MxMIndia

Tag: retro

  • Kicking off a series with players who did well in the media last year, we have a quick chat with Tarun Katial, CEO of RBNL. on how Big FM's switch to retro in some stations worked for him

    First Leader,First Mover Advantage with Retro

    Quick Takes with 2014 Stars

     

    Beginning a four-or-more-part series of interviews with A quick Q&A with Tarun Katial, CEO of Reliance Broadcast Network Ltd whose 45-station 92.7 Big FM climbed the ratings roster after it switched to a retro music format in some of its key markets.

     

    Do talk us through the Big switch to retro

    We were in the business of radio for about four to five years before we took the plunge. We realised that just being one of the pack doesn’t work. Some of our competitors were in the market for 10-odd years. While the station did really well initially, the growth had plateaued. Being in radio, we’re also in the business of consumer insights. We realised there was a clear gap in the market and a market in the gap. Our research told us that a large number of 25-plus discerning, paying consumers  were now present on radio in large volumes. A combination of putting the consumer at the centre and understanding what the competition would and wouldn’t do and what were the possible unique gaps in the market made us decide to go retro.

     

    Did the dispute with T-Series have a role to play in the switch?

    No, it was largely driven by consumer insights and a deep-ended research conducted by a couple of agencies. I won’t link it to T-Series but what we also saw was there was a high amount of fatigue and low amount of involvement with interest in new music. Music was burning out quicker and was not engaging listeners as much. The number of music hits is reducing year-on-year. Even the biggest movies don’t have some very big music song hits anymore. The shelf-life of that music is reducing from six months to just four to five weeks.

     

    Wasn’t there a worry that you would alienate young listeners?

    When we did our research with both young and old listeners, we realised that everlasting or all-time favourite hits were popular across age groups.

     

    And what about teenyboppers?

    There were 50 to 60% of them who voted for the retro positioning. Also, we believe that the discerning and paying audience was largely in the 25-plus age bracket. Most advertising categories focused there.

     

    But as you go along, you’ll need to incorporate newer music

    Most radio stations in our position worldwide add another five years in their music library every two or three years.

     

    Has the issue with T-Series been resolved?

    We don’t really need them so where’s the issue?

     

    But five years from now, you’ll need them.

    Then we’ll take them because we’ll do what is right for the consumer. Needless to say, there have been fairly big competitors in that space. Zee, for instance, has done very well with music and we’re working with them in several of our geographies where we don’t do Retro. They’ve released large volume of new music which has done really well and we do play it.

     

    How has the retro switch worked for your revenues?

    Exponentially and I think both our volumes have increased significantly. We’ve seen at least over 25% year-on-year growth on both topline and bottomline.

     

    What next on the current offering?

    The effort to innovate within the format is going to be continuous. We’ve launched Anup Jalota in our morning band which is a first on radio. That kind of talent is rarely seen on Indian media, let alone, radio. So, a combination of Neelesh Mishra, Annu Kapoor and Anup Jalota is quite powerful. We’ve also launched Richa Anirudh, the famous TV journalist who did Zindagi Live on our daily station as our morning show host. We’ve got veteran journalist Bhawana Somaaya, full-time as our entertainment editor and all of these are enriching the content and making it well poised and well positioned.

     

    Phase 3 has taken a long time. Are your plans for it still on?

    With Phase 3, radio will be one of the segments that will probably grow the most in 2015 among the various media categories. The hope is not only will the base of radio advertisers and the inventory will grow, but also radio will appeal more demographically and geographically in this country.

     

    Once Phase 3 is in, you could also have competition in the radio space.

    May be we will, may be we won’t, depends on what whose plan and strategy is.

     

    Independent news continues to be a no-no on private FM?

    We’re hoping that there will be final news guidelines very soon and that they will be more liberal than what we’ve heard.

     

    Now that others have seen your success, the same thing that happened in the hit music space may happen with retro…

    We have the first leader, first mover advantage here that we didn’t have there.

     

    A shorter version of this interview appeared in ‘dna of brands’ on January 5, 2015

     

     

     

  • Ashwin Padmanabhan, Business Head of 92.7 Big FM takes our question on his Mumbai station turning retro late last month

    Jaldi 5 with Ashwin Padmanabhan: The retro way to rise in ratings in Mumbai

    Two Sundays back, Reliance Broadcasting Network Ltd’s 92.7 Big FM in Mumbai switched from being a current hits radio station to one that plays retro music. Last year, after it did the same in Delhi, the station leapfrogged the RAM ratings charts to the Top 3. With the change to retro, the RBNL thinktank hopes to achieve much success in Mumbai too.We posed a few questions to Ashwin Padmanabhan, Business Head of the 45-station 92.7 Big FM. Here goes the Q&A.

     

    1. So why the switch to retro in Mumbai too?

    We initiated an exhaustive research to evaluate the preferences of our listeners and understand our brand positioning better. The results showed that listeners favoured retro music and there emerged an opportunity to offer listeners music and content of their choice. This decision was also influenced by the success generated at the 92.7 Big FM Delhi Station, which went retro sometime ago and the market has reacted exceedingly well. The response from listeners was overwhelming, with the station reaching leadership numbers.

     

    2. Would you go retro with your other stations too?

    We have never believed in a one-shoe-fits-all format. We evaluate and treat each market independent of the other and understand the requirements of each individual market. We have gone retro in six markets – Mumbai, Delhi, Baroda, Kolkata, Bhopal and Rajkot.

     

    3. 92.7 BIG FM was meant to be a mainstream FM radio station. By going retro, while your listenership rises, you move away from the mainstream… something that you would’ve possibly have as your second station do post Phase 3?

    The team has mapped out its positioning strategy based on unique yet strong on-air and digital concepts, while taking into consideration the lifestyle of Mumbaikars, the amount of time they spend in travelling and the blend of listeners in Mumbai. Although the stationality has been changed to retro, the revamped content strategy will also bring to listeners a plethora of current happenings in the city including stock and gold updates, city affairs, traffic and weather updates, sports, music-related trivia and more. In addition to this, 92.7 Big FM Mumbai intends to keep up with the local roots of Maharashtra by airing Marathi music and will have Marathi-speaking RJs as well. So no, I would think we are still very mainstream.

     

    3a. Tell us more about the local Marathi content? How much of it will be at peak hour?

    We are still working on this and might be a little early to talk about.

     

    4. How do you anticipate the retro positioning faring in terms of ratings?

    Well, we believe this will work in the Mumbai market. Our endeavour is to break the clutter and offer listeners content that is engaging and meets their aural preferences. Right now might be a little premature, but the feedback coming in from across the city has been extremely encouraging. We are confident it will work well with listeners.

     

    4a. Yes, your Delhi ratings have most certainly improved… In terms of ads, how has the higher ranking helped?

    Advertisers pan India have supported our decision. Differentiation is the way forward, and our advertisers realize that.

     

    5. What does your Delhi experience say… does retro music alienate the young and restless?

    Certainly not. We think the music from the sixties and seventies has always been appreciated by listeners across age groups. We think 92.7 Big FM can offer a distinctive change from the monotonous pattern of music that is heard elsewhere. We have seen an increase in listenership and are very happy with the results of the new positioning.