Radio has made a comeback after the government allowed foreign investment into the segment and opened the market for private players. Today there are about 237 FM stations from 40 broadcasters across 91 cities. The audience profile has shifted from rural to urban and high-income group. This has enabled private players to come up with innovative programmers to attract urban youth. With growing mobile phone market and radio enabled cell phones, listening to radio has become a fashion statement. Radio has always been a cheaper media for advertising. With increasing number of audience and local stations, the advertising business has increased tremendously. In 2008, the advertising spend on radio was around Rs.880 Crore as against Rs.590 Crore in 2007. Government owned All India Radio’s revenue was about Rs.290 Crore in 2008.
Currently, the radio contributes to about 3 to 4 percent of total advertising spend in the country. This is expected to increase to 8 to 9 percent in the long term. Low cost of advertising and local advertising has encouraged many companies to try advertising through Radio. The growth in radio is expected to come from local retailers and from other categories such as education. Existing advertisers are also likely to increase their adverting spend through radio. The biggest revenue earners of 2008 are Radio Mirchi, followed by Big FM, Radio City and Red FM. 2009 is expected to see a huge growth of about 15 percent. More channels are expected to enter the market in 2010, which will further boost the revenue of radio market in India.
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