Fever104 expects to gain listeners

Fever 104 FM, the radio station of HT Media, is aiming to be among the top three radio stations by 2009, on the back of newer revenue earning options and managing on-ground activities with its coverage on radio for regional companies.

According to data released by Radio Audience Measurement (RAM), in Kolkata, Fever currently is the number five player with a market share of eight per cent and 25 lakh listeners.

A month ago, Fever was the number seven player in Kolkata.

The company is also mulling increasing its advertisement charges per 10-second slot by 20-30 per cent, once it has reached that position.

Currently, for 10-second slots, charges are in the range of Rs 300-400 in Kolkata, while in other metropolitan cities like in Delhi, the ad rates are in the range of Rs 700-1000 for 10-second slots.

Ad rates, for all radio stations, varies between cities depending on the city’s per capita income and spending power.

According to Pralay Bakshi, station head of Fever 104 FM, “We are redoing our music variety. We have increased our music library to a total of 600 songs from close to 200 songs a few months earlier. Also, now 50 per cent of our songs played are recent hits and not just 2003 popular music which used to be the norm earlier.”

“We are talking to local companies for bundling on-ground activities with its coverage on radio. We have done this before. This will catch up as a good revenue generating option for us. A lot of companies, especially during festive season, look at on-ground activities. We could manage both on-ground and on air campaigns for them,” said Bakshi.

Fever sponsored close to five Durga Puja pandals in Kolkata this year where it managed both on-ground and on-air coverage for them.

Although Bakshi declined to spell out the sponsorship amount, industry sources said the company ended up spending a total of Rs 1 crore during the festive season in sponsoring the pandals in order to catch more eyeballs.

Fever in Kolkata also plans to introduce radio education programmes to train students and give them exposure to radio. This, the company feels, will end up being a ready source of quality talent round the year that they could recruit from.

Commenting on the overall slowdown impacting advertisements, Bakshi said that radio industry may not be impacted as it is still the most cost-effective medium for advertisers and is especially so for regional advertising, compared to advertising on television.

A 10-second slot on television during prime time costs advertisers Rs 3-5 lakhs.