MUMBAI: Here is an interesting piece of information for Lucknow metro travellers. The solo travel will no more be boring because the metro will accompany its travellers with the most ingenious concepts. All eight metro stations in Lucknow will be buzzing with music and comedy snippets from Radio City.

The firm, promoted by Jagran Prakashan Ltd, has recently partnered with Lucknow Metro Rail Corporation (LMRC) in a bid to entertain travellers. LMRC is expected to launch the under construction Lucknow metro by the end of August.

According to well-known publication, music and content will be played in capsules of 180 seconds, with metro announcements in-between. “The content is just for metros and will not be played in trains. It’s a landmark moment for us. We know the Lucknow market because we have been here for about 15 years. We will evaluate the idea of advertising, depending on the success of this experiment,” said Jagran Prakashan president Apurva Purohit to the publication.

“The plan is to forge more such partnerships because the reach is huge. Whether it (travel entertainment) is a business opportunity or a marketing one, we will evaluate subsequently,” Purohit added.

Along with Radio City, other radio portals like Red FM, Radio Mirchi, Radio Nasha and Fever FM are also showing interest in the Rail Radio Project to be introduced by Indian railways.

“Radio and on-the-go entertainment go hand in hand and, hence, we are definitely working with keen interest on exploring opportunities to monetize in this field. It’s one of the areas which every radio player wants to build upon, since we already have content and also the expertise to create content that can keep consumers engaged,” said Red FM COO Nisha Narayanan.

“We have been keen to offer our innovative content to different consumer segments and serve business’s key objectives at the same time. In-store radio from Fever FM is a pioneering initiative in this direction for the significant and expanding Indian retail sector,” said HT Media Limited CEO Harshad Jain.

An executive from a radio firm stated about the revenue sharing model tie-ups that are usually between the government or private companies and radio firms. “There is usually no upfront payment. There may be capital expenses that the radio company has to pick up. The ad revenues on such projects are minimal because everything is in the experimental stage right now. At times, tenders can also be floated,” said an executive.

In 2015, the idea of travel entertainment was successfully tested by ENIL with the launch of airport radio Mirchi T3, in partnership with Delhi International Airport Limited (DIAL). Radio Mirchi’s airport radio caters to flyers travelling via Terminal 3 of the Indira Gandhi International Airport (IGI) in New Delhi.

“This may become a separate business vertical. Right now, it’s only an experiment. It’s not easy to sell. More and more radio firms eyeing such opportunities are inevitable. It’s a competitive marketplace,” said ENIL CEO Prashant Panday to the publication.

Media buyers feel that such radio opportunities have the potential to earn enough revenue to become a lucrative business for companies. “It’s a great idea. We look at railways and metros as mediums for outdoor advertising and radio is trying to change that. Radio is a great medium for local advertising and with such innovations; it is further expanding its reach. It (travel entertainment) will definitely be a profitable business because radio still has a lot of untapped potentials,” said a media buying agency Carat executive vice-president Sujata Dwibedy to the publication.

Currently, the LMRC authorities are not ready to talk about the partnership. We are sure that the partnership is way too interesting and you would like to know more about it. Radioandmusic will soon update you with more information.