Listeners in the US can now tune in to Indian radio programmes beamed by BIG 92.7 FM.
The Reliance-Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group-controlled Adlabs’ radio network has begun syndicating content to Asian FM, one of the biggest radio stations catering to South Asian audiences in the US.
NEERAJ CHATURVEDI: Station head, Delhi, Fever 104 FM. Strategy: The differentiator is the music-only format. Plus, a series of promotional contests underline the channel’s presence in the market.
This is just one of the many marketing moves the radio station, which has launched 33 channels in India in the past year, has undertaken as part of Big Reach—a marketing drive spearheaded from Bangalore, combining on-air and on-ground activities.
Its rival, Mid-Day Multimedia Ltd’s Radio One, shortened its programme segment to reach out to the young while Radio Today Broadcasting Ltd, the radio division of the India Today group, has launched a women’s only channel.
Fever 104 FM, a radio channel from HT Media Ltd (which also publishes Mint), is focusing on promotional schemes and campaigns. Since its launch in October last year, it has run three contests—Fever Bolo, Bingo Tick Tock Boing and HT Housie—with rich rewards for the winners. “The scale of promotions is surely a major point of differentiation from the other radio stations,” says Neeraj Chaturvedi, station head, Delhi, Fever 104 FM.
As more than 100 stations strive to find a niche in the suddenly crowded Indian radio space, private players are experimenting with innovative strategies to rope in listeners and advertisers.
There is no doubt that radio in India is poised for massive expansion, thanks to technological advancements and the entry of private players—liberalization in the late 1990s opened up radio companies to private and foreign investment, ending the domination of state broadcaster All India Radio. PricewaterhouseCoopers forecasts that the radio industry will grow to Rs1,700 crore by 2011—an almost three-fold growth from the current Rs650 crore.
From 20 channels in 2006, the number has risen to 100. Sunil Kumar, a radio analyst for Big River Radio (India) Pvt. Ltd, a consulting firm that advises radio stations in India, says he expects about 300 stations to launch in the next 18 months.
In January last year, during the second phase of privatization, 337 channels were up for grabs across 91 cities. Of these, 245 were acquired, and the government picked up Rs895.6 crore in one-time licence fees. Bids for stations in New Delhi and Mumbai touched Rs30 crore each.
These channels have to grab a substantial chunk of the advertising pie to recover costs. According to a 2006 PricewaterhouseCoopers report, 3.1% of all media advertising in the country that year was on the radio. The share is expected to grow to 5.5%, or Rs1,200 crore in advertising revenues, by 2011. That is more than three times the Rs360 crore in ad revenues radio stations earned in 2005.