Indiantelevision.com Team

(18 July 2008 8:30 pm)

MUMBAI: FM stations are consumed more in regional markets. As per Radio Audience Measurement (Ram) study on radio penetration and viewership pattern, Bangalore and Kolkata listeners spend more time on FM stations than in metros like Delhi and Mumbai.

The study is conducted in Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore and Kolkata. According to the Ram data (12+, 1-28 June), average daily time spent listening on weekdays is 212 minutes in Bangalore and it is 207 minutes on weekends.

The eastern market of Kolkata, which has regional players like Aamar FM and Friends FM, stands next to Bangalore. Here the weekend consumption is higher than a regular weekday. On weekdays average daily time spent is 190 minutes as compared to 197 minutes on weekends.

Says Tam Media CEO LV Krishnan, "Regional language plays a big role in retaining listeners and this is one of the reasons why consumption of FM stations is higher in regional markets. The other reason may be because in metros people are too busy to tune in to FM stations."

Unlike any other place in Bangalore, listeners start tuning in as early as 6:30 am and peak at 7 to 7:30 am. The spike in the morning hour’s listenership may be accredited to the fact that listeners tune in for the early morning show 'Shuvprabhatam', which is offered by almost all stations.

Later in the day, stations see a continuous dip till 5 pm before listnership picks up at 7:30 pm to finally sink after 9 pm.

Most stations in Bangalore recently have changed to total Kannada content or the jock talk format, or have even re-defined their positioning to cater to the listener.

In Kolkata, morning peak coincides with Bangalore, stays on till 12 pm, before picking up at 8 pm. A differentiating factor in Kolkata's consumption pattern is that listeners still stick on till the wee hours of the day.

As compared to the regional markets, listeners of Delhi and Mumbai spend less time on FM stations.

In Delhi, average daily listening time is 118 minutes on weekdays and 128 minutes on weekends. It is the least in Mumbai which has 103 minutes of average daily listening time on weekdays and 106 minutes on weekends.

In Delhi and Mumbai, listeners step in around 6 am and peak at 10:30 am. Listeners in both the metros reach their peak again at 12:30 pm, to slid marginally during the later parts of the day.

Delhi and Mumbai has a listnership climb at 8 pm, after which there is a fall for the next three hours. There is a spike at 11 pm, followed by a sharp fall at the tail end of the day.