BBC World Service will be launching an aggressive campaign, starting this week, to promote its radio programmes being aired on various FM stations across the country. The campaign will be launched in Mumbai and rolled out to other cities in phases.
BBC World Service currently airs three programmes?BBC Take One, BBC Ek Mulaqat and BBC Ek Minute?on various FM channels, including Radio One?s Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, Chennai, Pune and Ahmedabad stations, Radio Chaska?s Gwalior station, Radio Choklate?s Bhubaneswar /Cuttack and Rourkela stations, Radio Misty?s Siliguri station, Radio Tadka?s Jaipur and Udaipur stations and Radio Tomato?s Kolhapur station. These programmes were launched in 2006, and span genres like entertainment, lifestyle and sports. The promotional campaign, which will make use of print and out-of-home media, has been designed by Ogilvy One.
Promotional activities for the shows will be integrated with partner FM stations. Currently, these shows provided as free content to FM channels by BBC and therefore are non-commercial in nature. The arrangement with Radio One is an exception, as BBC Worldwide has a stake in it.
Vaishali Sharma, head of marketing and communications, south Asia, BBC global news division said, ?Radio listenership has grown exponentially in the last couple of years, therefore it?s the right time to promote our shows heavily.?
BBC World Service is also available in India over the medium and short wave. The audience base of the station has reached about 20 million.
Sharma sees more opportunities in private FM stations. ?If they are allowed to broadcast news content, we would like to explore possibilities depending on when and how it opens,? she said.