Radio Advertising

Executive Summary

Advertising in general expresses the positioning. Powerful advertising is the result

of powerful planning. Great ideas and great ad campaigns don’t just pop out from no

where, they are built on the key communication points that motivate sales.

Radio is entirely a medium of sound, which evokes smells, sensations and visual

images which brings the listeners imaginations into play.

Radio advertising is one of the tools of advertising which is effectively used for

communication and positioning. It is one of the foundations for effective and successful

advertising. Radio can be used effectively for advertisement since it can target the large

audience because of its high reach. Radio is good at increasing awareness about the brand

and business and helping in building the brand image.

But all this was only for pure academic purpose. With the advent of television

radio lost its popularity and thus its purpose with the marketers. This led to sharp declines

in the proportion of advertisement spending on radio as compared to other media.

But then came the governments order on liberalization and privatization. This

brought about loads of changes in the world of radio broadcasting in India. Prominent

and established companies entered the business of FM Broadcasting.

FM broadcasting has breathed a new life into the medium of Radio in the past few

months. Could radio now think this as a new phase of its life or a re-birth? Of course yes,

people are today talking only Radio---- Radio Mirchi, Radio City, RED, Go and WIN.

One will find people with radio sets of different shapes and sizes listening to their

favourite music on roads, in hotels, even the bidi shops aired on any of the music

channels. The radio channels are now vying against each other to provide their best to the

listeners

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Radio Advertising

However one can see that although radio is an excellent medium it has been used

to its full potential and various efforts should be taken to improve it as with proper

direction radio can reach heights as it is the cheapest and a very good medium.

Objective

Through this project my objective has been to understand the following

To find out about the current scenario of the radio industry.

The reasons for a stunted growth of the industry

The various steps in radio advertisement

Realizing the needs and wants of consumers and fulfilling them

What the various radio stations have to offer the masses.

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Radio Advertising

Research Methodology

Through this project I have made an effort to understand the advertisng tool called

radio advertising which is being increasingly recognized by marketers as a powerful tool

that helps in finding new customers and retaining the existing ones at a much lesser cost.

Primary Research:

The aim of primary research was to understand radio advertising as it is seen in

the corporate world. To understand this I have taken two interview from different fields.

Mr. Madhav Joshi who is currently working in Leo Burnett who helped me

understand what all goes into the making of a radio advertisement.

The mode of interview used was an informal one where he answered my

questions on one to one basis.

Also Mr. Sudarshan Sahe the senior marketing manager of Radio City gave me an

interview and helped me in trying to understand as to how the station works and looks

after the needs of its consumers

Secondary Research

The aim of secondary research was to understand as to why radio advertising has

been able to grow at a considerable rate as compared to the other media.also the fall out

of radio in the last decade .

It was also undertaken to understand how radio advertising is done and what re

the current players in the market.

Secondary data collection method: desk research

Secondary data collection sources: internet, books, newspaper articles

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Radio Advertising

Introduction

Old media don’t’ die! They just bounce back in new avatars. Not so long ago

radio had been written off as fuddy-duddy, down market and not so cool. Television and

later “new media” were touted to being the media of the future. But thanks to technology

radio is making a comeback. In fact, in its new avatar-fm-radio is all set too become the

hippest, coolest and most with -it medium.

FM radio is a new entity altogether and has to deal with new market dynamics.

Media owners dealing with new markets will virtually have to draw up their strategies as

they go along, create programming that is new, innovative and grab away eyeballs from

TV sets and make them tune into their radio sets. It’s a whole new challenge and

competition is never far away. Ad revenues will also not be easy to come by, as

advertisers will expect media players to put their money where their speakers are before

they commit large sums of money towards radio advertising. The other challenge for

radio in attracting advertisers is the nature of the medium-radio has always considered

being a reminder medium. The involvement of listeners to radio is low, Vis a Vis

television or print media.

However in spite of the various challenges the emergence of private FM stations

is certain to increase the quantum of radio advertising in the country , much like satellite

channels did to the quantum of television advertising in the country. That should open up

a vast new market of consumers-100 million Indian households own an estimated 150

million radios, outnumbering television sets 3:1.

The geographical area covered by radio in India in India is as high as 98 percent

and the penetration level is approximately 97 percent. But FM presently covers only 17

percent of the area and 21 % of the population of India through transmitters. Currently

radio has just 2 percent of the 9000 crore Indian advertising market according to an

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Radio Advertising

Arthur Anderson’s survey. Globally depending on each country, radio has a 5 % to 12 %

of the advertising cake. On the higher side are countries like the United States with 13 %,

Canada with 12.7% and Spain with 9.1%. FM station executives are not forthcoming

on multi-platform strategies as yet. Given that radio has penetrated into 100 million

homes and a FM set costs around Rs. 50/- FICCI estimates FM’s share up from the

present 1.5 percent to 5 % in five years. They have also forecasted that revenues from

radio advertising in India will be Rs. Rs. 1200 crores by 2005 and Revenue of radio

services is expected to rise to Rs 689 crore by 2008 at a CAGR of 30 per cent.

While TV is a family medium, radio is personalized. Also advertising of certain

product seems to work very well while some might not. For example, cellular phone

service or auto related products would have a good impact when advertised on radio is

primarily known as a “drive time” medium most people who turn in are doing so while

commuting. Thus the potential if FM is better is bigger town, as the car population is

much bigger. This would be the key when evaluating the medium. Also one must not

forgot that radio continues to be a medium that has tremendous reach among the poor and

marginalized sections of society.

With the coming of more channels, and the emergence of lifestyle advertising,

radio will become a push and pull medium. As said earlier, is not just making a comeback

but is being reincarnated into a new avatar.

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Radio Advertising

Some Basic Technical Knowledge

Any radio setup has two parts:

The transmitter

The receiver

The transmitter takes some sort of message (it could be the sound of someone's

voice, pictures for a TV set, data for a radio modem or whatever), encodes it onto a sine

wave and transmits it with radio waves. The receiver receives the radio waves and

decodes the message from the sine wave it receives. Both the transmitter and receiver use

antennas to radiate and capture the radio signal.

When you listen to a radio station and the announcer says, "you are listening to

91.5 fm “what the announcer means is that you are listening to a radio station

broadcasting an fm radio signal at a frequency of 91.5 megahertz. Megahertz means

"millions of cycles per second," so "91.5 megahertz" means that the transmitter at the

radio station is operating at a frequency of 91,500,000 cycles per second. Your fm

(frequency modulated) radio can tune in to that specific frequency and give you clear

reception of that station. All fm radio stations transmit in a band of frequencies between

88 megahertz and 108 megahertz. This band of the radio spectrum is used for no other

purpose but fm radio broadcasts.

Common frequency band includes the following…

AM radio - 535 kilohertz to 1.7 megahertz

FM radio - 88 megahertz to 108 megahertz

AM radio has been around a lot longer than FM radio. The first radio broadcasts occurred

in 1906 or so, and frequency allocation for AM radio occurred during the 1920s. In the

1920s, radio and electronic capabilities were fairly limited, hence the relatively low

frequencies for AM radio. FM radio was invented by a man named Edwin Armstrong in

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Radio Advertising

order to make high-fidelity (and static-free) music broadcasting possible. He built the

first station in 1939, but FM did not become really popular until the 1960s.

Royalties

FM is primarily a music channel, so the question of royalties is relevant. The

Indian Protographic Record Society (IPRS) and Phonographic Performance (P) Ltd.

(PPL) are supposed to hold all the rights of royalties. They are demanding Rs. 1,500 per

hour (as against Rs. 100 per hour, at which they are supplying music to AIR), PPL is

demanding a royalty of Rs. 250 per hour of needle time, the actual duration of a piece of

music. The IPRS is demanding Rs. 100 per hour. The IPRS claims royalty for the original

composers and authors of music.

Cost - Aspect

A Licencee pays Rs. 6000/- per hour.

Add Rs. 1,500/- for the music.

Add Rs. 3,000/- for the technology, salaries and other expenses. An hour long

show thus costs Rs. 10,500.

10 - Minutes have been set aside for advertising. One minute is reserved out of

10 - minutes for social awareness advertising.

Thus, advertising time available for sale is 9 - minutes.

In other words, 18 advertisements each of 30 seconds can be accommodate in an

hour.

This is the high target. Besides the tariff card should be modest, considering the

limited range and listenership supposing a 30 - seconder costs Rs. 500 at prime time for

18 such spots, the total revenue generated is Rs. 9000/- . Another estimate puts the

production cost of an hour long programme around Rs. 6,000/-. Add Rs. 6,000/- of the

licensee fee to AIR.

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Radio Advertising

Studio hiring costs are between Rs. 500 - Rs. 1000 an hour. The total expenses

are thus Rs. 12,500 to Rs. 13,000 per hour.

Advent of Format Radio

The arrival of 'Moving Pictures' with sound and then 'Television' were expected to

be the death knell for 'Radio'. However Radio has not just survived repeated predictions

of its demise but grown tremendously. It has benefited listeners and advertisers alike and

earned the status of a 'Constant Companion'... What allowed Radio to accomplish this

feat? Read on for the long journey the Radio industry has covered thus far.

It was way back in 1895, that Guglielmo Marconi invented an antenna to send and

receive radio signals. It took quite a while before Reginald Fessenden developed the first

radio receiver in 1913. However, experts give a lot of credit to David Sarnoff who

actually conceived what is called as the "radio music box". It was Sarnoff who suggested

that radio should be mass-produced for public consumption. His persistence paid off in

1919 when such sets were available for general purchase. This saw the beginning of what

was later looked on as the 'Golden Age of Radio'.

Early 1920s saw the launch of commercial radio. People in households would

gather around the radio to listen to their favorite programs much as they do today with

TV. Radio became the first medium delivering entertainment to the masses in their

homes. The 1st paid announcement on radio was a 10-minute capsule from Howthorne

Court; a Queens based Real Estate Company. This era was characterized with 'block

programming' wherein radio offered something to everyone. News, drama, sports; live

musical recordings would be presented in 30 or 60-minute programs. A network soap

opera could be followed by a 15-minute newscast followed by one hour of a concert.

Then in the 1950s TV began to catch the public's attention. Audiences were

charmed by the audiovisual experience of TV. A large number of popular shows moved

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Radio Advertising

from radio to TV. That was not all, as the radio industry was also losing a large number

of talented staff to TV.

At this point in time, radio experts discovered an opportunity that only radio could

provide. They realized that radio was the only medium that could be used while doing

other things, like getting dressed for work, cooking a meal, traveling to office, studying

and more.

Radio turned 'local' and moved to what is known in the industry as 'Format'

programming. This era also spawned two of radio's greatest strengths: immediacy and

local service. Format radio strategy was based on providing the same kind of

entertainment to a selected audience, throughout the day, seven days a week.

As the story goes, Storz and McClendon used to frequent a local malt shop, which

had a jukebox. They observed that the customers would usually come and play the same

songs that they liked, over and over again. In fact, the staff serving these people would

end up playing just the same songs even when the shop was closed.From this insight

emerged the "Top 40" format or the "Contemporary Hit Radio (CHR)" format were the

most popular hits would be played on a higher rotation.

This led to a change in the way radio time was being sold. Sales people shifted

from selling programs to selling commercials. It also led to a shift in the way radio

programs were scheduled. As radio was being used as a background medium of

entertainment, it had to be relevant to the listener at every point of time in the day. The

shows therefore had to be reflective of various day parts in the life of the listener.

Irrespective of the form it came in, format radio definitely made radio not just

survive the onslaught of TV but also made it grow tremendously. Being the only medium

that could be carried and used wherever you are, it could update you about your world

throughout the day while providing you with the entertainment you like all the time.

Radio became "The Constant Companion".

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Radio Advertising

The total number of radio sets at the time of independence in 1947 was a mere

275000.at that time a radio receiver used to be a status symbol in this country. But today

its possession is taken for granted. According to estimates, there are radio sets in about

105 million households in the country.

History of Indian Radio

 For more than 4 decades, the Government of India did not permit private radio

stations to broadcast in India. Then history changed its course. In 1993, the Government

allowed private FM operators to 'buy' blocks (chunks) on All India Radio, prepare

programming content, book commercials from advertisers and broadcast the whole lot.

Within 4 years, (1997-98), the FM Radio advertising and sponsorship business grew to

Rs. 93 crores with Times of India's Times FM & Mid-Day Group's Radio Mid-Day

becoming the main players.

 Then, in June 1998 the Government, through its electronic media regulatory body

Prasar Bharti, decided not to renew contracts of private FM operators.Not surprisingly,

the advertising revenue fell by 50% within a year!

 This time, the Government gave the green light to privatize radio in India. July 6,

1999 was the historic day when the Government announced that 150 new FM channels

would be licensed across 40 ci t ies .

 And in 2000, the Government auctioned licenses for private FM channels to

bolster the revenue. And the focus on metros was evident in the bidding. Expecting to

collect Rs 800 million from auctioning 108 licenses, the government had to actually face

mass withdrawal of bidders because of the huge license fee. A handful of serious bidders

chose to remain.

In response to the Government's offer, many companies bid for the licenses to

operate in key markets. But the going was not so easy. Many gave up, unable to shell out

the high license fee. For instance, the bidding price for the Mumbai license was

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Radio Advertising

reportedly to the tune of Rs 9.75 crore. Others dropped out saying the business was not

viable. So, in effect, the competition shrank, players consolidated and the Government

extended its deadline. Today, there are roughly 10 players who will operate

approximately in 37 cities across the country.

The government collected close to Rs 4.6 billion as license fee for the privately

run FM radio channels in 40 cities. New Media Broadcasting, a Zee Group company,

which focused mainly on the smaller towns, won the largest number of bids.

  The first round of bidding - for 76 channels in 26 cities, garnered close to Rs 3.5

billion. The government got the highest bids - Rs 97.5 million from each of 10 broadcast

companies - for stations in Mumbai. Interestingly, the bids for Hyderabad and Nagpur

came next, each for Rs 77.2 million and Rs 74 million, respectively, while the bids for

Delhi were Rs 71.2 million each

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Radio Advertising

Radio is expected to follow the growth of the Television industry, which grew

rapidly following the entry of private players

Currently, FM coverage in India is restricted to just 17% of the country,

compared to 89% of All India Radio (AIR).

Players in Different Centers

Company Location of Centers Number of Centers

Bid amount for first years license (Rs. crore)

Entertainment Network [India]

Delhi, Mumbai, Calcutta, Chennai, Ahmedabad, Bhubaneshwar, Cuttack, Hyderabad, Indore, Jabalpur, Lucknow, Pune

12 43.87

Hitz FM Calcutta 1 1.00

India FM Calcutta 1 1.00

Living Media Delhi, Mumbai, Calcutta 3 17.87

Mid Day Broadcasting

Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai 3 20.17

Millennium Broadcasting

Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai 3 20.17

Music Broadcasting Delhi, Mumbai, Nagpur, Bangalore, Patna, Lucknow

6 41.37

Sumangali Publications - Sun TV

Chennai, Coimbatore, Tirunalveli

3 9.87

Vertex Broadcasting

Calcutta, Indore, Bhopal, Vishakapatnam

4 2.90

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Radio Advertising

Udaya TV - Sun TV Vishakapatnam 1 0.50

Incidentally, Music Broadcasting became the first firm in India to commence

private FM broadcast from Bangalore in July.

Licence Fee and revenue sharing model

Currently, FM players pay annual licence fees, which go up by 15 per cent every

year. Private FM radio sector would shift to a revenue-sharing model from the existing

licence fee regime. However, revenue-sharing also exists in the media sector. The

objective is to “make FM radio a success story”. It’s better to keep the revenue-sharing

figure low than to have a failed project. There has been debate on whether to recommend

a revenue-sharing structure or a fixed amount for a period of 10 years; it is firm on

revenue-sharing now. Revenue-sharing will follow payment of a one-time entry fee

through a process of bidding. Revenue-sharing figure is quite low at around 4 %.

While the private FM players had sought revenue-sharing in the band of 2-2.5 per

cent, the panel has fixed it at 4 per cent.

Setting up new radio stations

After the second round of privatization, the number of FM radio stations targeted

is around 300 to 400. The panel also suggested that players wanting to enter the sector in

the second round of licensing need to have a technical viability clearance by a financial

institution on the financial viability of the project. It has also recommended to the

government to release additional spectrum for the use of FM radio companies so that the

number of companies operating in one centre can go up.

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Radio Advertising

Future of Radio Industry

FM Radio can play its part in building a stronger business future for India.

Providing free-to-air local broadcasts of music and entertainment, helpful information -

traffic advisories, community announcements and public service messages provide a real

value-added service. But at current levels of advertising support, each radio station is

reeling under the brutal financial impact of high costs. With more players in the fray the

FM radio industry would grow and also enhance the government’s yield from licensing

radio naturally.

The new India deserves an active private FM radio sector. It can provide a level

playing field with benefits for listeners, for advertisers, employment & career options.

Spearhead the government objective of growing the FM radio business in India.

With the government ready to reduce the license fees it will help in attractingnew

palyers like reliance which had earlier backed out only due to the entry fees.also

government allowing foreign players to enter he Indian market it will help the industry

grow. Virgin group has already started exploring the Indian market for suitable partners.

various radio stations are coming up with IPO for example Radio Mirchi thus helping

them expand.

The future looks bright as the reach of radio is expected to raise post the increase

in the number and quality of players in the industry. It is on the basis of these key drivers

of growth, it is being predicted that radio's share in the total advertising pie will see an

increase in the medium term. There are an estimated 150 million radio sets across the

country. The Rs 1.6 billion industry is reported to be growing by 31 per cent every year

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Radio Advertising

and should touch the Rs 6.2 billion by 2007, with revenue rising at 23 per cent annually.

Also, though radio has only a 2 per cent share in the Rs 6,000 crore Indian advertising

market, advertising spending is expected to amount to Rs 500 crore this year.

SWOT Analysis

Strengths:

Recently, the government has agreed upon revenue-sharing model, which is 4 %

for the growth of the radio stations. So that they can develop themselves well

because this industry is still in an introduction stage.

The success of private FM stations, and reveals that radio listenership habits have

changed considerably; not only are listeners tuning into it more often but also

sticking to radio for longer hours everyday.

The advertisers, who would depend on word-of-mouth, pamphlets, brochures or

ads in local supplements of newspapers, are welcoming the opportunity.

Radio is considered as a background medium, because people can listen to radio

anytime and anywhere they want. It is also a free medium.

90% of India has access to radio which is unmatched by any other media.

Radio also reaches to uneducated village folk who do not read print publications.

At the places where the literacy rates are low where people hardly read

newspapers and radio is the only medium that they can understand. They can’t

afford a TV set. Therefore radio is more popular.

Radio is the least cost medium and it helps to reach mass audience with various

backgrounds. Radio offers its reach frequency and selectivity at one of the lowest

costs per thousand and radio production is relatively inexpensive.

Radio is considered as a medium where the “Proximity to purchase” is very high.

Radio is a complement to another media. Therefore, other media or the advertisers

or agency can use this medium for brand recall.

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Radio Advertising

Weakness:

One of the major weaknesses of Radio is that there is very less differentiation in

the programmes that are aired. Most of the stations plays much of the music that

is played consist of Hindi Film songs, and therefore it is difficult to differentiate

between the programmes of the different channels.

Fragmented Audience - the large number of the audience in India is fragmented in

various remote places. And therefore, the percentage of listener tuned to anyone

station is likely very small.

No proper research available - research is very important for any advertising

segment. Research is the main base to attract client and get more revenue. But, in

India there is no proper research is available. Many stations are conducting their

own research which can be biased.

Radio-only nature of radio communication is a tremendous creative compromise.

An advertiser whose product depends on demonstration or visual impact is at a

loss when it comes to radio. And like its radio message creates a fleeting

impression that is often gone in an instant. Many advertisers think that without

strong visual brand identification the medium can play little or no role in their

advertising plans.

Increase in listenership numbers but no increase in ad revenue. This is the

situation that every radio channel is facing.

Short commercials

Opportunities:

Getting copyright licenses from the government for running mega events which

are aired on the AIR radio station and have been restricted to be aired on other

private stations.

Launching a radio station with 24-hour news channel

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Radio Advertising

Tie-ups with BEST or railway authority for playing the FM in train and in bus.

The launch of Private Radio FM has managed to create a set of ‘New Listeners’

for the medium

The new radio stations which will come in future they can have venture with the

college or university campuses. And can play their station which will exclusively

provide with the information relating to that university/college campus.

With the coming of the many more new players in the radio industry each

channels can position themselves quite different from others, like, if some station

is targeting the health conscious people then their programming strategy will vary

accordingly. And then it is easier for the advertisers also to decide on which

channel to advertise.

Allowing private FM players to start news and current affairs programmes.

One has to constantly innovate, and that is the challenge. Brand building is thus

much more difficult. At the same time, we are very bullish, and gung-ho about

this whole enterprise.

Leaves huge scope for innovation in local market

Threats:

The biggest threat to private radio industry players is ALL INDIA RADIO. AIR is

the biggest player in India because of its reach, low charges, government channel

etc…

Because of the new government policies there will be more number of stations

and then competition will also increase. This is one of the biggest threats it faces.

With no particular differentiation in the music. So, there is a fear of losing its

brand loyalty.

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Radio Advertising

Advertising in India India has been among the fastest growing economies in the world, with a nominal

GDP CAGR of 9.94% over the last 10 years (1995-2005). The nominal GDP for fiscal

2005 was Rs. 30,636 billion. According to CSO estimates nominal GDP growth for fiscal

2006 is estimated at 10.9%. There is a correlation between the economic growth rates of

a country i.e. the nominal GDP growth rate, and growth rates of the advertising industry

The Indian advertising spends, as a percentage of GDP, is 0.34%, which lags behind

other developed and developing countries

During fiscal 2005, the gross advertising spend in India is estimated at Rs 111

billion, and is expected to grow at 14.2% to reach Rs. 127 billion by fiscal 2006

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Radio Advertising

Segmentation in advertising

The five key industry segments comprise print, television, radio, cinema, and

outdoor. These different segments within the industry are at varying stages of growth and

corporatization

Media Spends as % of Total Ad Spend Year Print TV Radio Cinema Outdoor Internet

2000 49.0% 39.3% 2.5% 0.5% 8.4% 0.3%

2001 48.4% 40.6% 2.7% 0.4% 7.5% 0.4%

2002 47.2% 41.9% 2.9% 0.7% 7.0% 0.4%

2003 46.6% 43.0% 2.9% 0.7% 6.5% 0.4%

2004 46.3% 43.7% 2.9% 0.6% 6.0% 0.3%

The Indian television industry has grown rapidly, especially since 1991, which saw

the beginning of satellite broadcasting in India. This growth was also aided by the

economic liberalization program of the Government. The growth of the satellite

television audience saw proliferation of a number of satellite television channels offering

more choices to media buyers and consumers of entertainment. Thus, the television

broadcasting business, which started off as a single government controlled television

channel, now has over 300 channels covering the Indian footprint, resulting in growing

ad spends on this medium. Reforms and proliferation of private players were the key

reasons for this rapid growth of the share of television in the advertising industry.

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Radio Advertising

Radio Advertising

Radio is still the king when it comes to getting your music. The best way for a

new band to get heard by the public and record label executions is over the airwaves.

Paradoxically, radio currently has only a 2.9 per cent share of the total advertising

pie in India. Globally, depending on country, radio has a 5 per cent to 12 per cent share of

the advertising cake. On the higher side are countries like the United States, with 13 per

cent, Canada, with 12.7 per cent and Spain, with 9.1 per cent.

Companies that advertise on FM channels today such as Hindustan Lever (HLL),

Dr Morepen, Amul, Castrol, Santro, Britannia, Parle, DSP Merrill Lynch etc are

dominating the advertising on each one of the FM channels, be it Radio Mirchi, Go 92.5

Red 93.5 or Radio City.

Today, 70 per cent of the advertising comes from big-budget, national advertisers

and the balance 30 per cent comes from retail. It is a known fact that retail advertising

will grow because radio presents the perfect advertising medium for local businesses in a

local environment. But national advertisers are also operational in the local market,

implying that it is as important to them as it is to a retail advertiser, if not more.

Nevertheless, it is undeniable that radio can be integral in exposing a new artist,

new product or services to new fans and taking a local market to a national level.

Accordingly, it is extremely difficult to obtain meaningful airplay. Putting it bluntly,

successful radio promotion revolves around making and managing relationships.

Radio promotion is an art that demands a certain style you may simply neither

have nor desire to cultivate. On top of that, it can take a great deal of time to make all the

contacts and connections that are required for successful radio promotion.

Advertising agencies that control the national picture will be slow to move on to

radio for creative reasons. They have people who love to make television commercials,

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Radio Advertising

but don't have anybody who knows how radio works. Here, only about 2.9 per cent of the

money spent by advertisers goes to radio, and up till now, all of that went to ALL INDIA

RADIO.

However, in revenue terms, money from advertising has gone up. Revenue from

commercials on AIR, including on Vividh Bharti and Primary Channel (including FM)

rose from Rs 393 million in 1990, to Rs 808.4 million in 2000, & Rs. 600 crores in 2002,

representing a growth of about 7.5 per cent per annum.

A clear advantage that radio has is that it can easily target city-based

audiences. This makes sense if the advertiser, like a food chain that is opening an outlet

in Mumbai, wants to target a specific audience. In such cases, it does not make much

sense to advertise on TV, and the print medium is too expensive. Radio is the best bet for

such small-scale promotions. It is also aptly suited for local promotions, and once

audiences can be targeted, it has tremendous potential to eat into local mediums.

Consumer opinions

The evidence from the qualitative research is that young people feel their local FM

station is aimed at people like them, but the advertising is not - they feel, probably quite

correctly, that most advertising is aimed at adults.

Because radio is a real-time intrusive medium, they have to sit through the full length of

any ads which are for irrelevant products. There was evidence of three sorts of memories:

Relevant : This includes Ads which mentioned areas or names of specific interest, e.g.

films, outlets selling favoured brands, concerts

Vague/ not relevant: This includes memories of ads for local garages, cars and

insurance companies - little or no specific detail remembered

Sonic Brand Triggers: Much evidence of children's ability to pick up on musical

Sonic brand Triggers (SBT’s) and sing them out loud.

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Radio Advertising

Pros and Cons of Radio Advertising

Every medium has special strengths and weaknesses that makes it more or less

suited to special marketing problems of specific advertising. There is no one medium

which is ideal for advertisers or every situation. Radio has a number of characteristics

that makes it an ideal vehicle for numerous advertisers as either a primary or secondary

medium. Also, there are certain disadvantages of this media which need to be considered.

Advantages of Radio

1. Largest Reach and Frequency

Radio offers an excellent combination of reach and frequency. The average adult

listens more than 3 hours a day, radio builds a large audience quickly and a normal

advertising schedule easily allows repeated impact on listener. 90% of India has access to

radio which is unmatched by any other media. Radio is not only the medium of hearing

news but also is a source of entertainment and advertising for the rural masses. Radio also

reaches to uneducated village folk who do not read print publications. At the places

where the literacy rates are low where people hardly read newspapers and radio is the

only medium that they can understand. They can’t afford a TV set. Therefore radio is

more popular.

2. Broadly Selectivity

Specialized radio formats with prescribed audiences and coverage areas enable

advertisers to select the market they want to reach. From a marketing perspective, radio

has the ability to reach prospects by sex, age group, ethnic or religious background,

income group, employment category, educational level or special interest with a format

that adds even greater dimensions to its already strong personal communication

environment.

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Radio Advertising

Radio’s high overall reach and its ability to provide numerous formats make it a

multifaceted medium. Because of the relatively low cost of production, advertisers are

able to adapt commercials to the various stations then buy, a strategy that would normally

be prohibitively in television.

3. Cost –Efficiency

Radio is the least cost medium and it helps to reach mass audience with various

backgrounds. Radio offers its reach frequency and selectivity at one of the lowest costs

per thousand and radio production is relatively inexpensive. National spots can be

produced for about one tenth the cost of a TV commercial, and local stations often

produce local spots for free. Also, radio ads can be produced very quickly.

4. Creativity and Flexibility

Radio is the most flexible medium because of very short closing periods for

submitting an ad. This means an advertiser can wait until close to an air date before

submitting an ad. With this flexibility of simple formats such as voice only can be created

almost immediately to reflect changing market conditions or advertisers can take

advantage of special events or unique competitive opportunities in a timely fashion.

Radio also offers timeless, immediacy, local relevance and creative flexibility.

The personal nature of radio, combined with its flexibility and creativity, makes radio the

choice for numerous product categories. Copy changes can also be made very quickly.

While radio may be one-dimensional in sensory stimulation, it can still have

powerful creative impact. Radio has been described as the theatre of the mind. The

musical formats that attract audiences to radio stations can also attract attention to radio

ads. Audiences that favor certain music may be more prone to an ad that uses

recognizable, popular songs.

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Radio Advertising

5. Proximity to Purchase

The mobility of radio and its huge out - of - home audience gives the medium an

advantage enjoyed by few other advertising vehicles. In the competitive environment

facing most companies, it is imperative that brands achieve consumer reinforcement as

near as possible to the purchase decision. Radio’s daily frequency offers scope for

continued messages and hence the consumers are more likely to remember that product

and consumer lend up buying that product.

6. As a Complement to Another Media

In some cases, radio is the primary medium for local advertisers. However for

national advertisers and most large local and regional firms, radio is most often used as

complementary medium to extend the reach and frequency of primary vehicles in their

advertising schedule.

A fundamental marketing strategy for radio has been its ability to successfully

work with other media to increase reach and frequency or to reach non-users and light

users of other media. The radio industry realizes that the bulk of its revenue comes from

advertisers who use radio as a secondary medium.

7. A personal medium

The human voice is the most personal means of communication. Radio gives the

advertisers the opportunity to take advantage of the right combination of words, voices,

music, and sound effects to establish a unique “one-on-one” connection with prospects

that lets you grab their attention, evoke their emotions, and persuade them to respond.

Radio can be targeted by lifestyle formats and is more efficient than other media

from a cost and production standpoint. As a result many advertising agencies will move

their budgets into radio.

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Radio Advertising

Disadvantages of Radio

1. Misunderstanding

Sometimes there might be a misconception regarding the radio ad as it is only

heard. In television the chances of such misconception is less, as it is audio as well as

visual.

2. Poor Radio Attentiveness

Just because radio reaches audiences almost everywhere does not mean that

everyone is paying attention. When a consumer is listening while doing some work or

traveling in a car, he or she often switches stations when an ad comes and divides his or

her attention between the radio and road.

3. Fragmented Audiences

The large number of stations that try to attract the same audience in a market has

created tremendous fragmentation. If a large number of radio stations compete for the

same audience, advertisers who want to blanket the market have to buy multiple stations,

which may not be cost effective. However, in radio’s quest to continue to fine tune its

reach, some advertisers wonder if radio is offering too many narrowly defined options.

For those product categories with broad appeal, it is difficult to gain effective reach and

frequency without buying several radio stations and networks.

4. Chaotic buying procedure s

For an advertiser who wants to include radio as a part of national advertising

program, the buying process can be sheer chaos. Since national networks and syndicated

broad cast do not reach every geographic market, an advertiser has to buy time in

individual markets on a station-by-station basis. This could involve dozens of different

negotiations and individual contracts.

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Radio Advertising

5. Short Lived and Halfhearted Commercials

Radio commercials are brief and fleeting. They can’t keep like a newspaper or a

magazine ad. Radio must compete with other activities for attentions, and it does not

always succeed. Only 20 % of time availability restricts the frequency of message

exposure.

6. Creative Limitations

The audio-only nature of radio communication is a tremendous creative

compromise. An advertiser whose product depends on demonstration or visual impact is

at a loss when it comes to radio. Many advertisers think that without strong visual brand

identification the medium can play little or no role in their advertising plans.

7. Limitations of Sound

Radio is heard but not seen, a drawback if the product must be seen to be

understood. Some agencies think radio restricts their creative options.

8. RJ needs training

It is very important that the Radio Jockey is trained enough to deliver the ad.

Sometimes the voice really matters. If the voice is irritating then there is a chance that the

campaign may flop.

9. No proper research available

In India, there is no proper research has been available on the area of radio

listening, which will be very helpful for the advertisers to decide them on advertising

plan and budget and other matter. Therefore, there could be a problem for the marketers

in the sense that they might advertise on wrong channel at a wrong time.

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Radio Advertising

Types of Radio Advertising: 1. Network

Advertiser may use one of the national radio networks to carry their messages to

the entire national markets simultaneously via stations that subscribe to the networks

programs. Networks provide national and regional advertisers with simple administration

and low effective net cost per station. The advantage is less paper work and lower cost

per station. Disadvantage includes lack of flexibility in choosing affiliated stations the

limited no. of stations on a networks roster and the long lead times required to book time.

2. Spot Radio

Spot radio affords national’s advertiser’s great flexibility in their choice of

markets, stations, airtime, and copy. They can tailor commercials to the local market and

put them on the air quickly – some stations will run a commercial with as little as 20

minutes lead time.

3. Local Radio

Local times denote radio spots purchased by a local advertiser for local market. It

involves the same procedure as national spots. Radio advertising is either live or taped.

Most radio stations use recorded shows with live news in between .Likewise, nearly all

radio commercials are pre recorded to reduce cost and maintain broadcast quality.

4. Sponsor Programme

Here the advertiser sponsors the whole or part of the programme. The RJ

informs the audience about the sponsored company throughout the programme.

5. RJ Mention/What’s On Mention

Here the Radio Jockey [RJ] informs the audience the information given by

advertiser about the new product launch, sale, exhibition going on at certain place etc.

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Radio Advertising

Radio Stations Divide Their Days And Their Rates.

Radio stations divide their rate cards into dayparts .The exact divisions vary from station

to station.

6 am -10 am Morning drive

10 am – 3 pm Daytime

3pm – 7pm Afternoon drive

7pm- 12am Nighttime

12am – 6 am All night

Rating services measures audiences for only the first four day parts because all

night listening is very limited and not highly competitive. Heaviest radio use occurs

during drive times (6-10 am and 3-7pm) during the week (Monday- Friday).

This information is important to advertisers because usage and consumption vary

for different products. For example, radios morning drive time coincides with most

peoples desire for a steaming, fresh cup of coffee, so its great time for advertising coffee

brands. For the lowest rate , an advertiser orders spots on a run of station (ROS) basis,

similar to the ROP in newspaper advertising .However, this leaves total control of the

spot placement up to the station. So most stations offer a total audience plan (TAP)

package rate, which guarantees a certain percentage of spots in the better day parts if the

advertiser buys a total package of time.

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Radio Advertising

Length of Spots

The radio commercials in the test reels consisted of several different spot lengths,

ranging from 15 to 60 seconds. The longest commercial played on the radio is 120

seconds. Those however are rare. In theory, one could assume that the longer a spot, the

better it will be remembered or at least, the more chance there it that it will be heard.

Research on television commercials proved that this theory holds true for the medium

television: a doubling or tripling in spot seconds results in duplication in recall.

The spots for advertisement can be for 10 sec, 20 sec, 30 sec and 60 sec. In

General,

10 second spot should contain 25 words

20 second spot should contain 45 words

30 second spot should contain 65 words

60 second spot should contain 125 words

If you’ve never written a spot, 30 seconds sounds like an impossibly short time

to get your message across. But take a stop watch and time some spots on the air; you’ll

see that quite a lot can be accomplished in a short time. In fact, you may find that 60s,

unless very well written and well produced, sometimes seem a bit too long.

A 60 does allow you more variety in music, sound effects, and voice and can be

useful for political message, the announcement of a new or little-understood service, or

other sports with a information/education content.

30 is usually 70 to 80 words long, and a; 60 around 150 to 160 words. The cost of

a: 30 is usually about 60% to 75%.

Some stations no longer charge a separate rate for: 30s and: 60s. Instead, they

charge a unit rate. In other words, a: 30 costs the same as a: 60. Obviously, this is one

case where you might want to use a: 60 to take advantage of the “free” air time. Check

the rate cards of the stations you are interested in, or ask your sales rep.

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Radio Advertising

Buying Radio Time

1. Station Rates

While buying procedures to achieve national coverage may be chaotic, this does not

mean they are completely without structure. Although the actual buying may be time

consuming and expensive if many stations are involved, the structure is actually quite

straight forward. Advertising time can be purchased from networks, syndications, or local

radio stations. Advertisers generally invest most heavily in local placement. About 80%

of annual radio advertising is placed locally. About 15% is allocated to national spot

placement and only 5% is invested in network broadcasts. Many stations have local rates

for Individual Business and National Rates for Agencies.

Advertiser may use one of the national radio networks to carry their messages to

the entire national markets simultaneously via stations that subscribe to the networks

programs. Networks provide national and regional advertisers with simple administration

and low effective net cost per station.

2. Your Dayparts Buying Options

Most stations offer several options for buying air time:

a) Buying by specific dayparts

b) Buying packages

c) Buying sponsorships or adjacencies

a). Buying specific dayparts

This relates to the time period of purchase. There are five basic dayparts on basis

of which advertiser can choose. The time period decision is based primarily on a

demographic description of the advertisers target audience. Drive-times dayparts attract a

mostly male audience, while daytime primarily female and nighttime is mostly teen. This

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Radio Advertising

information combined with programming formats, guides an advertiser in a buying

decision.

Putting half your sports into drive time and half into midday is a very safe

strategy. Weekend sports can also effectively reach teens.

b). Buying packages

As with magazine buying, radio advertising time is purchased from rate cards

issued by individual stations. Run-of-stations ads- ads that stations choose when to run-

cost less than ads scheduled during a specific dayparts. The price can also increase if an

advertiser wants the ad read live on the air by a popular local radio personality hosting a

show during a day part.

Buying packages is an easy, usually low-cost method. Marking a package buy is

called buying Run of Station (ROS), Total Audience Plan (TAP), or Best Time

Available( BTA). This means simply that you pay to buy a package of sports at a flat rate

and the station decides (within certain specified limits) when the sports will run. Stations

will usually guarantee to divide your sports fairly between drive times and other dayparts.

c). Sponsorships or adjacencies

A sponsorship is just what its name implies. You are associating your company

name with a specific program. The advertisers sponsor the whole or part of the

programme. The RJ informs the audience about the sponsored company throughout the

programme. “……………. Is brought to you by………”

An adjacency is the next best thing to a sponsorship. If you buy an adjacency,

your ad will run every day just before or just after (in other words, adjacent to) the

program you specify.

Other fixed-position spots are also available. For example, you may specify that

you want your spot to run at 6:13 a.m. every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.

Sponsorships, adjacencies, and fixed positions go for premium rates.

Sponsorships on top-rated shows can cost up to twice as much as other spots in the same

dayparts. Having your name associated with a particular show or event can do a lot to

reinforce your positioning, and these premium spots can be so powerful that you may be

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Radio Advertising

able to run far fewer spots than you otherwise would, spending less to achieve the same

impact.

Sponsorships are like marriages; they’re only for people who are ready for a long-

term commitment.

3) Frequency

Radio, like most media, requires repetition to have impact. As a general rule, a

minimum of 20 spots per week should be aired. There are scheduling strategies that help

increase the impact of the spots you place.

Flight and schedule are two words you may hear your radio sales representative use

when you plan your advertising. A flight is a group of ads. (“I’m running a flight of 80

ads this month.”) A schedule is the long-term version of a flight. (“I run a schedule of 20

ads a week, six months out of the year.”)

4) How many stations do you need

Just as you should never run too few spots, you should also not run on too few

stations. But how many is enough?Generally, you should run on at least two or three

stations, but that varies depending on your audience and the number of competing

stations in the market.

If your target and audience includes both younger and older people, you may need

to buy two or more stations with widely different formats.

There are, however, times when one station will suffice. If your audience is

business people, and you can afford to buy drive time on the dominant news/talk station

in the market, that may be all you need to succeed.

To really learn who is listening to your spots, survey the local market. These

surveys break the audience down by age and sex, break the listening week down into

segment, and then tell you how many listeners each station had in each category. Similar

survey on listenership has been conducted by IMRB (Indian Market Research Bureau)

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Radio Advertising

Producing Radio Commercial Producing a radio spot can be a lot of fun advertisers often say it’s

the most fun they ever have in advertising. It can also be simple and inexpensive.

There are three basic elements to work with: the announcer’s voice, music, and

sound effects. Production can be done in the station’s own studios or in an independent

production house. Stations are usually well- equipped to produce spots, and they often

employ young, creative people whose fresh ideas will keep your spots from sounding like

everywhere else’s.

It all begins with a good script, which means not just the words, but the

combination of words, music, and sound effects. All these are part of the script. Your

spot can be clever or straightforward, but it must grab the listener’s attention in about

three seconds, and it must not leave the listener wondering, “whose spot was that,

anyways?”

The following are some of the factors you should have in mind from the first

moment you sit down to plan your spot.

1) The Voice

There are two factors concerning voice. First, you should use a voice that is

appropriate for your image.

There are two good, low- cost options for achieving this, and one higher- cost

option:

a) Using local radio talent

b) Using an amateur voice

c) Hiring professional voice talent.

a) Using local radio talen t

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Radio Advertising

If station produces the spot, one of their on-air people risk having the voice be so

familiar that the listener doesn’t pay attention. If the ad runs only in drive time, one

can have the midday announcer do the honors. Get the least familiar voice available.

Listeners will be less likely to tune it out.

Female announcers can also be used. Studies have shown that women presenters

are just as effective as men; but only a small (but increasing) percentage of all

broadcast sales presentations are made by women.

b) Using amateur voices

One great thing about radio is that even an untrained voice can be very effective.

In fact, the less the voice sounds like one of the regular announcers, the better.

A woman’s voice, a child’s, or even your own can make listeners stop and pay

attention simply because it’s not what they’re expecting to hear. A word of caution:

Amateurs can sound stiff and false.

c) Using professional voice talent

If a very sleek production value is needed hire voice talent from another station,

the local community theater or, in larger markets, from a talent agency. Celebrity

voices can sometimes be hired.

2). Music

The power of music can’t be overemphasized. There are several options for

putting music into your commercials:

a) Have original music produced.

b) Use free music from the station’s library.

c) Get permission to use an existing recording by a known artist. (But It’s

difficult and expensive to obtain the rights).

d) Buy canned music (sound alike) in the style of many popular composers in

all large markets who supply such productions for a modest charge.

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Radio Advertising

A lot of radio or TV advertising, can be done having a jingle product. The cost runs

anywhere from Rs.600 to a few thousand rupees, and it can be a very worth while

investment. A catchy jingle helps potential customers remember you more than almost

anything else.

3). Sound Effects (SFX)

various onomatopoeic sounds like eeek, ho ho ho, ding dong, whistle etc. are

available at the local radio station. The sound of waves on the shore can help sell your

vacation package and bird song can put people in the mood for your spring sale.

Radio is entirely a medium of sound. When you use sound to evoke smells,

sensations, and visual images, you bring the listener, more involved with your spot, will

be more involved with your ideas.

4. The tapping Session

Once the decision is made about the script, voice, music, and sound effects, it’s

time to record. At may be just you and the announcer in the studio; the announcer will

operate the equipment. At large stations and professional recording studios, an engineer

will record the spot while you and the announcer concentrate on the reading.

You should also understand. Be aware that the announcer may have slight

interpretation of the reading than you do, and don’t expect a performance that could only

come from someone reading your mind.

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Radio Advertising

Selling Radio CommercialSelling radio advertising involves a number of steps. The radio salesperson must

be aware that everyone involved in the transaction is looking for different results. The

media buyer is looking for efficient cost per point, while the client’s goal is to move

product. As all radio stations are perceived to be same it is important to build value into

the radio station by offering credible benefits that produced results and solutions for

prospective clients.

Radio salesperson must begin with the client’s needs and marketing goals. The

first step in the process is to meet the client to gain as much information as possible about

the client and his or her business. After the salesperson has a firm grasp of the advertising

problem, the next step is to prepare a proposal. The successful ones begins with the

clients problem and sales objectives an move systematically to a solution.

Often the job of the radio sales person must be conducted on a number of levels.

a) An advertiser who is not currently scheduling radio may have to be convinced

that the medium in general is for a particular product.

b) The salesperson must move from the general advantages of radio to the

advantages of specific station.

c) The radio representative may have to show how radio fits into the media mix

currently being used by the advertisers.

Radio advertising faces challenges both from within the industry and from other media as

it competes for advertising price.

Dayparts Characteristics

6 a.m. - 10.00 a.m. Drive time, breakfast audience, interested chiefly in news

10.00 a.m. - 3.00 p.m. Daytime, program characteristics of station, talk , music, or all-news

3.00 p.m. - 7.00 p.m. Afternoon, drive time ; radio prime time and same as morning drive

time

7.00 p.m. - 12.00 a.m. News, music, talk shows

12.00 a.m. - 6.00 a.m. Music, talk shows

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Radio Advertising

Elements of good radio commercial

Be single-minded, focused. The consumer should not be burdened with too much

information. Prioritize the copy points. The central idea should be highlighted.

Research your product or service. Many clients keep tabs on their competition,

but they rarely related their features and benefits to factual data. Meaningful

statistics can give substantial support to your massage.

Relate to the consumer, Always relate the brand to customers wants and needs. D

Generate extension . The effect of a commercial can be multiplied by achieving

extension. A clever phrase or execution can have consumers asking other people

if they have heard the spot.

Produce an immediate physical, emotional, or mental response. Laughter, a tug

on the heartstrings, or mental exercises of a consumer during a radio spot help

seed the memory and aid messages retention.

Use plain , conversational English. Be a clear communicator

Creative Radio Advertising These are some guidelines for producing creative radio advertisements:-

1. Understand the environment

2. Speak the listeners’ language

3. Engage and entertain the listener

4. Keep it simple

5. Judge what you hear, not what you read

6. Production values are important

7. Plan your production

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Radio Advertising

8. Dare to be different

9. Take it seriously

Steps in Radio Ad Production

1. An agency or advertisers appoints a producer

2. The producer prepares cost estimation

3. the producer selects a recording studio

4. With the aid of the casting director, if one is needed, the producer casts the

commercial.

5. If music is to be included, the producer selects a musical director and chooses the

music or selects stock music.

6. If necessary, a rehearsal is held.

7. The studio tapes music and sound separately

8. The studio mixes music and sound with voices.

9. The producer sees that the master tape is prepared for distribution on either tape

or cassettes and shipped to stations.

You are on the air!

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Radio Advertising

Measuring the radio’s effectEffectiveness research requires clarity of objectives – what are the agreed

objectives of the overall campaign and of the radio campaign within this? Radio

effectiveness can be measured either using continuous research or in stages (“pre &

post”) – the pre-stage is normally the week before the campaign, the post-stage in the

week after the campaign finishes.

Consumers tend to misattribute radio-advertising memories to other media,

particularly TV. This is particularly likely to happen where there is a strong executional

link between the two media and/or where there is an history of TV advertising for the

brand.

This tendency to misattribute can be offset by using matched samples of

listeners and non-listeners. This way, if the increase in advertising awareness is greater

among listeners than it is among non-listeners, then the effect can be attributed to radio

fairly confidently – even if the listeners think the advertising was in another medium.

Radio research can successfully be done using telephone interviewing – ads can

be played down the line. However cases where other media are to be included in the

research it might be more appropriate to use face-to-face interviewing.

Commercial recognition is a valuable technique – i.e. playing the ads to

consumers. It provides a more robust measure of whether they have heard the campaign,

and avoids problems of trying to describe the ads. Brand names can be bleeped out of the

commercial, to test whether the campaign is linked to the brand.

1) Defining the research objectives

The key to any successful research is to have a clear understanding of why the research is

being conducted in the first place. In other words, what are you aiming to measure?

In broad terms, radio advertising research aims can be categorised into two types:

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Radio Advertising

Marketing issues – to what extent has radio helped to achieve the campaign aims?

Media planning issues – what effect do different media strategies have on the

performance of the campaign?

Marketing Issues:- These vary widely and there can be often more than one objective set

for a campaign. Below are some typical examples:

.Increase sales

Increase footfall / store traffic

Increase brand awareness

Change consumers’ perceptions about a brand

Broaden consumer appeal

Not all of these aims are best evaluated with consumer survey research - there are

specific tools available for measuring sales effects for example.

Media Planning Issues: - In addition to tracking radio’s contribution to the success of a

campaign, as a secondary aim you might also be trying to test and evaluate the effects of

using different media strategies, for example:

- Effectiveness of different spot lengths

- Burst versus continuous activity

- Use of different day part strategies.

If you do intend to test a particular media strategy there are three important

considerations to note.

Firstly, and most obviously, you must gear the campaign so that you can test the

particular media strategy in which you are interested.

Secondly, if you are testing a number of media strategies simultaneously, you will

need to be able to separate the effects of each using a separate, balanced research

“cell” for each media-variable.

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Radio Advertising

Lastly, when testing different media strategies, bear in mind that you will still be

judging the effects in terms of the overall campaign objectives.

Whatever your research objectives, once you have defined them make sure that they form

the core of the questionnaire you use. Any other questions are of secondary importance

2) The Importance of Split Samples

Misattribution of Advertising:-

When asked to consider advertising, consumers will turn their thoughts to the

most salient source they can think of – this tends to mean TV. Television, as the medium

with the most active expectations, tends to dominate memories of advertising, with the

result that campaigns in all other media are, to varying extents, attributed to television in

the consumer’s mind.

This misattribution is disproportionately likely to happen with radio and is still

more likely to happen when radio campaigns are creatively synergistic with TV

executions.

Avoiding Misattribution: Using Split Samples:-

The simplest solution to the problem of measuring true radio awareness is to split

your sample into two parts: listeners (target consumers who have been listening to the

radio stations which carried the advertising) and non-listeners (people who do not listen

to those stations, but who are the same as the listeners in all other

respects).

If the only difference between the two samples is their radio listening, then any

differences in their awareness or attitudes to the advertised brand can be reasonably

attributed to radio – regardless of where they think they have seen or heard the

advertising.

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Radio Advertising

It is particularly important to use split samples where radio is part of a mixed

media schedule in order to gauge the true radio effect.

Which Option Should You Choose:-

Neither of the two approaches above is necessarily better than the other. However,

the second method has the advantage of questioning people who will have the same

history of exposure to the brand. Local distribution levels for the brand will also be the

same.

The key point is that the listener and non-listener samples must be matched as

closely as possible in terms of demographics, media consumption and weight of exposure

to the brands’ advertising in other media. This ensures that any differences can

confidently be attributed to radio ad exposure.

3) Where to do the research

Test And Control Samples In Different Areas:-

This involves taking two matched samples of respondents in different

geographical areas and comparing their advertising responses – one sample will live in

the advertised area, the other in an area where no radio advertising ran.

In this way, it will be possible to compare the results among those who have been

exposed to the campaign with the results among those who have not - thus giving you a

measure of radio’s effectiveness.

It is important to match the media consumption of the samples (e.g. how much

TV they watch etc) as well as their demographics, as this could affect response. It is

equally important to ensure weight of advertising for your brand in all other media is the

same for both samples.

The two geographical areas should also be comparable – (or “typical”) in terms of

media and product consumption as a whole.

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Radio Advertising

Test and Control Samples within the Same Area

In this second approach, all of the research is done within the same area.

One part of the sample will comprise people who do listen to the station(s) on

your radio schedule, whilst the other part of the sample will comprise people who do not

listen to any station on the schedule. In this way it will be possible to compare the results

of those who have been exposed to the campaign to those who have not giving you a

measure of radio’s effectiveness.

4) When to do the research

The ideal research method is to monitor advertising activity on a continuous basis,

since this allows movements in advertising response to be compared directly to current

advertising activity. Often, however, continuous radio research is impractical on grounds

of cost unless it forms part of ongoing advertising tracking.

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Radio Advertising

Typically, radio research is conducted in two stages - a pre-campaign and a post

campaign study.

The pre-campaign study should be conducted as close to the start of the radio

campaign as possible – preferably during the week immediately preceding the

radio campaign. This will establish the base levels of whatever is being measured

(eg brand awareness).

The post campaign study should be conducted as soon as possible after the radio

campaign has ended – ideally during the first week after the campaign has come

off air.

In some instances one considers conducting more than two stages of research. For

example, it might be worth slotting in an additional research phase during a particularly

long advertising campaign or sponsorship. Similarly, having done the post-research,

consider adding an additional stage of research some weeks after a campaign has ended

in order, say, to track decay in brand awareness.

5) The research sample and sample sizes

Sample Sizes

Generally speaking, the larger the sample the better. However at some point, the cost of

an increased sample size becomes cost prohibitive and contributes little extra to statistical

robustness.

6) Method and questionnaire

Telephone research is often used for assessing the effect of radio campaigns: the method

is adaptable and can often be cheaper than face-to-face interviewing. Radio ads can

successfully be played down the phone to respondents.

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Radio Advertising

Face-to-face interviewing may also be preferable if respondents need to be shown visual

ad material such as stills from TV ads.

Commercial recognition is a valuable technique – i.e. playing the radio ads to

consumers – as this is the best “memory jogger” of all. It also delivers a larger sample of

people who are identifiable as having definitely heard the campaign: this is useful when

analyzing them for their attitudes to the brand.

When playing the radio commercials in order to measure commercial recognition, two

different approaches can be taken: blind or branded.

Blind By bleeping out all brand references in each execution and asking whether

the commercial has been heard before and then asking for the brand name, it is

possible to see whether creative treatment has successfully linked the message to

the brand.

Branded - this allows prompting for brand-specific data, (e.g. attitudes to the

advertising/feelings about the proposition), whilst giving a true measure of ad

recognition.

A fairly straightforward questionnaire will take around 10-15 minutes to run

through – much longer and respondents will begin to lose interest and

concentration!

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Radio Advertising

Radio with other media Most brands tag radio to their existing communication plans. Reason enough for

us to study the role of Radio vis-à-vis other key media.

'what Radio can add' to each medium on three key parameters - a) Planning, b)

Communication and c) Detailing of communication points.

Radio with Television

Characteristics of Television

TV has traditionally been the most powerful and popular advertising medium for

people in the media business. This is mainly because it does most things well - coverage,

frequency, image, persuasion, demonstration, impact etc.

Traditionally a high-cost medium, the downside with TV is that the audience is

now fragmented across many different channels, production costs are extremely high and

viewers are increasingly avoiding ad breaks.

What radio can add:

In planning:-

Radio's main contribution is a dramatic increase in frequency of exposures, either

in the same period as the TV campaign or later to extend the campaign over time; radio

can be used for regional or local exposure booster; radio can be used to reach light

viewers; it extends TV messages to key times of day when TV audiences are lower or

when product relevance is higher; radio also allows tighter targeting against audiences

thus reducing wastage.

In communication:-

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Radio Advertising

Given that Radio is perceived as personal medium, radio can bring brands closer

and speak to the consumer at their level; radio has a culture of response where listeners

frequently interact with their station which they see as accessible.

In detail:-

Radio allows activity to be geographically varied; radio can allow a fast

turnaround for new initiatives; low production costs mean multiple copy messages can be

varied round the core TV communication Sonic Brand Triggers. Sonic Brand Triggers

are sounds, which consumers recognize and associate with certain brands.

Example of powerful SBTs:

"Britannia Ting Ting Ting"

They help to ensure that TV and radio advertising is well branded. They leave a

brand impression with even the most passive TV viewer or radio listener, as they tend to

rely on rhythm and music, which are absorbed at very low involvement levels. A sound,

which has been successfully established on TV, can be transferred on to radio.

Radio with Newspapers

Characteristics of Newspapers

Newspaper brings 'immediacy' to a communication. Newspapers also have the

authority of the written word, and are good at presenting detail. As a print medium, the

national press suffers from clutter and from the fact that the reader can and does edit

ruthlessly to avoid advertising.

What radio adds:

In planning:-

Radio adds frequency, and this is real frequency in that exposures take place in

real time; radio also reaches non-readers so it can significantly increase coverage; in most

sectors, adding radio also means increased share of voice thus overcoming clutter

In communication:-

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Radio Advertising

Radio brings intrusiveness to a press campaign, and there is less ad avoidance; it

can bring to life ideas, which may seem flat on the page; radio can more strongly convey

the brand's tone. Radio brings brand messages closer to the individual, speaking in a

more personal way than press; radio allows brands to emphasize specific key times of

day.

In detail:-

Flexibility means radio allows geographical variation on top of a national press

campaign.

Radio with Outdoor

Characteristics of Outdoor

The strength of outdoor advertising lies in its ability to suddenly confront the

consumer with an idea or a challenge, in a very public way. Like radio, posters also

operate within time which people think of as free - typically travelling time.

The weaknesses of outdoor advertising mainly stem from three issues: it has no

editorial context, it uses extremely simple, striking ideas to be effective,and it suffers

from relatively expensive production.

What radio adds:

In planning:-

Radio adds real frequency, in the sense that additional exposures to the

advertising are played in full rather than having the listener look away or ignore; radio

offers far tighter targeting which means reducing wastage; radio also offers tighter timing

- within time of day, day of week or even week of month.

In communication:-

Radio allows more information to be conveyed, which is useful for explaining or

persuading; radio allows multiple copy; radio brings brands closer, as listeners identify

with their radio station and see it as aimed at people like them; radio is better able to

communicate the tone or character of a brand.

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Radio Advertising

In detail:-

Radio offers speed of production compared with the lengthy process of poster

print deadlines; it also allows localized copy variation relating to a national poster

execution.

Radio with Magazines

Characteristics of magazines

Magazines are useful to advertisers because of the relationship they have with the

readers, who consume them in a personal way. They allow targeting by lifestyle and

interest group. In many magazines the ads are seen as part of the magazine experience.

Weaknesses of magazines include the fact that lead times can be very long

depending on the title's frequency of publication, the high levels of clutter, and the

reader's inclination to simply turn the page.

What radio adds:

In planning:-

Radio adds frequency and also extends coverage well beyond the magazine

readership; radio allows tighter timing - time of day, day of week etc; radio also offers a

greater share of voice for most categories, which means overcoming clutter.

In communication:-

Radio brings intrusiveness to a magazine campaign, and there is less ad

avoidance; radio can bring to life ideas which might seem flat on the page; radio can

more strongly convey the advertising tone of voice. It allows brands to speak to

consumers close to certain activities - driving, cooking, housework etc

In detail”:-

Radio offers fast turnaround within the long copy deadlines of magazines, and the

opportunity for geographical variations.

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Radio Advertising

Recall of advertising. At the post-stage, you will be seeking to detect

spontaneous and prompted awareness.

Commercial recognition – playing the ads to respondents.

Thoughts on what the main message of the ads was

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Radio Advertising

Creating the right mix

A fieldwork was conducted by IMRB(Indian Market Research Bureau) to know

about the listeners which encompassed the entire Mumbai urban agglomeration through a

random sampling of 6,000 households and 3,600 individuals.

With the growing salience of Radio, IRMB believes that time is ripe for a

continuous Radio audience measurement system. IMRB International decided to launch

RADAR RADIO LISTENERSHIP SYSTEM - the continuous radio audience

measurement system in Mumbai.

The findings have helped many radio stations to develop. The following is the

standard procedure involved in calculating the listenership of a radio station.

The research can be undertaken by the research agency voluntarily to be sold later

to companies, or on particular request by a company.

A project is selected and a deadline is given.

All the interviewers are informed of the above and a questionnaire is

given.

A sample size is decided which is spread all over the target city / town etc.

When the questionnaires are filled, they are complied and sent to the

analysis department

Then the analysis findings are forwarded to the research department and published

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Radio Advertising

At the country level:

Total awareness of radio stations

Gender of radio audience

52

MALE 58%

Female42%

Radio Advertising

Socio Economic Classification

Listenership by time slots

Analysis

Analysis

While the overall reach of radio in India is high it can be seen above that

awareness of private radio channels is not much. Prasar Bharti(AIR) has the highest

awareness which is due to the fact that it is a government channel with a pan India

53

7am - 11.30 am

11.30 - 6.00 pm 7pm - 11pm

A 12%

B14%

C 29%

D/E 45%

Radio Advertising

coverage and enjoyed monopoly when the radio space was shut for private players. Being

the only service provider it was able to penetrate deep into the Indian market. The private

fm players mainly having license for big cities and towns although are gaining awareness

in cities and towns they are still in their growth stage and for them to be known

everywhere they have to diversify geographically and reach the rural population where

the radio is a very important medium of entertainment. Which is why the new entrants are

vying for their share of the pie and encouraging the government to release more airwaves

for them.

Radio is very popular with the sec D/E market due to its cheap cost. Radios are now

available at prices below Rs.50 which make it very affordable. While the sec A, B have a

wider variety of entertainment available to them radio is not widely used. However with

new players entering the market and providing them with the content they want the trend

is now changing more people are switching on their radio sets even in these categories,

specially the teenagers !

When an advertiser places an advertisement he has to make sure that his target

audiences are met through this medium. Various shows are held by the radio stations. In

order to meet the requirements of its listeners and its corporate audiences.

As the 7.30 to 11 slot is the most important slot because many listeners are tuned

in the shows are generally family oriented as everyone mostly listens to them and news

programs on government owned stations. on the other and the 11-2 slot has the women

segment listening while the nights are more concentrated on teens. giving the advertisers

a vast array to meet their specific target markets.

Based on these findings most of the radio stations have categorized their shows

and advertisement rates to meet the needs of its audiences which can be seen in the

various positions of the stations. For marketers it then becomes necessary to identify the

audience they want to target and respectively book their airtime so as to reach the right

audience with the right mix at the right time

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Radio Advertising

All India Radio A.I.R, which is a national service planned, developed and operated by the

Ministry of Information & Broadcasting under the Government of India.  Sound

55

Radio Advertising

broadcasting started in India in 1927 with the proliferation of two privately owned

transmitters in Bombay and Calcutta. It was changed to All India Radio in 1936 and it

came to be known as Akashwani since 1957 to inform, educate and entertain the masses.  

 All India Radio is one of the largest radio networks in the world in terms of

reach. When India attained Independence in 1947, AIR had a network of six stations and

a complement of 18 transmitters.

 

All India Radio has a network of 283 broadcasting centers with 146 medium

frequency (MW) transmitters, 50 high frequency (SW) transmitters and 87 FM

transmitters. With broadcasts in 24 languages and 146 dialects (home services), and

another 10 foreign languages in external services, A.I.R.'s coverage exceeds 90% of

India, reaching over 98% of the people in the largest democracy of the world. Add FM

radio and you have a formidable arsenal.

AIR has a three-tier system of broadcasting, namely, national, regional and local.

 National channel of All India Radio started functioning on May 18, 1988. It caters to the

needs of the people, through its transmitters at Nagpur, Mogra and Delhi beaming from

dusk to dawn. It transmits centrally originated news bulletins in Hindi and English, plays,

sports, music, newsreel, spoken word and other topical programs, to nearly 76% of the

country's population fully reflecting the broad spectrum of national life.

 

The Regional Stations in different States form the middle tier of the broadcasting.

Including North-Eastern Service at Shillong disseminates the vibrant and radiant cultural

heritage of the Northeastern region of the country.

New initiatives by AIR

Change is in the AIR. Prasar Bharati now plans a 24-hour news radio station -

not on FM, but on shortwave. For FM it has other ideas - classical music channels to

start with in Bangalore and Lucknow and to be extended across the country later.

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Radio Advertising

AIR, which produces more than 300 bulletins daily, will also cash in on phone

bulletins. The service, which is on in Patna, Hyderabad, Kolkata and Delhi at different

numbers, will be launched across the country with a four-digit common number. AIR

planned and developed special packages for the North East and J&K, focusing on the rich

cultural heritage, development of infrastructure and the changing scenario in the state.

Prasar Bharati is also planning to fill the vacancies in regional stations, especially in

North East and J&K, setting up radio clubs and maximizing AIR revenue.

Prasar Bharati is set to launch a major campaign aimed at repositioning and total

branding of the two FM Channels of All India Radio (AIR). Prasar Bharati is positioning

AIR FM Rainbow as a channel offering a buffet fare - Hindi Music, Western Music, Chat

shows, Helplines etc. and for this it is launching a campaign in select cities. The publicity

campaign of AIR is focused on projecting AIR as the world's oldest and largest radio

network both in terms of geographical and population reach and the only source for news

and entertainment for people in remote places. AIR as the radio network that

communicates with people in their language broadcasting in 24 languages and 146

dialects contributes to the enrichment of Indian classical music and broadcast fast and

accurate. It will promote and publicize sports events covered by AIR besides

popularizing existing services like Radio on Demand and News on Phone.

The entire publicity campaign of AIR is being designed by Prasar Bharati's ad

agencies. The ad agencies have been asked by the Prasar Bharati to make a strategy

presentation, recommending a suitable positioning for AIR Channels, a marketing plan

and publicity plan with suitable media mix.

RADIO CITY [91FM]

Radio City, a venture promoted by Star and Music Broadcast Private Ltd

(MBPL), was launched on 21st May 2002. MBPL is a company backed by P.K.Mittal,

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Radio Advertising

family and Associates. The company has received the license to set up radio stations

across the country in six cities - Bangalore, Delhi, Mumbai, Patna, Nagpur and Lucknow.

The Mumbai license was secured for Rs 10 crores. STAR India’s radio division would

provide or take charge of advertisement sales, marketing and programming. Radio City

aims to reach out to listeners across demographic barriers.

Target audience

  Radio City is not looking at any particular segment to target, and is trying to

create a brand name. The idea is to create the brand and then to move on to specific target

programming. Radio City’s market strategy is backed up by six months of intensive

research in Bangalore. Intensive research is being carried out to ascertain demographic

profiles of radio listeners, so as to enable more targeted programming in the future. 

The 4 P’s

Product:

For listeners - Music, information, a portfolio of entertainment programming 24 hours

a day, in mix of Hindi and English

For corporate and retailers: - The airtime.

Place: Intensive (all over Bombay) also, Selective in the sense that it has set up radio

stations across the country in six cities - Bangalore, Delhi, Mumbai, Patna, Nagpur and

Lucknow.

Price: Advertisement rates

Promotion: Radio city is one of the top 3 stations in the city. This is thanks to its

promotions, a perfect blend of English and Hindi music, teamed up with professional,

vivacious RJ’s.

On the promotion front, the channel undertook huge promotion campaign in the initial

stages of its launch.

1. The Television “fun ka doze har roz” ad campaign.

2. Hoardings all over the city.

The channel is into sponsoring events especially college festival around Bombay city.

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Radio Advertising

Advertising with Radio City

Radio City also hopes to provide an effective advertisement medium. This is to

fulfill the aspirations of national advertisers seeking vast local reach as well as to local

advertisers to access an organized medium for projecting their products and services.

Radio City has managed to attract advertisements, from small local stores as well

as big brands like Tanishq, IBM and HLL. Star India is in-charge of providing the

content, besides advertising, sales and marketing support.

Radio City will have a four-hour slot in its 24-hour broadcast for advertisement,

breaking to a 10-minute projection in every hour's programmed. Radio city is trying to

drive the market by encouraging the ad spends on radio to increase from two per cent to

the world average of 10 per cent.

National advertisers are all familiar with the concept of advertising. The retail

market, on the other hand, involves one-on-one sales and education as to how advertising

will help the brand. So they talk to them about radio, probably create a radio spot, make

them listen to it, tell them this is how the brand will sound when on radio. The process is

pretty lengthy. Because of this the strength of our retail sales team is three times that of

our corporate sales team because in retail sales there is this job of exploration and

education, and of breaking new ground whereas with national advertisers, it is a question

of marketing a new medium and educating people about it rather than having to explain

the concept of advertising per se. Hence, the success rate with national advertisers is a lot

higher than in the case of retail advertisers.

GO [92.5FM]

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Radio Advertising

GO 92.5 FM was launched on 10th May’2002 by mid day group. The wonderful

world of Go 92.5 FM, “The Sound of Mumbai” from Mid Day multimedia limited,

trailblazing media company.

Radio Midday seem to have found a niche for themselves and clearly positioned

themselves as 'the English Channel with a local/Indian image'. Therefore, a focus on

international artists popular in India. Not to say that big Indian artists with big fame do

not feature in their mix. So if the advertiser wants to target a niche population with a

fastidious ear for English music you know where to be! It delivers the best international

chart topping hits and the most with – it bollywood sounds, belting out the best hits non

stop 24 hours a day. It does not only concentrate on Hindi or English but emphasizes on

the attractive blend of both the world.

Target Audience:

Mid-Day's Go 92.5 FM now targets only the socio economic category (SEC) A

and B1, target audience is young, and more westernized. It primarily plays English

music. They are clear on their strategy and have already started catering to a certain set of

audience that is mature, white-collar and upwardly mobile. Providing an attractive blend

of 50:50 Hindi & English programmes, the channel targets the age group of 15 to 45 year

old, educated, white collar executive whose needs are clearly English music and

programming. Go92.5 FM targets the upscale Mumbaikars, Corporate aiming to serve the

cream class of Mumbai can select go92.5fm as a part of their communication programme.

The 4 P’s

Product:

For listeners : the station is focusing on music of course, along with sports, entertainment

and business, with a heavy local flavor, to get an edge.

For corporate and retailers: The airtime

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Radio Advertising

Place: Intensive in Bombay and exclusive because it does not have a presence in any

other city.

Price: Advertisement rates (Refer to annexures)

Promotion: its presence is made known through hoardings, displays at traffic signals etc.

Go is a youth-centric station and they felt that better way to make their presence better to

partner with college festivals

Marketing initiatives

Go 92.5 has in fact re-christened itself as Mumbai’s College Radio station. In complete

tandem with the festivities, the station had also launched a 13-week College Radio hunt

some time back, which was presented by Colgate Fresh Energy Gel. Wherein auditions

would be held for potential talent and the finalists would then be exposed to in house

training sessions, which would equip them with the capabilities of hosting radio

programmes of their own.

Advertisements with GO 92.5FM

GO 92.5, indulge in experimental big stuff. There are two effects of this kind of

the new programming. First, when the client presents the germ of an idea, their

immediate reaction is ‘yes’. Then they figure out how do they juggle it, how they’ll fit it

in and this programming mantra helps them in that. That ways they try to be the preferred

destination when an existing client wants to sponsor an event or a radio property.

Second, there are many new clients that will come in, especially with the coming

in of the 11-2 afternoon slot. At that time, they can have consumer durables on the

channel. Not just a LG CDMA but a LG refrigerator and AC can also be advertised. So, it

is a double positive impact on advertisers.

90% of their advertisers are the large tickets. That is by virtue of the audience

profile that Go are bringing. They have retailers also. They have a classified section on

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Radio Advertising

the station called Mumbai bazaar. But those are basically the advertisers who are very

keen to be on the station.

There has been a sizeable increase in channel spends on Go 92.5 and they have

had the majority of the revenue coming in from niche English channels such as Star

Movies, Star World, Zee English, Zee MGM, AXN and Discovery. A few big Hindi

properties such as Awaaz and Jeena Isi Ka Naam Hain have been promoted extensively

as well.

The top advertisers on Go 92.5 in September 2003 were Coca Cola, Max New

York Life, Tata AIG, Asian Paints, Colgate, Orange, Kellogg’s, Discovery, BPL Mobile,

Cadbury, McDonald, Alitalia airways, Timex watches, HLL, STAR network that is star

world and movies, Sony Entertainment TV, Zee TV and Tata Indicom. Other advertisers

are Tata Motors, Bazee.com.

Go does not plan to hike rates because they are looking at consolidating at the

current rates and also trying to minimize the discounts they give to our clients on the rate

card. The station is seeing a 50-60 per cent quarter on quarter growth. During the first

half of 2003-04, the station has garnered total revenues of Rs 1.36 crore.

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Radio Advertising

RED [93.5FM]“Red is in your Head”, screams the advertisement of Red

FM, the 24-hour FM radio channel from the Living Media stable.

The much-awaited Red FM on 93.5 MHz hit the airwaves in

Mumbai first on June 26, 2002, followed by Delhi and Kolkata.

Described, as a bright, energetic and passionate Apparently, RED

FM has spent close to Rs 17.87 crores as license fees for the three

centers of Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata for the first year. An

additional Rs 20 crores has been invested on infrastructure etc in

these three cities. And in the second phase,

Red FM may not be modest but it is certainly witty, reliable, friendly, warm,

uncomplicated and honest. The ‘take aways’ are plenty – everything that the station says

and does is of relevance to its listeners.

Target Audience

93.5 Red FM caters to 25-plus age group. Because it is more a mature audience.

They changes everything in terms of how we play music and the RJs we have according

to this target group

The 4 P’s

Product:

For listeners: The programming mix has non-stop music interspersed with Red FM’s

‘crisp’ and ‘entertaining’ updates on traffic, weather, city-specific events and the latest

buzz on everything current.

For corporates and retailers: the airtime

Place: Intensive in Mumbai and selective all over the country because it has other

stations in Delhi and Kolkatta.

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Radio Advertising

Price: advertisement rates. (Refer to annexures)

Promotion: Red Fm is affiliated with some clubs and pubs, which promote the station.

Also it has a tie up with shopping malls like crossroads and ‘Groove’ a music store. They

have 100 hoardings all over Mumbai city. Moreover, innovative methods like painting

Double Decker buses; trains etc have also been adopted.

Marketing initiatives

It stays connected with youth by being in touch with the committees of various colleges

in order to collaborate with them on internal festivals. Every committee hosts its own

festival and Red has been in touch with committees from Jai Hind, KC, HR and nearly

every other college in North Mumbai.

With in a few days of launching, they carried a DJ live on turntables from their

studios. Recently, for the first time in India, they went on air live from a night club like

Velocity and received a huge response from the listeners.

Advertisement

Red Fm does not go to sell radio spots but works like a consultant with the client.

Based on the need of the advertiser, they suggest the best ways of achieving the

objective. So if a retailer wants to announce his sale and he does not have a big budget,

their job is to suggest that instead of a 30 second spot, play a 10 second spot through the

day. Endorsing advertising on RED is not just about buying spots, but is a total

experience, tailored to the customer’s needs. Red is also focusing, towards the influence

of one station with the other, use their strengths and improve co-ordination between the

three stations; this is an important task in terms of helping the advertiser.

Red’s current advertisers profile includes both retail clients and corporates, they

form a healthy percentage of advertisers. They have other high profiled clients like Sony

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Radio Advertising

Entertainment, Zee, LG, Coke, Hutch, Idea, HT, ICICI Prudential, State Bank of India,

Metlife, Kotak Mahindra and Dabur among others.

Red FM was launched six months late; and therefore they faced a major drawback

in terms of losing out on a number of corporates. However, none of them have refused to

consider them in their media plan; the shortcoming is only in terms of delay, as they had

already freezeed their media budget for the year.

They normally charge around Rs. 4,000/- and the rates might increase or decrease

depending upon the need of the advertisers, length of the commercial.

Their revenue only from Bombay is more than two crore. The normal jingle

length is 10 seconds and again here rates will differ on the basis of the sound effects,

music, background conversation, face-to-face conversation. They do produce jingles

according to the advertisers and if the advertiser or the client wants to use that jingle

somewhere else in some other media, then the client has to pay substantial amount of

money to radio station because if they produce a jingle that is their assets.

They take 100 % money in advance from the direct client. And from the non-

accredited ad agency. The do give some discounts to the accredited ad agency.

There are several questions that RED FM identifies before making a time-band

suggestion. Is it a women’s product? Is it male-oriented? Is it a retailer? If it is a retailer,

they could slot it in the 11–6 time band when people are going to the market or when a

housewife might be listening to the radio while cooking.

If there were a programme on beauty tips, we would advise a cosmetics brand to

advertise on that programme; similarly, if there were a cookery show, there would be

food-related brands advertising on it. For male dominated products, they would advise

the drive time hours or the late night show; surveys reveal that a number of men like

tuning in to radio just before sleeping.

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Radio Advertising

RADIO MIRCHI [98.3FM]

Radio Mirchi belonging to the Times of India Group is in an enviable position to

encash into a monopoly the 10-year license period for FM radio in the 12 cities it won.

Radio Mirchi has landed this gift indirectly from Reliance and Zee who chickened out of

the FM radio business after instigating a bidding war resulting in unviable and exorbitant

license fees (Rs. 9 crores annual fees for Mumbai).

 On April 23, 2002, the Radio Mirchi private FM station, owned by Entertainment

Network (India) Ltd, a wholly-owned subsidiary of The Times Group, debuted in

Mumbai, on 98.3 FM. Radio Mirchi is now present in seven Indian cities and is the

only company with private FM radio stations in all four metropolitan cities of Delhi,

Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata. they are also the only private FM radio broadcaster in

the cities of Ahmedabad, Indore and Pune.

As the punch line says, 'it is hot.' They have a very clearly defined position - they

are a contemporary hit radio station, and their Target is around 18 to 35 - SEC A and B

and in that too mainly youth and housewives. This segment addresses about 12 lakh

listeners

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Radio Advertising

The 4 P’s

Product:

For listeners: 90% of the music played on RM is Hindi and contemporary English hits

are played keeping in mind the tastes of their TG. Since radio is a free to air medium,

which reaches the lower end of the audience spectrum, RM later made a conscious

decision to go Hindi. Hence it quickly became a mass channel with Hinglish being its

prime lingo and having a wide audience appeal..

For corporates and retailers: the airtime

Place: intensive in Mumbai and selective all over the country since it is established in

cities like Kolkatta, Delhi, Chennai.

Price: The advertisement rates. (Refer to annexure)

Promotion: The marketing strategy of Radio Mirchi revolves around two crucial pegs –

create hype around the name Radio Mirchi, plug Radio Mirchi through the other media

that The Times Group owns.it also does a lot of tie-ups and contests for the consumers

Marketing strategies

Radio mirchi has also tied up with various shopping malls, retail showrooms,

pubs for continuous advertisement of their channel to make people aware of the

temptations given by the channels to them. Radio mirchi has two main objectives behind

doing an extensive marketing which are-

To create the Top of the Mind recall in the relevant Target Audience.

Connect with the growing Radio listening population in Mumbai.

A very large factor that contributed towards the establishing the brand of RADIO

MIRCHI was its catchy slogan “it’s hot”. However the slogan by itself was incomplete

without the voices that accompanied it. CELEBRITIES and film stars that repeated every

so often “hi I’m -------- I’m hot and I’m Radio Mirchi!!” big names that generated

curiosity and excitement and compelled the listener to refrain from flipping the dial.

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Radio Advertising

Advertising

Radio Mirchi charges the highest rate of Rs 2,000 for a 10-second slot, the rest of

the FM channels charge anything between Rs 1,000 and Rs 1,500 for a 10-second slot.

Radio Mirchi gives 45 lakhs weekly listeners as per Radar study. There is an

average listenership of 45 minutes per day on the station. The rates are so reasonable that

advertisers can afford 10 or 15 spots a day and run the campaign for 15 days or three

weeks at a fraction of the cost that you will incur in print or Television. There are about

more than 300 advertisers on Mirchi. Today it is fashionable to be on radio.

Radio mirchi sells independently and does not offer any print package deal even

though they belong to Times Group – they are an independent company. Most of the

national advertisers on radio mirchi today want to buy all the stations on air. So they have

package deals for them also.

There is very little retail advertising on radio. In Indore more than half of Mirchi

revenue comes from retail. In Ahmedabad and Pune it is probably about 25 to 40% of the

business. But in Mumbai it is at 10%.

Currently radio mirchi has hiked their prices because they know that Radio Mirchi

today is one of the best radio channels and they offer value to the advertisers who spend

on their station. While all the other stations offer more slots and run ads for over 15

minutes, they offer ten minutes per hour on Radio Mirchi. There is huge inventory

pressure on them and therefore they had to increase the ad rates. Currently, on an

average, there are 125 to 175 brands advertising on Radio Mirchi.

In most cases, stations offer discounts on what is on their rate cards. On an average,

across the five stations, the effective ad rate going for a ten second spot would be

anywhere between Rs 1000 to Rs 2000. Clients buy effective rates and they buy a

combination of spots like prime time, non prime time and the likes.

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Radio Advertising

IMRB conducts research for radio mirchi which is after every 15 days to know

exactly what the listeners actually want to lend their ears to. Hence, accordingly, they

have implemented the changes in the time slots of the different shows on air. So when the

advertisers wants to advertise on radio, radio mirchi can provide them with the more

information and help them to decide on the time slots and frequency etc…

According to the study conducted:-

Mirchi delivers highest number in terms of listenership among Housewives and

working men.

Radio Mirchi delivers highest number in terms of listenership among the Radio

Listening student population.

Radio Mirchi emerges up as the No. 1 channel and delivers high numbers with Daily

listenership at 24.63 lacs.

Future Plans:-

Radio Mirchi is looking radio Industry from the long term point of view. They are

interested in some of the bigger cities for instance, Bangalore, Hyderabad, definitely

Coimbatore, Chandigarh, Ludhiana, Lucknow and Kanpur. That will still take us to about

15 frequencies. But this country can have 5,000 radio stations. Mirchi would eventually

look at having a presence in every nook and corner of this country, which means going

into the smaller towns.

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Radio Advertising

Case Study On Airtel

Airtel, India’s leading cellular operator in the private sector. Operating in more

than 23 cities it has been able to attain a high number of customer and is now regarded as

one of the best cellular services being provided in India. Its major competitors are orange

and R.I.M and various other providers.

Airtel is creating an attitude of being people friendly and thus gaining huge share

in the market. However it has a long way to go as no one is ever safe in this market and

one has to keep up its good work going.

With increasing competition airtel is now going in for more of radio advertising

as against the television . the reason being the huge radio boom with the large number of

customers tuning into radio more often than ever. Airtel saw this as an opportunity to

grab the most number of customers through radio and their started spending more on

radio than ever before.

Promotional strategies adopted by Airtel through radio:

uff Uff Mirchi! Hai Hai Mirchi!

Airtel is now the first GSM service provider to tie up with a radio channel for the

users benefit. The radio channel in question happens to be Radio Mirchi.

To avail this innovative tie-up, the users need to dial 646 from their Airtel enabled

mobile handsets. They can then listen to some popular programmes of the channel like,

Mirchi Movie of the Month, Bappi-da Da Gyan, Mr. Hotpot Crackpot, Devdas - the Asli

Batliboi and Ding Dong - Mona Sing a Song.

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Radio Advertising

Pre-paid and post-paid customers of AirTel can access this service. For this, users

have to pay a Value Added Service (VAS) rate of Rs.6 per minute with no extra

subscription charges.

Recently, there has been an increasing demand of listening to FM channels

through mobile handsets. Nokia first introduced FM enabled phones, where users can

listen to any FM channel through their handsets. Airtel's tie-up allows users to listen to

one channel only. Among CDMA service providers, through the R World of Reliance

handsets, users can listen to songs.

For a long time now, radios have offered services to its users free of cost. With

regard to this particular trend, it does become quite doubtful as to how long Airtel's

'mirchi effect' will last with the charge rates as high as Rs.6 per minute.

Airtel - radio ad jingles

“TUM KO DEKH TE HIN ,

CHARGE HUA ZINDAGI,

KABHI LINKING ROAD , KABHI PEDDAR ROAD ,

KABHI MEERA ROAD , KABHI AAREY ROAD ,

DESH BHAR MAIN RE-CHARGE KAHIN BHI,

AAISI AZADI AUR KAHAN.”

Jingle made by airtel basically targets its own customers by saying that wherever

they go they will be able to avail of airtel services anywhere. And would also be

convenient for its customers to recharge their mobile phones in these centers. This all

shows about their care for their customers.

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Recommendations

The vibrant voices airing music shows on twenty odd private FM radio stations in

major cities do not reflect the viability worries and restrictions that haunt this industry.

The basic problem in the Radio space in India is the excessive Government control

and regulation. In order to let the industry to grow the government needs to give it some

space. Though the Supreme Court decision in 1995 declaring airwaves as public property

led to the entry of a number entrants challenging the monopoly of All India Radio,

nothing much changed as regards to government control. The government charged a very

heavy license fee for entering the market, did not allow broadcast of news and current

events nor was there a scope of a foreign player entering the Indian market.

One way to get over the license fee crisis in the radio broadcasting industry is for the

government to drop the bidding-driven process for setting radio license fees because it is

this system that leads to the viability crisis. They should in fact, as recommended by the

TRAI, go in for a system more prevalent worldwide - revenue sharing. Under this system,

stations will pay the government a certain % of their gross revenue every year.

The Government should review its ban on private stations airing news and current

affairs, currently a monopoly with All India Radio. This could attract potential listeners

on the move who want their daily share of the happenings around the world. But with the

government citing national security as the reason for not doing so leaves little hope of

this happening, atleast in the near future.

A llowing foreign players to enter the Indian market could also spell a boon for the

Indian company gain from the expertise and superior technology of the foreign player.

The consumer will also benefit as the industry can now tap into a larger basket (the

foreign players) for greater variety.

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ConclusionRadio has many natural advantages that make it an excellent choice for an

advertising medium. These advantages include high amount of time spent listening,

superior target ability, superior listener loyalty, ad recall and message retention, and

much more which can be attributed to the ‘low cost of ownership’ feature of RADIO as a

medium.

Consumers spend 85% of their time with ear-oriented media, such as Radio, but

spend only 15% of their time with such eye-oriented media as newspapers and

magazines. Yet advertisers spend 55% of their money on eye media (print) and only 45%

of their money on ear media such as Radio and television.

Radio's share in the total advertising budgets of companies is likely to grow from

2 per cent to 5 per cent in the next three years, with an expected growth rate of about 10

to 12 per cent every year. In fact, the fortunes of radio advertising are likely to change

with the advent of private players like Star India, Bennett Coleman & Co, Living Media,

Mid Day etc.

The opening of the FM market is a new phenomenon and the maturing of the

market will take its own evolutionary path. Interestingly, the private FM players have a

huge opportunity in grabbing a bigger chunk of the radio advertising pie as, despite All

India Radio's enormous reach (97 per cent of the population), its revenues have declined.

In such a scenario, where the cheapness of radio is likely to ensure that the bulk of

radio advertisers are those that go for a one-city-local-audience strategy, greater reach

may not necessarily translate into a marketing advantage. Ultimately content and

packaging will be the king.

However, what will spell out the difference between success and failure will be

neither size nor niche. It would be just plain old quality of programming and the

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Radio Advertising

explosion of contests and sweepstakes offered by the Radio Stations currently. One aping

the other is an honest testimonial to justify this statement.

In the end Radio offers tremendous opportunities for advertisers and media

planners need to explore various options by which they can effectively use radio in their

media mix. Conversely, broadcasters need to develop the market by being more

responsive to the advertiser's needs. This will provide an opportunity for the market to

arrive at the final verdict on the effectiveness of the medium.

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Radio Advertising

Annexures

Radio City - National Rate Card30 Secs spot buy rates (in Rs.)

Programme category Mumbai Delhi Banglore Lucknow

07:00 - 11:00

17:00 - 20:00

Radio active 8000 8000 5000 4000

11:00 - 17:00

20:00 - 22:00

Radio Mix 6000 6000 4500 3000

22:00 - 00:00 Radio Master Blaster 6000 6000 4000 3000

Round the clock Radio Ga Ga 4000 4000 2500 2000

Terms and conditions:-

Minimum acceptable radio spot/ commercial duration will be 10 seconds.

In case any programme, which is being offered in this package, gets discontinued,

the advertiser will move the spots to the programme replacing the discontinued

programme in the same rate category.

To ensure proper and timely release of the spots, release orders should be given to

MBPL through Star India Pvt. Ltd. At least 2 weeks prior to the date of airing of

the first spot.

All bookings are subject to availability at the time of booking. The

agency/advertiser must provide DATS at least fifteen days prior to first spot airing

date. The sponsorship material must be sent four weeks prior to start date of the

sponsorship of any programme.

All invoices should be settled by the advertisers/agency within 30 days from the

date of the receipt of invoice.

Others…

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Radio Advertising

RED FM

Red fm is currently operating in Mumbai, Delhi and Kolkotta, under the brand name 93.5

RED FM, Asli Masti.

Our rate card per 10 seconds(1 unit) of airtime is as listen as below:

Individual City Rates

City Prime SPT NPT/ROS

Mumbai 1800 2400 1200

Delhi 1800 2400 1200

Kolkotta 1200 1800 600

Super Prime Time:

Mornings 8:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m.

Evenings 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.

Prime Time:

Morning 7:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m.

Morning 10:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m.

Evenings 5:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m.

Evenings 8:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m.

Sponsored Shows:

Super Prime Time + 25 % premium

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Radio Advertising

Radio mirchi rate card

Day Parts Time Band Delhi Mumbai Chennai Kolkata Ahmedabad Pune

7 a.m – 8 a.m Family 500 500 220 220 170 170

8 a.m – 12 a.m Family /Drive

850 650 260 260 215 215

12 a.m - 5 p.m Housewife / Traders /

Youth

260 250 145 145 130 130

5 p.m – 10 p.m

Drive 550 400 220 220 170 170

10 p.m – 7 a.m BPO’s / Youth / Drive

260 250 145 145 130 130

Minimum jingle length

The minimum jingle duration will be considered as 10 sec.

Over 10 seconds, jingle length would be counted in multiples of 5  seconds. E.g.

A 23 second jingle would be billed as 25 seconds

Jingle production charges

Centres   Jingle cost

Mumbai Rs.10,000

Delhi Rs.10,000

Chennai Rs.  7,000

Kolkata Rs.  7,000

Ahmedabad Rs.   5,000

Pune Rs.   5,000

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Radio Advertising

Time Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday

0700-1100 hrs

Good Morning Mumbai (GMM) Jaggu & Taranna

Rate: 1500/-

Big Brunch (0800-

1200 hrs)T-ManRate: 1250/-

1100-1400 hrs

The Midday ShowShruti

Rate: 1000/-

Sunday Midday Show (1200-

1600 hrs)RaviRate: 1000/-

1400-1800 hrs

1700-1800 hrs

College RadioNadir

Orange Request HourRate: 1250/-

Mumbai Matinee (1600-

1800 hrs)Travel Guy

Rate: 1000/-

1800-2100 hrs

Horn Ok PleaseMalini

Rate: 1500/-

Mumbai Top 20 (1800-

2100 hrs)AnnieRate: 1250/-

2100-0000 hrs

NightShiftGlenn

Rate: 1250/-

Bacardi Breezer Vivid NightsMalini

Rate: 1250/-

Nineties on 925 ChrisRate: 1250/-

0000-0100 hrs

Midnight ShiftRate: 750/-

Live DJ SetSandy

Rate: 750/-

Midnight ShiftRate: 750/-

*All rates are per 10 seconds of airtimeSuper Prime Time Band (0800hrs-1000hrs) and (1800hrs-2000hrs)

*SPTB will attract a 50% premium on card rates.

Bibliography

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Radio Advertising

While working on this project I visited some of the radio stations and they gave

me some information

However to support the same I have done some most of the research work from

the following text books:

The advertising handbook by Dell Dennison

Direct Marketing Management by Mary Lou Robert and Paul Berger.

Newspapers and Magazines

Times of India

Economics Times

Business Standard

Financial Express

Various websites were also visited such as,

www.allindiaradio.org

www.radiomirchi.com

www.star.co.in

www.go925fm.com

www.rab.co.uk

www.exchange4media.com

www.agencyfaqs.com

www.timesofindia.com

www.hinduonnet.com

www.economicstimes.com

www.indiatoday.com

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