Radio One to hike ad rates by 20%

Justifying the hike, MD & CEO Vineet Singh Hukmani says differentiation, better targeting and digital connect cost money

BestMediaInfo Bureau | Mumbai | February 3, 2015

Radio One (Next Radio) has decided to increase its advertising rates from February 20, 2015. The increase in rates will be an average of 20 per cent across all seven markets the station is present in – Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, Pune, Kolkata, Ahmedabad and Chennai.

Vineet Singh Hukmani

Citing the reason for hiking the ad rates, Vineet Singh Hukmani, MD & CEO, Radio One, explained, “Differentiation that the listener enjoys, better targeting and digital connect costs us money and we have been increasing that investment into the product year on year. Since we clearly target a well profiled listener on air and even offer a much better connect with an upscale educated segment online, we are only charging clients for better ROI.”

He further said, “Our programming is no longer just three time bands, we have a multitude of content properties running both in prime and non prime time, week & weekend, day & night and on air & online, and we already have the highest revenue in the industry from special sponsored hours, innovative properties and a host of exclusive clients that advertise only on Radio One. We also have the maximum amount of celebrities involved in commercial station initiatives as compared to any other radio station and these help break the clutter and, therefore, need to be premium priced.”

“Our 'host brands' too offer better impact and engagement and the integrations we do innovatively with them are far more effective as a result of expertise within this defined audience set,” Hukmani added.

Saurabh Sehgal

According to Saurabh Sehgal, Chief Sales Officer, Radio One, the advertiser today has evolved and is looking to pay higher for 'better targeting' and it is for this very reason client digital spends have gone up. He pointed out, “Radio inventories have been peaking at over 30 minutes an hour of advertising, resulting is very high clutter and increase in ad rates is the only way to balance the revenue and listenership equation. Just filling up inventory at current rates is a mindless commodity creating exercise as it causes more clutter for the advertiser and upset listeners who tune out of any station due to heavy advertising.”

Sehgal further said that agencies had always supported Radio One in its journey into differentiation and better targeting. “We offer advertisers an upscale educated engaged audience which sticks to our station due to the unique content and this 20 per cent increase will be ploughed back to take this engagement to the next level. It's a win-win for all,” he added.

Radio One Q3 FY15 revenues grew 25.6 per cent, EBIDTA went up 42 per cent, while PBT was up by 167 per cent as compared to the same period last year.

Radio One is a brand owned by Next Mediaworks, which is a listed entity.

Info@BestMediaInfo.com

Info@BestMediaInfo.com