MUMBAI: The radio industry has been following the traditional route of FCT (Free Commercial Time) for a very long time now. But, now radio operators want to break through it and try their hand at different formats. A panel of media experts including Jaideep Singh of Viacom 18, Suresh Balakrishna of Kinetic and Vanita Keswani of Madison Media SIGMA got together to discuss ‘Radio – Selling Beyond FCT’, at India Radio Forum (IRF).

The event that took place at The Westin Mumbai Garden City on 13 May 2016 saw Red FM CEO Nisha Narayanan moderating the panel. Singh stated that it was time for radio to create multi-layered and multi-genre IPs. Referring to his very own experience with IPs like Supersonic, he said, “Start with small or big IPs with multi-revenue resources and also let the consumers pay for it. However, if your offering is not too good people won’t pay.” Keswani seconded Singh’s thought as she said that advertisers are open to experimenting. But, they crave for a brief that would make innovations important.

Balakrishna, on the other hand,urged radio players to focus on the local marketer. “Radio has to keep the economic framework in mind,” he added. Singh also stated that properties made around the advertiser's brief do not last long. Radio stations should create properties and then reach out to the advertisers, he averred. Lastly, Balakrishnan gave a piece of advice to all the radio stations: “Radio will have to be proactive and not reactive to get the brand on board.”

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