By Imran Malik | Business & Media Industry Desk | MediaBites.com.pk
Lahore Outdoor Advertising Association elections 2026 are underway with two competing groups, Outdoor Business Group and Outdoor Media Owners Group, contesting for leadership of Pakistan’s most organised outdoor advertising market.
Outdoor advertising is a $35 billion global industry. In Pakistan, it remains fragmented, under-regulated, and divided between national players operating across the country and city-specific operators who dominate their local markets. Within that landscape, Lahore stands apart.
Lahore’s outdoor advertising industry is the most organised, most professionally structured, and most globally aligned outdoor media market in Pakistan. It operates closer to international industry norms than any other Pakistani city. And right now, its future direction is being decided by 70 voters in one of the most closely watched association elections in the city’s advertising community.
The Two Groups Competing for Leadership
Group One — Outdoor Business Group (OBG)
The Outdoor Business Group is contesting under the banner “Vote for Unity — Vote for Trade” with the following panel:
- Adyan Sadiq Lone — Chairman
- Nisar Siddiqui — President
- Shoaib Ghani — Vice President
- Imran Hameed — General Secretary
- Saif Ullah — Information Secretary
- Mehwish Khan — Finance Secretary
- Muhammad Ijaz — Executive Member
- Mohsin Siddiqui — Executive Member
- Bilal Butt — Executive Member
- Ather Hussain — Executive Member
Group Two — Outdoor Media Owners Group (OMOG)
The Outdoor Media Owners Group is contesting under the banner “Stronger Future — Your Vote Your Right” with the following panel:
- M. Naeem Gill — President
- Mashood Amir — Vice President
- Nadeem Rahat — General Secretary
- Sarfaraz Ahmed — Finance Secretary
- Maaz Uddin — Information Secretary
- Sameer Paracha — Executive Member
- Ramiz Bukhari — Executive Member
- Mirza Humayun Baig — Executive Member
- Asad Sheikh — Executive Member
Why This Election Matters
Outdoor advertising in Pakistan faces a set of structural challenges that no single operator, however large, can resolve alone. These include inconsistent municipal regulation of billboard sizes, locations, and permissions across different city administrations. The absence of a standardised audience measurement system comparable to the global ROAD or Eyes On metrics used in developed markets. Pricing opacity that prevents advertisers from making rational, data-driven outdoor media investments. And the fragmentation between national players and local operators that prevents the industry from presenting a unified case to government regulators and large advertisers.
A strong, credible, professionally led Lahore Outdoor Advertising Association has the potential to address all of these challenges, establishing standardised operating practices, engaging with the Lahore Development Authority and the Punjab government on billboard regulation, and building the industry’s collective credibility with Pakistan’s growing national and multinational advertiser base.
The 70 members voting in this election are not simply choosing between two panels of candidates. They are choosing a vision for what Lahore’s outdoor advertising industry becomes over the next two to three years.
The Broader Pakistan Outdoor Industry Context
Pakistan’s outdoor advertising industry has significant untapped potential. Major national players including Walall, Media Xpose, and various regional operators serve a growing advertiser market that is increasingly looking at outdoor as a complement to digital media rather than a substitute for it.
The digital out-of-home revolution that has transformed outdoor advertising in London, Dubai, Singapore, and New York has not yet arrived at scale in Pakistan, but the infrastructure investment and regulatory clarity required to enable it will only come when the industry’s own associations demonstrate the professional credibility to negotiate on equal terms with city governments and major property owners.
Lahore, as Pakistan’s most advanced outdoor market, has the best opportunity to lead that transformation. The association election currently underway is the first step in determining who will attempt to make it happen.
The Vote — 70 Members, Two Visions
Both competing groups have built their campaigns around the outdoor industry’s genuine needs. OBG’s emphasis on unity and trade reflects the importance of internal industry cohesion in addressing the regulatory and commercial challenges that fragment the market. OMOG’s emphasis on a stronger future and individual voting rights reflects the importance of democratic accountability and fresh leadership energy in association governance.
The 70 members voting in this election know their industry better than any outside observer. Their collective judgment on which group offers the more credible path to the professional association that Lahore’s outdoor industry deserves will define the sector’s direction for years to come.
MediaBites will cover the election results and the new leadership’s first moves. Stay tuned.
— Imran Malik | Business and Media Industry Desk | MediaBites.com.pk | Southera.com
