"2012" The year that was for Radio!

It’s that time of the year when globally people are busy planning their New Year celebrations which will ultimately bring to a close the year that was --year 2012.  Companies too are evaluating the entire year, 2012 and simultaneously strategizing  for year 2013. Also worth mentioning is the radio industry which has faced its ups and downs this year. The  industry did not see much promising growth in the year 2012 though but it managed to make its presence felt quite effectively. Events were held which was attended by many renowned veterans from all across the radio industry to discuss strategies in terms of re-energizing the power of radio in the country.  According to IRS 2012 Q2 data, radio has an estimated audience of 158 million people (out of which FM radio accounts for 106 million), as compared to 563 million in the TV segment and 352 million in the print sector. Advertising revenues comprise more than 85%–90% of the total revenue generated by FM radio companies; non-FCT sales can contribute up to 20% of a radio company’s total revenue today.

Adgully caught up with some of the radio veterans like Prashant Panday, Executive Director and CEO, Entertainment Network (India) Limited, Harrish M Bhatia, CEO, 94.3 MY FM and Harshad Jain, Business Head, Fever 104 FM. and Mr. Ashit Kukian, COO & President, Radio City 91.1 FM

When asked how he views the year 2012 for the radio industry as a whole, Prashant Panday said, “2012 was a tough year for all media segments. In comparative terms, radio fared as well as TV and much better than print and outdoors. I think the radio industry will record a growth of about 10% during the year.” But Harrish M Bhatia was of the opinion that the scenario for the radio fraternity was not that promising and sufficing in year 2012.   He said, “The year was quite tough for the industry as a whole but since our brand is more of retail focused one and since retail was good this year, MY FM saw a decent growth.”

Sharing a similar sentiment about the year that was 2012 Harshad Jain said, “The industrial growth was not sufficing as per the expectations and could have been better.” He was of the opinion that the industry growth was sluggish.

According to Mr.Kukian he is of the opinion that the year 2012 has seen an encouraging growth of radio across multiple platforms. The radio - social media connect too has increased. Advertising in the radio space has also seen many innovations going beyond vanilla advertising and taking on a 360 degree approach. “The growth has been mixed, but Radio City has definitely witnessed an upward swing with new brand categories added in the advertising bouquet. The year 2012 saw an extension of radio beyond on-air content to innovative on-ground activations. Radio City’s pan-India properties like Gully Premier League and Radio City Super Singer have seen unprecedented response consolidating radio’s position in public psyche,” he said.

Prashant Pandey explained that in terms of growth, Mirchi has kept ahead of the market growth and increased market share by 1-2% during the last four quarters.  Harrish M Bhatia said that despite all the challenges MY FM saw a 16% growth in 2012. Though Harshad Jain refused to give exact numbers he is of the opinion that Fever 104 FM managed to grow given the tough environment. 

Sharing their views on what they look forward to in year 2013 and with regard to any business resolution on the anvil, Prashant Pandey says, “We look forward to a new Phase-III policy being announced, more licenses being offered after channel separation is reduced by half, and the successful auctioning of these licenses. We are also hoping that the economic reforms will continue which will definitely push up the growth rate of the economy and the media industry.”

Harrish M Bhatia says, “2013 is expected to be really challenging for radio industry hence for us as well but I personally feel that there will be a sufficing change in the economic scenario, not a major one but and hence we are preparing for the same and strategizing to grow more from 2012.” 

Harshad Jain expects the economy to grow to everyone’s expectations in 2013 and hence expects the radio industry too to grow at 25% to 30 % in the coming year.  Since Phase III took time to materialize this year it posed challenges for radio stations. In this regard Harrish M Bhatia said, “  If few fundamentals of Phase III like inclusion of news only as a capsule from AIR, license renewal, the industry’s concerns about the high cost of e-tender and e-auction for Phase – III and enablers for digitalization of radio; were to be solved Phase III would be very interesting.”

In terms of challenges faced by radio stations with Phase III coming in, Harshad Jain opined that if issues like the pricing and product innovation are taken under consideration Phase III would be quite sufficing.  

When asked if it was a tough year given economic conditions and if they were successful in beating the slowdown, Mr. Kukian said , “At Radio City we believe in planning our activities way in advance. Despite the slow start with low advertising spends in Q1 and Q2, with its extensive advance and expert planning Radio City managed to maintain a steady growth graph. 2012 was an exciting year for us. Constant engagement with the consumer on-air and on-ground activations has benefited Radio City, resulting in sustained No. 1 position in Mumbai and Bangalore. We have grown almost double the growth in the revenues that the industry has witnessed.”

When asked about the genres targeted for 2013, Prashant Pandey said that only when new licenses would get in could  they think of new genres. In terms of foreseeing any major changes in the radio industry, he said, “Yes, I believe radio stations will move increasingly towards providing solutions to clients. Not just programming solutions, but multi-media.” Elaborating further he said “If Phase-3 comes, then I see ENIL expanding rapidly both within the metros and geographically into new locations. But at all times, our focus will remain on profitability, not on mindless network expansion.”

“We are looking very positively at 2013 and would want to grow a lot more than 2012,” said  Harrish M Bhatia . Harshad Jain hopes to make their presence felt more in the forthcoming year with their clear objective to create innovative and differentiated programming.

Kukian sees promise in the year 2013 and says that this depends on the correct leverage of growth across varied platforms witnessed this year. He foresees Radio City’s presence in the digital sphere amplifying to a great extent. Concluding he said, “New avenues need to be sought to reach our audience. This has been a milestone year for year in terms of new streams added to our web radio, PlanetRadiocity.com. A focused approach towards consolidating all our on-ground and on-air activities will definitely see a surge in the revenue in the year to come.”

Hence it would be  fair to say that the year has been like a mixed  bag for radio which initially saw a promising  start but the challenges posed by Phase III seemed to have slowed down the initial enthusiasm for the radio fraternity. Though all the radio stations took heavy initiatives to strengthen their presence ,they still have a lot of expectations with Phase III coming in. With Phase III to be announced officially in 2013  growth in terms of programming and experimenting can be expected in the radio fraternity. | By Aanchal Kohli [aanchal@adgully.com]