Mktg - India;Nielsen unveils findings on OOH Media screens in CSDs

Surina Sayal

The out-of-home TV screen company, OOH Media, is the only audiovisual media company present in Canteen Stores Departments (CSDs), which include the army and naval canteen stores across India. These canteens, which are otherwise media-dark locations, are one-stop shops for all the needs of defence personnel, from groceries to automobiles. To help sharpen the marketing programmes of brands that would like to advertise in CSDs, OOH Media commissioned a research study by The Nielsen Co. The study was executed in July and August 2008.

Currently, OOH Media has more than 270 screens in the largest CSD canteens in the 12 cities of Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru, Chandigarh, Lucknow, Pune, Hyderabad, Chennai, Nashik, Ludhiana, Jalandhar and Patiala. Through these, brands have the opportunity to reach out to more than 20 lakh serving and retired armed forces personnel in the country, claims the company.


OOH Media started setting up screens in CSDs in September 2007 and the number is still growing. Niloufer Dundh, chief sales officer, Out-of-Home Media, says, “The idea was to reach out to a media-dark audience like the armed forces, which has huge marketing potential.”

While these screens do not play any entertainment content, the ads/promos and content run on this media are found to be quite relevant to the target group. Being a non-profit service provider, marketing activities at CSDs are restricted. Thus, marketers do not have distribution or promotion control here, which is where these screens come in.

The research by Nielsen was conducted across the key cities of Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru and Pune, bringing to light insights like the fact that more than 80 per cent of the audience recalls screens in CSD locations in these cities. Across locations, among respondents who have seen the OOH screens, more than 95 per cent recall any ad that is being played on the screen. Also, more than 75 per cent of the audience in this network is male and the age group of people visiting CSDs is 25-34 years in Mumbai and Delhi.


According to the research study, the audience spends 30-60 minutes per visit to a CSD canteen. The frequency of visits varies between once every fortnight to once every month; purchases include a large portion of liquor, juices and soft drinks.

The findings also focus on audience behaviour across specific cities. For example, audiences in Delhi and Pune spend more than an hour in CSD canteens, while audiences in Bengaluru and Mumbai spend nearly half an hour.

Importantly, the changes applied in the payouts of the Sixth Pay Commission in the form of arrears and salary increases have already started. In the coming months, this could lead to a big spike in activities for OOH Media’s CSD network.

The cost of advertising on this network depends on the number of weeks for which the marketer chooses to advertise and on the cities and locations selected.

About categories that stand to benefit from the network, Dundh says, “The OOH TV medium works as a push or a reminder medium. So, ideally, all brands/products which are present inside these stores would benefit from it – for instance, FMCG products, consumer durables, brand extensions, etc. Since this target audience is difficult to catch owing to their media habits, other categories such as finance (insurance) and telecom would also benefit by advertising here.”

Among the brands that have already advertised on OOH Media's CSD network are Honda, Titan, TVS, Heinz, CNBC, Parlé, Samsung, LG, Ford, Panasonic, Airtel, Oriental Insurance, Medimix, Syndicate Bank, Vijay Sales and Reckitt.