N S Publicity, Salt OOH and Explomedia merge to form Discoveri Media

Discoveri Media holds more than 90 per cent share of the OOH market in Gurgaon. It also features ambient media properties of Salt OOH within offices, airports, cinema halls, malls and colleges.

N S Publicity, Salt OOH (the ambient media specialist unit launched by www.allaboutoutdoor.com) and Explomedia have merged their out of home (OOH) business operations to form a new entity, Discoveri Media. The three out of home agencies, based in the Delhi and NCR region, have diluted their existing stake holdings into a common pool to venture into this new entity.

Post formation, Discoveri Media holds more than 90 per cent share of the OOH market in Gurgaon and have dominant media presence in South and Central Delhi and Faridabad.

Discoveri Media also features ambient media properties of Salt OOH within offices, airports, cinema halls, malls and colleges in Delhi-NCR, Hyderabad, Chandigarh, Kolkata, Chennai and other cities.

Talking on the development, K D Maheshwari, promoter, N S Publicity, says, "Delhi NCR outdoor market is represented through small and privately controlled media houses and it was important to work out a business case around a common objective to grow together." Maheshwari will now serve as joint managing director and chief financial controller for Discoveri Media.

Ankur Rastogi, erstwhile founder and chief strategist, Salt OOH, will now work as joint managing director and chief strategist for Discoveri Media. Rastogi shares, "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 growth, while making sure that this growth is channelled well and does not take away the challenges and the rewards of entrepreneurship."

Sunjjoy Dhadhich, erstwhile president, Explomedia believes that the future calls for like-minded people to come together and create a world of possibilities which has not been experienced before, rather than competing with each other. He says, "It was a big decision for Explomedia, which was operating standalone for the last decade but the merits of the new business model had impressed and therefore the merger." Dhadhich will now become joint managing director and chief sales controller for Discoveri Media.

Narendra Bhaskar, partner, N S Publicity, says, "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." At Discoveri Media, Bhaskar will be joint managing director and chief operations/asset procurement controller.