MxMIndia

Tag: Monica Nayyar Patnaik

  • The ‘Brand of Odisha Pride of India – Corporate Excellence Awards’ were presented in five categories: Large, Medium, Small, PSU and Emerging

    Sambad Group felicitates outstanding business enterprises from Odisha

    By A Correspondent

     

    In its endeavour to felicitate business enterprises who have made their presence felt outside Odisha, Sambad Group honoured 14 deserving companies at a function recently.

     

    The ‘Brand of Odisha Pride of India — Corporate Excellence Awards’ were presented in five categories: Large, Medium, Small, PSU and Emerging. In each category, Platinum, Gold and Silver awards were given, except in Emerging category where only two were felicitated.

     

    Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik graced the occasion as chief guest alongside Sambad Group Chairman Soumya Ranjan Patnaik and Managing Director Monica Nayyar Patnaik.

     

    “The Brands of Odisha are truly the pride of India as the catch phrase of this event proposes. The men and their hard work behind the Brands are reflective of a dream to excel and to make their vision a reality. It is also reflective of an assertion of 21st century Odisha where people are ready to plunge into the world of business and create their own identity at national and global level,” the CM said.

     

    Added Sambad Group Chairman Soumya Ranjan Patnaik: “We are being accused of finding faults and critical of others through our newspaper. In a departure from this, we will felicitate the industries who have made Odisha proud.”

     

    Said Sambad Group Managing Director Monica Nayyar Patnaik:“We had received an overwhelming number of entries in all the categories. Jury members from top institutions like IIM and ITC were part of the tough selection process to instil credibility. We are happy to successfully organise first-of-its-kind award in the state.”

     

     

  • The Bhubaneswar-based media conglomerate has thirty regional offices, four printing centres, thirty-three sales offices

    Sambad Group unveils new identity

    By A Correspondent

     

    Odisha’s largest media conglomerate Eastern Media Limited (EML) has revealed its corporate identity as Sambad Group. Sambad Group Chairman Soumya Ranjan Patnaik unveiled the logo coinciding with the 33rd foundation day of Sambad in presence of group’s Managing Director Monica Nayyar Patnaik and Executive Director Tanaya Patnaik at an event in Bhubaneswar last week.

     

    “Sambad Group is the only media house in the state and probably in the country which caters to all sections of the society. It is the most diversified media company in the state and has set a benchmark in all its verticals. We are committed to deliver quality content to our target audience,” said Monica Nayyar Patnaik.

     

    Sambad has thirty regional offices, four printing centres, thirty three sales offices, a largest read Odia daily, two leading Odia magazines, a television news channel and two radio stations.

  • Monica Nayyar Patnaik has been appointed Managing Director of Eastern Media Limited

    Monica Nayyar Patnaik is now MD, Eastern Media Limited

    By A Correspondent

     

    Monica Nayyar Patnaik

    Monica Nayyar Patnaik is now Managing Director, Eastern Media Limited that runs the popular daily, Sambad.

     

    Soumya Ranjan Patnaik continues to be the CMD, Eastern Media Limited and Editor, Sambad. Tanaya Patnaik is now the Executive Director, Eastern Media Limited. At Sambad, K K Mohapatra continues to be the Chief Operating Officer and Rajeev Srivastava as the Chief Marketing Officer.

     

    Meanwhille, earlier this month, a new  logo design celebrating 30 years of successful publication of ‘Sambad’ was unveiled on Monday by Mr Patnaik at a function held at the Ganesh temple inside Sambad Bhawan premises here. The celebrations saw sportscaster Harsha speak on his ‘Winning Way’.

     

  • While content on FM radio has been evolving ever since it came into existence, the question is whether the listener is listening

    Is there a market for radio plays and other non-Bollywood radio content?

    By Robin Thomas

     

    Tune into any radio station, chances are you would be listening to some offbeat programmes. Take for instance Big FM’s storytelling show – ‘Yaadon Ka Idiot Box with Neelesh Mishra’ which is already in its second season. What is even more interesting is the fact that it is aired during the primetime 9pm to 11pm, Monday through Friday. After the success of Ramayana, Fever FM launched a new radio play, Gandhi beginning March this year. Radio City only recently introduced ‘Freedom Hour’, a programme which plays only Indie music and aired every Saturday from 5 pm to 6pm across its 20 stations. These are just a few examples, even smaller stations like Radio Choklate and Tomato FM have been airing radio plays and other non-bollywood, non- music contents. While content on FM radio has been evolving ever since its existence, the question is whether the listener is listening to them or is there no scope for these contents on radio?

     

    According to Harshad Jain, Business Head, Radio and Entertainment – HT Media Ltd, the listener’s choice has been changing with the evolution of the radio industry. The radio industry is showing early signs of programming content that is beyond music. “Yes there is a market for non music / non Bollywood content in the FM radio space. Music has become a leveler for FM operators. The on-air treatment done through non- music based programming element like audio drama, sports, festival specials, are contents that differentiates any brand and Fever 104 FM is arguably the only station that has built a strong emotional connect with its listeners through these initiatives. Purely from an advertisers standpoint non-music content aims towards driving engagement and high interactivity.”

     

    Kartik Kalla, National Programming Head, Radio City believes that differentiating music is the need of the hour. “Music constitutes almost 75 per cent of the total airtime and hence it is the most important feature in programming. We have recently introduced ‘Freedom Hour’ on Saturdays between 5-6pm across all our 20 stations. This is an extension of the music that is played on ‘Freedom Radio’ on PlanetRadiocity.com. The listeners enjoy refreshing music which is a welcome change from the regular Bollywood music that’s played.”

     

    Besides playing Oriya music, every Sunday evening Radio Choklate is also said to air opera or plays called ‘Choklate Rangamancha’. Radio Choklate also airs a weekly interactive show wherein, letters from listeners are read out on- air and their questions answered. Monica Nayyar Patnaik, Joint Managing Director at Eastern Media Ltd was of the opinion that radio programming has been constantly evolving over the years. Earlier FM stations would play only songs, then they emphasized more on RJ talk, then they went onto non- stop music and so on. The response from listeners, particularly for offbeat radio programmes like radio plays have been very good, it also affirms that there is a market for non-music contents.

     

    R Venkata Subramanian, Senior Director-Investments, MPG India pointed out that while non music or non Bollywood programmes create differentiation, a listener however mainly tunes into radio for music. I believe that these shows will be able to build their properties for a longer period of time only when they are associated with brands. In addition to these, radio programmes also need to be more interactive and engaging which would click with the listeners.

     

    Industry players are of the opinion that while content in radio has been constantly evolving on radio, there is a market for non- music and non- Bollywood radio programmes, but it must be highly interactive and engaging with its listeners. Despite government restrictions, FM radio has been constantly finding newer ways to engage and interact with its listeners. FM Phase III rollout is expected to witness further innovation and differentiation in radio programming, especially with multiple frequencies which is expected to introduce new genres of FM radio.

     

  • Monica Nayyar Patnaik, Joint Managing Director at Eastern Media Ltd. in conversation with MxMIndia about trends in the radio industry, Radio Choklate, post break-even, phase III plans and much more.

    Tier 2 & 3 crucial for radio: Monica Nayyar Patnaik

    By Robin Thomas

     

    She is the founder member of Radio Choklate, the radio arm of Eastern Media Ltd. Monica Nayyar Patnaik is the Joint Managing Director at Eastern Media Ltd., In conversation with MxMIndia, Ms Patnaik spoke at length about the trends in the radio industry, the challenges, on Radio Choklate post break-even, the phase III plans and much more.

     

    Q: How would you rate the year 2011 for Radio Choklate and the radio industry?

    The radio industry is still awaiting phase III announcements, and there are hopes in these announcements. Secondly, the increase in FDI has brought some cheer for all of us. As far as the copyright issue is concerned, the talks are still on, though I believe that we have gone ahead and may soon reach a breakthrough point.

     

    For the past three years Radio Choklate has been able to further consolidated its position and achieve break-even. The year 2011 has seen our listenership in Bhubaneswar, Cuttack and other nearby areas further increased, the reason being the change in programmes. We have been constantly changing our programmes, placed them in the right time slot and it worked well. In addition to these, our on ground activations also gave further momentum to our listenership.

     

    Q: Radio Choklate achieved break-even couple of years ago… what has changed for the station since then, ie in terms of infrastructure, talent, etc?

    The break-even achieved was purely advertising led, our expenditures has however gone up. One of the significant contributors was the Telecom sector. They had advertised considerably which gave us a huge boost in our advertising revenues. Besides we also deliver a lot of value additions to our clients. Going forward, it is not so easy. It is difficult in getting the right talent, and a lot of money is invested in recruiting good talent. Hence both in terms of talent pool and infrastructure it requires a lot of money and besides the copyright issue is yet to be fully resolved. In fact this year has not been so good for the industry in terms of advertising revenues which has slightly declined.

     

    Q: According to IRS, radio consumption has seen a decline. Do you agree? Some say that the decline is because of a delayed phase III and content restrictions…

    I have a different view on the listenership because we have been number one in our listenership since a long time and we are still number one radio station. However we have not witnessed any decline in our listenership. There are still many small town areas that need to be covered under the IRS bandwidth, many of which significantly contribute to the listenership share. Hence IRS must bring those uncovered or under covered areas under the IRS bandwidth to bring up the overall listenership.

     

    Q: Has radio listenership reached a saturation point in the metros and the next phase of growth for radio will come from tier 2 and 3 cities?

    I do agree that the next growth of FM listenership in India will come from the tier 2 and 3 cities as there are lot more cities and towns that need to be covered. With phase III rollout FM radio will be spreading its wings in 227 new cities. I believe it is now time that those cities which have reached saturation point must bring differentiation in terms of delivery, packaging and programming. However these developments can only take place once multiple licenses are allowed and I am sure it will help especially in cities where listeners need variety of music or programming.

     

    Q: Do you think the industry is confusing innovation with differentiation? As you just said, there is lack of differentiation… but, isn’t there too much innovation happening in radio today?

    It could be true however I am aiming to give listeners a different experience by getting into the niche areas i.e. by providing them a differentiated programme. So, if the listeners in my State want us to get into different areas of programming we would deliver to them what they want. So, if the listeners want a talk show they will be given, and that’s why we are so keen on multiple licenses, which is the key to differentiation.

     

    Q: You once said, come FM Phase III, you would want Radio Choklate to further expand in Orissa… Do your plans still remain the same?

    Absolutely, our plan still remains the same. We are looking forward to phase III, and our plans to further consolidate in Orissa. Music is just one part of radio, and for the medium to grow robust it needs other elements of contents as well, whether its sports commentaries or news and current affairs. Hence I feel there shouldn’t be any more delay in Phase III, the sooner it is rolled out the better for the industry.

     

    Q: Will multiple frequencies bring additional listeners and advertisers to radio or will it further fragment the listenership in the already fragmented medium?

    I don’t think so. How many multiple frequencies can one have in the same city? Multiple frequencies will give listeners more choice, and yes it will bring new listeners to radio, perhaps even those that have never listened to radio.

     

    Q: How has 2012 welcomed Radio Choklate? Any specific industry trends we should watch out for in the coming years?

    In 2012, Radio Choklate will look forward to FM Phase III rollout, we should be able to give different variety to the listeners and we will continue to concentrate more on local music.

     

  • Monica Nayyar Patnaik's end-of-year wish list for FM – players and listeners too.

    The Anchor: 6 wishes for Santa Claus from the radio industry

    By Monica Nayyar Patnaik

     

    #1 No ambiguity in FM Phase III:

    There has to be absolute clarity on phase III, and it must happen soon because every time there has been a delay for some or the other reason. I also hope the number of bidders is high and that it is easy for everyone in the industry to pitch in.

     

    #2 Music and copyright issue resolved:

    There is still a question mark on music royalty and copyright issues. It must be sorted out soon, not just with one or two major players, but with other players as well, big and small.

     

    #3 Ad pie of radio should increase:

    Radio is a mass medium, we are reaching out to a lot many people and now with mobile phones the FM radio penetration has only grown further.

     

    #4 Better technology:

    We need to be very clear on the technical aspect in terms of frequencies; it would be helpful for the listeners in getting a variety of niche programming and so on.

     

    #5 Improved listenership survey:

    It is very important for the entire radio industry. RAM is present in only four metros today, it must be extended to other cities as well.

     

    #6 More talent:

    Better training, their awareness running on air, behind the scenes in production. We need to give more opportunities to the production and technical talent pool as there is a lot of scope with more channels and frequencies coming in.

     

    Monica Nayyar Patnaik is Joint Managing Director, Eastern Media Limited.