Excellence in Radio Awards 2010 by India Radio Forum

Many believe that radio is dying as a business. It just doesn't have that appeal anymore. Let me make one thing clear to all of you - radio isn't dying. As a matter of fact, the radio industry has been growing gradually. Globally at that! Historically, the UK has been looked at as a defining market for radio, and it continues to be. Interestingly, the number of listeners is rising in that market. BBC 6 alone, for example, experienced a rise of almost 50 percent in its audience, touching the magical figure of one million listeners. And things are only looking better as the entire industry is posed to inflate further. But we're talking about the UK, what about India?

The "radio boom', if we may call it so, happened only about a few years ago in India. With the coming of channels like Radio Mirchi, Radio One, Big FM and a whole lot of others, suddenly, the Indian radio packet was looking bright. People started taking radio seriously. It was a phenomenon that perhaps happened to radio after a gap of close to two and a half decades. One must understand, radio was an imperative tool during India's fight for independence as it was the only other source, apart from newspapers, through which the leaders and freedom fighters could reach out to the masses. The radio listenership grew thereon and was at its peak during the rich period of 50s to 70s.

Radio then started experiencing a slow, but gradual, drop in the number of people tuning in ' the advent of television in the Indian market was the main cause of this decline.

The later half of 90s experienced the introduction of new, mainly youth-oriented radio channels. And that brought in a paradigm shift in the world of Indian radio. The rest, as they say, is history. Biggest of brands started advertising through radio as the reach of this medium penetrated to the deepest corners of India. In urban areas, the huge number of cars plying on the road contributed to the huge listenership numbers. This proved as one of the best way to advertise.

The Indian Radio Forum celebrates the contribution of those within the radio industry through the Indian Excellence in Radio Awards. The Excellence in Radio Awards is an internationally recognised benchmark of excellence for programming, radio talent, marketing & promotions and advertising. The 2010 edition of the awards took place in Mumbai on 19th May, 2010, and Adgully brings you the results.

The categories were divided into four main groups: Programming Category, Talent Category, Promotion and Marketing Category and Advertising Category. There were sub categories for each main category. 92.7 Big FM walked away with nine awards, followed by Radio Mirchi 98.3 FM with eight. Digital Radio Broadcasting (Mumbai) took home seven awards; Superhits 93.5 Red FM went with two while Radio City 91.1 got two awards.

Maxus Delhi won the most effective use of radio in an activation campaign and Maxus Mumbai got the recognition of the most effective use of radio in an Ad campaign.

The event kicked off with enlightening presentations by key speakers. Vikram Sakhuja, CEO ' South Asia, Group M, Dave Cobban, Consumer Mobilization Director, Nike and Abdul Khan Advisor to MD & Senior VP, Tata Teleservices were the esteemed guest speakers. They talked about the importance of radio, consumer behaviour and also gave suggestions to improve the current scenario.

Vikram Sakhuja raised an effervescent issue of the increasing importance of integrated offerings that media agencies and clients are expecting across media platforms, and what is the role that Radio can play in the mix?

His session gave insights into Mindshare's experience across the world and shared with the Indian broadcasting community, how radio broadcasters have built increased value for advertisers through integrated offerings.

Abdul Khan's session focussed on an Increase in convergence opportunities between mobile service providers & FM Broadcasters and how can we best use the latest technology to track the music space, utilise value added services, enhance regional content, serve rural markets through FM consumption on mobile phones.

Sakhuja, started with asking the question whether the Radio is playing on your mind? He said, "This industry has grown to 36% CARG since 2002 and from 2.2% to 4.4 % in AdEX. Do we focus on increasing the no. or increasing their spend" He further adds, "Radio is an intimate medium, its intrusive, interactive, there is low ad avoidance, and it's mobile but still it's fighting desperately."

The metros are expensive to advertise in the radio, and the five metros skew to a figure of almost 60 percent. Therefore, there is a need to de-commoditize radio which will increase the accountability on implementation. The most important things for radio are the reach, efficiency, outlay and the power the medium holds.

The second speaker, Cobban, believes in innovation for a better world and to enable a world where all youth have access to the power of sports. Through a presentation he brings out a strong message as to how social media can help and develop the youth minds, "I don't need to predict the future I create it."

He signed off by discussing about the consumer engagement into any activity and bringing in their growth which will in turn try to make the world a better place.

The last speaker of the day, Khan, said that the existing media structures are collapsing where mass marketing and mass media symbiosis will erode further. This 1200 crore industry is built on using a lot of electricity where 20% of the people use radio through mobile. It starts from a radio station with a website to a media company which enhances the digital exp and brings out genuine interactivity. Now how successful these mergers are in not to get complicated but to wait and watch.

With such insights being shared by the pioneers of the industry, radio is all set to walk a new path. May the Sun shine bright upon the radio industry. Amen.