MUMBAI: ZenithOptimedia managing director Hari Krishnan’s session at India Radio Forum (IRF) on 13 May 2016 at The Westin Mumbai Garden City turned out to be an eye-opener for the radio industry. Krishnan pinpointed the loopholes that television as a medium has left open for radio to exploit.

In his session, How Can Radio Kill The Video Star?, Krishnan started by pointing out that there were 2265 first time advertisers in 2015. While most of these were new product or service announcements, there was barely any storytelling. And that could be a space radio as a medium can use to its advantage.

Here are the loopholes in television that Krishnan believes can be radio's goldmine to getting more advertisers on board.

The 10 minute ad restriction: The TV ads have been restricted to 10 minutes an hour as per the latest legislation. Thus, not all advertisers can reach out to the medium with the demand-supply being thrown out of place. Thus, the radio can step in.

20 to 18 sec ads: The maximum time that an FMCG ad gets on TV is 18 to 20 seconds. One cannot narrate a brand story in such a short time, but radio can definitely help brands do that.

Fragmentation: With the ads being restricted to 10 minutes an hour the channels started new channels to fit in advertisers. Krishnan stated that 76 new channels came up and that divided the audience. The number of people viewing ads on channels with this fragmentation  is limited. Radio can use this aspect in its favour.

Multi-screen behaviour: With the audience in a household being on different screens, the advertisers are not benefiting.  According to Krishnan, the multi-screen behaviour has added more distraction than impressions.

Skip rates: The TV skip rates are higher than radio.

Digital going the TV way: Digital has started aping TV. The digitals ads too are getting shorter now.

Krishnan concluded, “Radio is magical, powerful and under-leveraged, but it offers opportunity beyond reach.”

For More Click Here