Outdoor Advertising Costs Shoot Up After Billboard Removals in Karachi

Out of over 5,000 billboards, pole signs, pylons and other outdoor advertising media in Karachi, 67% have been temporarily or permanently dismantled following a Supreme Court deadline that lapsed on 30th June.

The new data has been revealed in a research conducted by Karachi based outdoor advertising intelligence company 24Grey.

Outdoor advertising is an approximately Rs.950 Crores per annum industry in Karachi which generates an estimated Rs.155 Crores as direct local taxes and Rs.210 Crores in indirect taxes for the government.

Based on current inventory levels and pricing, the new market value stands at Rs.390 Crores with a drop of almost 60%.

“It’s understandable why the OOH industry is reluctant to completely remove this inventory, they invested billions in installing it by getting all legal permits at the time. The SC ruling changes the playing field but as an industry, outdoor advertising will rebound by finding a new equilibrium with better quality and higher priced units” said Hameed Kashan, Team Lead at 24Grey.

“Based on the quality of intact inventory and the going rates in these locations, we estimate that Top 20 locations in Karachi for outdoor advertising will see a price premium of over 88% in per square foot rate while the remaining inventory in other locations will demand a 46% to 59% increase in price quotes” said Najiyeh Akbar, CoFounder at 24Grey.

The Supreme Court ruling applied to outdoor advertising inventory on public lands and property and excludes those installed on private property or in housing societies such as DHA.

Bulk of the inventory removed has not been permanently dismantled but is temporarily decommissioned suggesting that the outdoor advertising industry is optimistic that they will be able to salvage their property in the coming weeks and months.


  • What was the reason to have the 4 vulgar ads collage added in this post? It could have been avoided…

    @aamir, you know that is why I said that ProPK is taking leaf out of our media and you said you will look into this personally. These are the cheap tactics our media use in their news bulletins (aaj katrina ka birthday hay, aaj yeh item no. release hua, aaj is bollywood star ka scandal ban gaya.) And you are doing the same here, whats the difference?

    • Good KMQ. We are with you against this obscenity and lewdness and will boycott any media or website on your one call.

    • There should be supreme court ruling applied to propakistani as well… their standard has gone down to the lowest level just like quality product loses its quality with time and runs after money and quantity

  • It’s good. People should start relying more on digital marketing, it’s safe (as in it won’t fall on your head on a windy day) and efficient.

  • My Question: Can we advertise our products without showing a woman in it? In an Islamic country it is really painful to see such billboards. Showing a woman and showing her in a suggestive manner, what good is being achieved by that? I see ads from Shan Foods, they do not use any woman in it and still they are market leaders in their category. I can just pray that our local companies at least follow a sane path and avoid showing woman on billboards.

      • Allah karey yeh baat humarey mulk key company owners key dil par lag jaye aur woh saaf suthrey tareeqay sey apney products market karen. Aameen.

    • From QMobile phone to Gaaye Bnaspati and from Fresh Up to Cadbury Perk, Pakistani media think it can be advertised by cheap dance moves in commercials as best possible way.

    • What is more pathetic is propakistani used those same unislamic billboards to increase their rating!

  • Lets set religion aside. We have a habit to bring it in everywhere. Religion should be a personal matter until we learn our manners – thats it. We are too retarded, illiterarte and inept to fulfil the responsibility of amr bil maruf wa nahi anil mukar.
    Displaying scantly clad women on ads and billboards should be banned for the sake of dignity, value and rights of women. This sexism and objectification of women has to stop at least in our country. And lib-turds (oh liberals i mean) as well as femishits (oh feminists i meant) should not have a problem with ensuring respect for the female gender. Such a solution will not only shut up religious fanatics but also liberal fascists.


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