The out-of-home (OOH) advertising industry’s ambitious Unified Audience Measurement Tool, Roadstar, is on the brink of its official launch. Developed by Mumbai-based software firm Relu AI in collaboration with the Indian Outdoor Advertisers Association (IOAA), Roadstar aims to standardize OOH media measurement, potentially boosting the sector’s share of advertising spend. The IOAA is striving to establish this tool as the industry’s common currency expeditiously which would mark a significant achievement for Chairman Pawan Bansal and CEO Praveen Vadhera.
Despite being one of the oldest forms of advertising, and receiving annual ad spend worth `4,100 cr, the OOH sector still lacks a universally accepted measurement system. The industry is largely unorganized, with a significant portion of operators being unregistered and operating across urban and rural areas. While larger agencies have been using various measurement tools such as Move, Moving Walls, X-OOH, and IMPOT, either developed on their own or procured from abroad, these tools differ in methodology and metrics, lacking a common standard.
The absence of a universally accepted currency is believed to have hindered the sector’s growth compared to Television and Digital. Roadstar, a homegrown tool, is expected to address these issues and set a new benchmark for OOH measurement in India.
How Does Roadstar Work
An IOAA official explains that Roadstar was developed with stakeholder consultation and covers over 800 markets across India, down to the taluka level. It tracks impressions and profiles of consumers exposed to more than 63,000 outdoor media properties including billboards, gantries, bus shelters, LED panels, and other OOH formats. The tool gathers data from over 35 million mobile users, mapping their movements across three million places of interest, and provides metrics such as unique reach, gross reach, frequency, and hourly, daily, weekly, and monthly audience reports.
Using GPS and location-based technologies, Roadstar enables advertisers to track consumer movement patterns, measure the impact on foot traffic and sales, and adjust campaigns for higher engagement and ROI. The tool also facilitates precise audience targeting, location-based site selection, and site cluster searches by distance, as well as client and competitor location mapping.
Dipankar Sanyal, CEO, Platinum Communications, said, “Roadstar provides a single source of data syndicated for the industry which brings more credibility to the data that is being shared with the clients.”
IMPACT sought to find out how Roadstar differs from other existing tools in the market. Both Relu AI and IOAA officials expressed their inability to share this information. “Agencies don’t share their tools with us,” said Pawan Bansal, Chairman, IOAA.
Future Challenges
Despite the IOAA’s efforts and optimism, the goal of making Roadstar the standard currency for the outdoor industry remains elusive. The tool still requires approval from the Advertising Agencies Association of India (AAAI). In April, the IOAA presented Roadstar to AAAI’s technical committee, where it faced scrutiny over data privacy and other concerns raised by major agencies like GroupM and Rapport. IOAA claims that most of these issues have now been addressed.
The updated version of Roadstar is currently undergoing pilot tests at leading ad agencies such as GroupM, Madison, and Dentsu. While the agencies have expressed general satisfaction with the results, a few issues still need to be resolved, elaborates Pawan Bansal.
Even if the pilots are successful and AAAI gives the green light, Roadstar is bound to face further challenges. Not all agencies and media owners are aligned with the initiative. The IOAA represents only 60% of media owners and agencies, leaving many independent and smaller players unrepresented. Some of the stakeholders have raised concerns about Roadstar, citing a lack of endorsement from any industry body or research agency and claimed that they were not consulted during the tool’s development.
Vikas Nowal, Co-Founder & Country Head of Interspace Communications, commented, “I would love to understand the methodology, metrics, deliverables, periodicity of updates, and broader vision behind Roadstar to evaluate how it compares to the proprietary tools that established agencies like ours have already invested in. A deeper understanding would help us assess the potential for alignment with our existing metrics and ensure data privacy, which is paramount.”
Saibal Gupta, Managing Partner and CEO of Xperia Group, added, “We have developed our own high-tech measurement tool, X-OOH, and have been using it for more than a year. Other tools are also in use in the industry. Unless IOAA proposes something with a competitive edge over existing tools and is user-friendly, it will not gain wider acceptance in an industry with low entry barriers.”
These voices suggest that a section of industry is not ready to adopt Roadstar anytime soon. Moreover, IOAA wants media agencies to work exclusively with association members. While the IOAA claims that this move is intended to prevent agencies from engaging with illicit media owners and to encourage broader adoption of the measurability software, it risks alienating smaller players who may see it as an attempt to strong-arm them into adopting the common currency.
Many agencies, which are already using some or other measurement tool, may not use Roadstar at all, says Atul Shrivastava, Executive Director and CEO Laqshya Media Group. “We are using our own tool-SHARP/ which got active in 2017 and got patented in 2022. There is no reason for us to invest in another tool,” he explains.
Shrivastava also points out, “It would have been better if MRUC and a research firm were involved in developing this tool. Their endorsement would have given the methodology the credibility needed to call it an industry-wide unified research.”
But the biggest bone of contention is -- who will foot the bill for the software, with many agencies and media owners already having expressed unwillingness to bear the cost. Media owners believe that agencies, who will utilize it more, should cover the expenses. Conversely agencies argue that since the initiative was spearheaded by media owners, they should be responsible for funding it.
Finally, Roadstar also needs an endorsement from the Indian Society of Advertisers (ISA), which is crucial for its broader adoption. However, the onboarding of advertisers is yet to begin.
‘Hopeful that AAAI approves Roadstar in a couple of months’
Pawan Bansal, Chairman of IOAA, speaks to IMPACT about his aspirations for Roadstar, and the efforts that went into putting together what may become the first ever common currency for the OOH sector, if the stakeholders give their nod
Q] There is a question mark over Roadstar’s acceptance as a common currency for the OOH sector since no research agency was involved in the process. Your comment?
Our methodology is simple and based on mobility and census data. We followed global standards recommended by the World Out-of-Home Organization (WOO), for Roadstar’s development. Our experience and expertise also helped shape the software. We don’t think there is a need to rope in a research agency at this point of time. However, we may hire a research firm when we need attribution data.
See, this is our first attempt to roll out a common currency. We roped in Relu AI in 2022 for the job and worked consistently with them to refine and update Roadstar. Some of the media owners and agencies have already been using Roadstar.
Q] Why has AAAI not approved Roadstar yet? We learnt that media agencies are currently doing pilot tests with Roadstar. What is their assessment?
The AAAI has formed a five-member technical committee in April to examine Roadstar. The committee is currently vetting it. Some agencies seek iterations as per their requirements. We are in conversation with them to address these issues and will be sorted out soon.
We have received positive feedback from agencies who have been doing pilots. We hope AAAI will approve Roadstar as common currency in a couple of months.
Q] Have you got any feedback from the Indian Society of Advertisers?
Once AAAI gives us a go-ahead for the adoption of Roadstar as the common planning and measurement tool, then we will approach the ISA.
