like the outdoors, but the data shows it's very good, they have to use it and that is how we are going to increase the buy of the industry, Yagnik added. “Otherwise, we keep profiting around Rs 4,000-5,000 crore and we are not growing.“
The agencies have a different viewpoint and the media owners may have a different viewpoint. That's why there's a need for a common currency because once it comes in, everybody talks the same language and it benefits the media owners immensely, noted Sanyal.
