Indiantelevision.com Team

(31 May 2008 7:30 pm)

MUMBAI: The grievance of FM broadcasters against being used as a secondary vehicle to print and TV is still not over. Both national and local FM broadcasters complain that advertisers and media planners ignore the audio medium as a brand and revenue booster.

In the session “Lets Hear it: What Do Advertisers Want?” at India Radio Forum, Big FM VP sales and head of North operations Praveen Malhotra said, “Advertisers and media planners do not value the reach and impact of a radio station.”

Malhotra said media planners and advertisers under-value the relevance of radio and thereby fail to integrate radio in the thematic style of the brand.

She further added that FM stations take extra effort to provide extra value for money to advertsisers. She said her radio station translates a single radio spot into at least 30 different languages to give the local flavour to the ad.

Singing the same tune, Friends FM business head Amritendu Roy said: “FM stations are seen as a step sister to print and TV media. In pursuit of wide reach, advertisers start taking FM stations as event management company. Advertisers think FM stations should do anything right from distributing pamphlets in restaurants to conducting on air contests.”

Media planners on the panel, however, disagreed, saying that advertisers have no reservation towards the audio medium. The only problem that they face in selling a brand across FM stations is the problem of differentiation. As all FM stations "hear" the same way, the listener can't identify with the brand.

Roy summed it up by saying, “Attitude of the advertisers and media planners have to change. Only then will the FM medium be considered as one of the premium platforms for advertising.”

In another session, taking the same subject of ad sales forward, FM broadcasters, media planners and advertisers debated on the low participation of local retailers in the audio medium.

FM broadcasters are cautioned that the local retailers even in the small towns like Jabalpur are yet to tap the audio medium.

Radio City EVP and national ad sales head Ashit Kukian said that local advertisers are gradually realizing the importance of the reach and power of the medium. It is only the FM stations which provide a 360 degree brand solution to a brand. As a part of brand activation, radio stations offer radio spots, on-air contests, RJ talk and an on-ground event.

Kukian, however, said that for radio stations, 20 per cent of the ad revenue comes from value add service and 80 per cent from vanilla radio spots.