NEW DELHI: In a significant development, OOH companies, NS Publicity, Salt OOH and Explomedia have merged their businesses to form OOH powerhouse - Discoveri Media. Right at the very outset, the company has an annual turnover of Rs. 100 crore.

Post formation, Discoveri Media holds more than 90 percent share of the OOH market in Gurgaon and has dominant traditional media presence in South/Central Delhi and Faridabad. Discoveri Media also features all tactical ambient media properties of Salt OOH within premium offices, airports, cinemas, malls and colleges in Delhi NCR, Hyderabad, Chandigarh, Kolkata, Chennai, etc. Discoveri Media does not have rights on NS Publicity’s media business in Rajasthan.

Discoveri Media is an equal joint ownership which has been formed after NS Publicity, Salt OOH and Explomedia have diluted their existing share holding in their private ventures into a common pool to venture the path of becoming India’s largest OOH media company by 2014.

The vision will be achieved jointly through strategic acquisitions/mergers by Discoveri Media with smaller but profitable companies, as well as participating in direct media acquisitions from public and private sectors.

Taking on this significant development, KD Maheshwari, promoter, NS Publicity expressed his immense happiness to have achieved this huge feat in such a short time after entering into the Delhi NCR market just few years ago. “Delhi NCR is the most critical outdoor media market which is represented through small and privately controlled media houses. It was important to work-out a business case around a common objective to grow together and we are glad we have achieved it must faster than we thought.” KD Maheshwari will now represent the company as the joint managing director and chief financial controller of Discoveri Media.

Ankur Rastogi, founder and chief strategist, Salt OOH, said, “It’s like giving shape and life to a strategy which has worked wonders for all. Survival is the mother of all inventions and I believe that this is what made us plan and conceptualise a strategic merger proposition for companies who had an equal hunger for growth while making sure that this growth is channelised well and does not take away the challenges and the rewards of entrepreneurship.” Ankur Rastogi will also represent the company as the joint managing director and chief strategist of Discoveri Media.

Sunjjoy Dhadhich, president, Explomedia is elated to feature as an integral part of this expansion strategy and stated “The future calls for like-minded people to not compete with each other but to synergise together and help create a world of possibilities not experienced before. It was a big decision for Explomedia which is operating as a standalone for the last decade, but the merits of the new business model had impressed all of us and therefore the merger.” Sunjjoy Dhadhich will now represent the company as the joint managing director and chief sales controller of Discoveri Media.

Narendra Bhaskar, partner, NS Publicity, mentioned, “This equals the next 5 years journey conquered in just 5 months. We were sure of our growth, but having it as a result of an early amalgamation of bright, aggressive OOH entrepreneurs and tactical businesses was a new way for me. The scale it brings is evident, but I must highlight the expertise it offers to the new venture. This collective expertise will take us to the next level of growth very soon.” Narendra Bhaskar will also represent the company as the joint managing director and chief operations/asset procurement controller for Discoveri Media.

Discoveri Media has been operational as a pilot project for the last 3 months wherein, all the promoters involved were trying to negotiate the bottlenecks and post finding progressive results in the last 3 months of joint-working, it was observed that the merger was the most appropriate solution for all.

Discoveri Media will continue to explore opportunities with other OOH media houses willing to partner in this endeavour of becoming India’s largest and the most innovative OOH media company and also looks forward to having the best professionals in the business come on board on mutually beneficial terms.

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