The elimination of outdoor advertising for cigarettes is not shaking a market estimated at 35 million euros last year.

The EU accession came with some bad news for the companies that operate in the tobacco industry, such as the prohibition of cigarette advertising in the outdoor network or in the printed media, except for the media specialised in the tobacco field. Who replaced the cigarette manufacturers on the billboards?

The retailers or the real estate companies are among the newest entries on the outdoor market, according to Lucian Palaz, CEO and deputy president with Affichage Romania, which has 21% of the outdoor market, according to its estimates.

However, Palaz mentions that one should take into account the fact that the outdoor network that was dedicated to the tobacco industry in the past was redistributed to the other industries that were already present on this segment. In his opinion, the investments made by the tobacco manufacturers in the outdoor advertising did not exceed 22% of the entire market value last year.

The outdoor market was expected to experience a small shock caused by the exit of the tobacco producers, which held a major share in the outdoor market (20-30% according to the estimates), with the outdoor companies considered collateral victims.

Yet, the outdoor companies do not seem to feel threatened. The main reason for this is that the market is dynamic and if a player exits, another one takes its place.

The number of empty billboards has increased in Bucharest as well as in the big Romanian cities over the recent weeks. The main reasonable explanation is that the empty billboards are caused by the elimination of cigarette advertising.

This is an "unfortunate" coincidence, according to the representatives of the outdoor companies. "What caused the situation of empty billboards was the sequen