FM players are gearing up in all possible ways to attract more listeners in order acquire the top slot. Experts say that global meltdown limited the FM stations in terms of show launches and increasing properties. According to Apurva Purohit, president, Association of Radio Operators for India (AROI) and CEO, Radio City 91.1 FM, “The radio industry in FY09 saw a growth of 40% in June-July. However, September-October was not very favorable and saw a dip of 20%. Since the last four years, Radio City has seen a CAGR of 20%.”
Big 92.7 FM, a Reliance ADAG radio operator, is now trying to reposition itself in the Mumbai and Delhi market. Tarun Katial, COO, Big FM, told FE, “In an attempt to attract more listeners in Mumbai and Delhi, we decided to launch a new music format called ‘Chillax Hits’. This new initiative will be based on weekly testing of songs that score high on popularity and likeability feature on the station’s play list.”
On the other hand, Radio City has just completed season three of Musical-e-Azam and has seen an increasing demand for such shows. According to media planners, Radio City’s investment in marketing is Rs 8-12 crore.
Meanwhile, FM players are also looking for strong online campaign to leverage the brand. Radio Mirchi has created a networking setup on its website for listeners whereas players like Fever, Red FM and Big FM Radio City have adopted platforms like Orkut, Facebook and Twitter to garner incremental audiences.
Anand Chakravarthy, senior V-P (marketing), Big FM said, “As part of the digital initiative, we have tied up with Bigflix.com, Reliance web world and Zapak to promote the repositioning. We have also partnered with multiplexes like Inox, Sathyam and BIG Cinemas, while retail partnership includes a DLF mall in Delhi and Inorbit in Mumbai. ”
Neeraj Chaturvedi, national marketing head, Fever FM, said, “This year has been a big achievement for the station as we were the radio partner for Delhi Daredevils in IPL. This attracted cricket fans to tune into our station. Looking at the success, we have also tied up with 2009 Champions League where the listeners can interact with their favorite cricketers.”
Commenting on the expansion plans, Purohit says that the FM stations? future plans will depend on the phase III policy that is expected by December, 2009. The FM industry is currently paying around Rs 75 lakh -100 lakh per annum as royalty fees, which is becoming tough for the FM industry to survive, especially in smaller towns.
According to the Radio Audience Measurement (RAM) data for the four metros (week 35), Big FM dominated the market in Bangalore with a market share of 18.8 %, followed by Radio Mirchi and Fever FM with 16.1% and 14%, respectively. AIR FM and Radio City had market shares of 12.7 % and 11.9 %, followed by Red FM and Radio One with 9.8% and 8.3% market share.