It is boom time for advertising on radio. Not only have radio operators reported a rise in revenue, they have also recorded an increase in the number of sectors using the medium.
According to industry sources, before the advent of FM channels, advertising revenues for the industry stood at Rs 100-120 crore (Rs 1-1.2 billion).
The previous year saw this figure jump to Rs 170-190 crore (Rs 1.7-1.9 billion). For the current financial year, the projected advertising revenue stands at Rs 260-270 crore (Rs 2.6-Rs 2.7 billion).
According to Nandan Srinath, head of Radio Mirchi, the revenues have grown by 15 per cent month-on-month, both for the channel and for the industry, and there has been a net addition to the industry.
"We are burning 25-30 per cent of our inventory. We add about 8-10 new brands every week which would be similar for the industry," he says.
Major advertisers on radio include oil companies, financial service providers, consumer electronics, pharmaceutical and cellular companies, television and the retail sector for its sale campaigns.
While some of these sectoral categories are new, some of them like financial services and television were present earlier.
R Chatterjee of Red FM feels it is significant that most of the players have doubled or tripled their spends.
"We have had an incremental average weekly brand additions of about 3-4. The repeats have been tremendous, i.e. all advertisers who have been advertising with Red have increased their spends.
"These also include many small advertisers who have realised the mass appeal of radio as an advertising medium, which connects with the all important audience -- the households," he says.
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