MxMIndia

Tag: Big FM 92.7

  • The auditions for the show to be aired on Big Magic, Big Magic Bihar & Jharkhand and Big FM 92.7 will held across 400 schools in UP, Bihar and Jharkhand

    Parle-G to get juniors curious in RBNL’s kiddie talent hunt

    By A Correspondent

     

    Parle-G has come on board as presenting sponsor for Big Junior Star, a property that showcases the best young talent across the core Hindi markets of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Jharkhand. To be aired as a show on Big Magic and amplified across Big Magic Bihar and Jharkhand as well as radio network 92.7 Big FM, the talent encouragement platform is targeted at children between the age of 8-15 years. The show will be created into a 40-episode special that will air on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays starting October 2013 to March 2014.

     

    Said Pravin Kulkarnii, GM-Marketing, Parle Products said, “With Big Magic now being aired across all major cities in India and becoming popular amongst its target audience, we are certain that our association with their upcoming show, Big Junior Star will help us take forward the brand ideology of Parle G.” Added Mayank Shah, Group Product Manager, Parle Products, “This platform will help us focus in bringing out natural curiosity in kids, encourage their desire to try new things, experiment and learn from their mistakes. We want them to realize that they can learn everywhere and from everything and that school is beyond just books and classrooms.”

     

    Said Sunil Kumaran, Business Head, Big Magic: “With an interactive format and a diverse platform of categories, we are confident that Big Junior Star will garner mass appeal, engaging excellently with our target audience – kids.”

     

  • The Bengaluru station of 92.7 Big FM has announced the launch of its 'Big Junior RJ Hunt 2013', a radio-based reality show which concludes on May 22

    Bengaluru’s Big Junior RJ Hunt culminates tomorrow

    By A Correspondent

     

    The Bengaluru station of 92.7 Big FM has announced the launch of its ‘Big Junior RJ Hunt 2013’, a radio-based reality show for the city of Bengaluru. Launched in association with Oakridge International School, the talent hunt will help identify young and promising individuals between 5 and 10 years based on parameters such as spontaneity, smartness, general knowledge and RJing ability to host a segment on the station’s Sunday show. The month-long campaign, which concludes on May 22, has seen scores of parents registering their children to participate in the show.

     

    Children are often friendly, highly observant and aware of their surroundings, spontaneous and quick to respond, enjoy talking to people, and do not have inhibitions. The event will give children an opportunity to display such skills that are prized but often overlooked in radio jockeys. It will also give parents the chance to be actively involved in grooming their little ones to stand out in the contest.

     

    Entries to the reality show were received through interactive voice response (IVR) technology, and 15 children were short-listed through auditions at summer camps and on-air registrations. On May 18, the final five children were selected through an auditioning process held at Oakridge International School. These five shortlisted participants will get to go on-air, where listeners will vote for the favourite ‘Big Junior RJ’ based on their performance on a theme chosen for them by the programming team. Parents will be able to seek votes for their children online, through videos of the audition, and through content uploaded on YouTube. Two of the five contestants will be crowned ‘Little RJ’ on May 22; while one will get an opportunity to host the morning show, the other will host the evening show on 92.7 Big FM.

     

    Ashwin Padmanabhan

    Speaking about this initiative, Ashwin Padmanabhan, Business Head, 92.7 Big FM, said, “Children often possess talents parents might not know. The event not only encourages young talent in the country but also promises to bring fresh and exciting content to our listeners. We are confident of discovering RJs of the future through this exciting platform and look forward to conducting a very successful event for our children.”

     

  • Ashwin Padmanabhan, Business Head, Big 92.7 FM speaks to MxMIndia about the station's remarkable growth in Delhi and other markets

    Jaldi 5 with Ashwin Padmanabhan: Going retro for differentiation

    By Ananya Saha

     

    Over the past 12 months, 92.7 Big FM has seen a phenomenal growth in the Delhi market with the average share growing to 11.3 from an average share of about 6. Ashwin Padmanabhan, Business Head, Big 92.7 FM speaks to MxM India about the station’s remarkable growth in Delhi, and other markets.

     

    01. What has contributed to this growth?

     

    Late last year we did studies and research to understand the unique and mass position of Big FM in Delhi. And with this research we decided to go retro. We took a clear-cut and distinct positioning of a retro music station with ‘Hit The, Hit Rahenge’. Within eight weeks of changing our music positioning along with a new RJ line-up that was more mature and new local shows, we saw a trend of increasing listernership. So, sampling started happening. In the 52nd week, we started averaging to 11.2 points from the previous 6. It tipped in second week of 2013, when three FM stations in Delhi stopped airing for a week. It became a two-horse race between Fever and us. What is heartening for us, we tipped Fever, which has been leading in Delhi, in this week. Our share went upto 33 percent in that week.

     

    02. Is Delhi witnessing faster growth than other markets where Big 92.7 is present?

    We have grown across markets. As per the Q2 and Q3 IRS figures, we have seen significant growth and continue to be leaders in Hindi-speaking markets. We have actually grown further from last quarter to this quarter. In Bengaluru, we have been growing and are a strong No.2. We did see a dip about an year back, and we have clawed back since then. We have been a very strong No.2 in Kolkata but now, our big shows like Breakfast Show are consistently No.1 in Kolkata. In Hyderabad, we have traditionally been strong, so we are maintaining that. In Chennai, we are witnessing quarter-on-quarter growth. According to IRS and the last round of RAM that happened in Chennai, we came at No.3.

     

    We have seen overall growth happening across our markets.

     

    03. Has the growth resulted in higher ad revenues?

    The growth has resulted in the brand becoming more visible and audible, and top-of-mind for our potential advertisers. We are seeing a larger offtake from advertisers. A lot of this is also being driven from smaller markets where SMEs and large brands from Tier II markets are taking to our network in a big way. Many of them are actually using our network to launch their products.

     

    Have the ad rates increased?

    We have been looking at increasing. At this point in time, we have been able to maintain our ad rates. But we are surely looking at increasing yields 15-20 percent depending on the market.

     

    04. Do on-ground or off-air and on-ground marketing initiatives help an on-air brand?

    When we lauched and introduced Retro in Delhi, we initially just allowed the people to sample our station for good three months. Then we did our first campaign in Delhi – Mohabatien, which was to promote our 11am-2pm show. Then we did the concert with Kailash Kher. And then on, it has been primarily driven by content that we have been creating on-air. Our marketing has been from weekly street-level perspective when we have tried to reach our listeners and tried to acquire new listeners through street-level activations that we do on weekly basis.

     

    There has been a lot of consumer engagement on-ground. It has been sampling and activation-based marketing rather than marketing in the pure sense.

     

    05. What can we expect from 92.7 FM in the coming months?

    We have Retro positioning in four stations: Indore, Delhi, Bhopal and Surat. We are looking at engaging with consumer at 2-3 levels in this market. We are creating platform for consumers to come on and express themselves. In Indore and Bhopal, we have just finished this initiative called Big Hindustani.

     

    In Delhi, we are looking at series of concerts – Hit The, Hit Rahenge that we’ll do every quarter. It will be Retro music celebrated by today’s musicians and singers. We are also launching talent hunt across our network in March – Big Star Voice. The big gratification being – a chance to sing for a movie. There are going to be local activations that will happen in each of these markets, which will be driven by the positioning of our station in those markets.

     

    We invest, and will continue to invest in differentiated content.

     

    Is Big 92.7 FM looking at internet radio?

    At this point, obviously everyone is looking at internet radio. But we need more time in terms of clarity on music licensing policies on internet. Hopefully, when we get that clarity, we will surely look at it.