The Great Outdoor Hunt ; It's a Rs 1,000-Crore Industry and Is Expected to Grow Exponentially. Little Wonder That Pe Players, and Large Media Houses Such As Rupert Murdoch's News Outdoor and a Host of Others Want a Piece of the Out-of-Home Media Pie.

Business Today › June 04, 2007

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Summary

It's now being called the "Zapak effect" for the instant recall that the outdoor campaign has managed for gaming portal zapak.com this year--punching home the message that outdoor is the place to be for brands wanting remote- and surf-proof connect with consumers. There's a growing ripple of awareness--private equity (PE) players have swooped in, MNCs are scouting around for partners and large and mid-sized regional players are basking in the attention they're receiving from the big boys of the game.

Flagging off the action late last year in the category that is called ooh (out-of-home), UTI Ventures announced an investment of $10 million (Rs 45 crore then) for an undisclosed minority stake in Laqshya Media, an ooh company headquartered in Mumbai. This was followed by the allocation of a larger sum of Rs 100 crore, of which Rs 20 crore was placed as the first tranche in vJive Networks, part of Digital Music India, by Matrix Partners India. And large players like Anil Ambani's R-ADAG and us media giant Viacom are waiting for the right cue to take the plunge.

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The Great Outdoor Hunt ; It's a Rs 1,000-Crore Industry and Is Expected to Grow Exponentially. Little Wonder That Pe Players, and Large Media Houses Such As Rupert Murdoch's News Outdoor and a Host of Others Want a Piece of the Out-of-Home Media Pie.

Nearly $100 million (Rs 410 crore) has already flowed into the ooh sector from PE companies. And expectations are that this amount will double over the next three years. There are unconfirmed reports of talks between Sequoia Capital India and outdoor player DSN. Bangalore-headquartered Serve and Volley, another ooh company, is also said to be on the radars ...

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