"In just two years time, under his guidance and leadership, BIG 92.7 FM is already No. 1 FM station in India leading in metros and non-metros reaching about 2.5 crore listeners everyday."

On major changes in the radio industry in 2008 and their impact

Phase III announcement. A positive move that will enable radio players to increase their reach even more.

Multiple frequencies in key stations. This was a much awaited change in legislation, which will give players the opportunity to serve niche segments in the large markets and create additional streams of revenue.

Demerger of radio companies from promoters. This allows for sustained focus on expansion and future business growth plans.

Limited news and current affairs on private FM. Broadcasters would have preferred complete opening up of news and current affairs. The limited window - airing of AIR news capsules - is not a viable substitute for private FM players to be able to interest their audiences.

Political advertisement carriage on private FM stations. We welcome this move, which has been long overdue.

Increased FDI. Ability to raise more funds for expansion.  

AROI consolidation as the official radio body. Association of Radio Operators in India (AROI) is one voice that represents radio broadcasters.

Increased acceptance of RAM in Kolkata. By far one of the most significant highlights of 2008 was the increased acceptance of RAM as the only authentic measurement for radio in the country. This measurement system empowers advertisers to derive maximum value from their investments on radio, a fact quickly recognized by many. This has in turn resulted in increased spends on the category as well as changes in rates and revenues of individual players in line with their station performance.   

On allowing political ads on private FM and its impact on revenue generation

Positive impact on revenues; however, proportion to total revenues is not very significant. We expect higher investments coming from general elections in April 2009.

On advertisers preferring low cost radio avertising

Radio is seeing increased spends from traditional print spenders and even TV spenders. Growth year-to-date (YTD) in November 2008 was approx 70 percent. Advertisers are clearly seeing the benefit of FM being able to deliver superior reach as compared to print at a far better cost effectiveness. In a tough economic environment, radio is clearly emerging as a powerful tool to support brand plans.

On radio growth higher than PwC 24 percent estimate

Big FM has been growing at a rate far higher than this. Even the entire industry has a YTD growth of approx 34 percent. So the radio industry has far outstripped the PwC estimates already.

On allowing sports and news on radio

Currently, there is only limited grant that has been given to radio broadcasters to broadcast news and current affairs. We can only broadcast pre-recorded news capsules from AIR. This is a very limiting factor and does not allow us to broadcast news content in a manner that we know will appeal to our listeners.  News certainly opens up the category for even more listeners as has been proved across the world. However, with the current restrictions on private broadcasters, this advantage is still not truly available to us.

On future of radio industry

The outlook on revenue growth is positive given the current trends. In a tougher economic situation, advertisers seek and recognize the value of FM in their plans and increasingly we see more money being allocated to radio or new advertisers coming into the category. With the growth of networks like ours in 2008, the category has certainly come into its own and has grown from strength to strength. This combined with the decline of print in terms of reach as well as stickiness (time spent reading as measured by IRS R2 2008), suggests a good future for revenue growth and profitability.

On the content and reach front, increased competition in 2008 across markets has been a catalyst of improved content quality. We see more innovation, more path breaking ideas, and more risks being taken by FM players, all of which have contributed to huge growth of the category reach. Radio today outstrips print in terms of reach across metros. Time spent listening to radio is almost as high as time spent watching TV, well ahead of time spent reading newspapers.  The future will see larger, bolder, and more exciting content formats from radio players and with the increasing number of stations in Phase III, FM reach will continue to see significant growth over the next 12 months.