Outdoor Advertising Industry in India Needs to Shift to LED Displays

The outdoor advertising or out of home (OOH) display industry in India almost entirely uses poly vinyl chloride or PVC flex screens on display spaces when all major markets around the world are adopting digital display solutions. India is relatively new to digital displays like LED video wall screens and other kinds of large format digital displays that currently make up 2-3% of the Indian OOH market. However, this situation is set to change drastically in the near future as the government of India has banned single use plastic (SUP). It has been proven that PVC is the most toxic SUP since it contains very high levels of dioxin, which is a hazardous chemical compound.

Why is Indian OOH industry stuck with static displays?

The Indian OOH industry continues to use static PVC flex displays overwhelmingly because the bulk of the digital display screens available in the market are unreliable Chinese imports. For an Indian OOH business to depend entirely on such products to service the vast LED display market in the country is very challenging. For instance, an LED video wall display requires regular and high quality servicing to function optimally but that’s clearly a challenge with imported products especially from a turbulent market like China. Indian buyers are aware of such issues.

Current cost doesn’t justify the massive investment

In a situation where the entire supply chain is dependent on imports from China, the Indian buyer is not confident about getting any worthwhile servicing support from the overseas suppliers. Hence they are ready to overlook the higher recurring cost of using static PVC flex screens till the time such products are manufactured locally in India. They know that indigenous production of an outdoor LED video wall screen will make it much less expensive as there will be no import tariffs, logistic hassles and shipping times to worry about. In addition to that, an Indian manufacturer will ensure reliable servicing support.

The Indian OOH display industry is all set to go DOOH

The government’s ban on SUP is being enforced a lot more strictly this time and all kinds of manufacture or procurement of SUP material is being penalized. As the most hazardous kind of SUP, PVC flex will face the restrictions very soon and that’s when the Indian OOH industry will need to look for alternatives. Returning to painting of the display boards is not an option anymore and the only way out is to go for LED video wall display screens and other digital display variants. Thankfully, an Indian company has already operationalized its advanced manufacturing facility for LED display screens. Others will emerge before long and make it easier for Indian buyers to make the shift to digital displays soon.