Archana Vohra took charge as director, Big Digital in September 2007. In less than two months of inception, BIG 92.7 FM's digital and online music foray has ventured into podcasting, plans to get into mobile VAS in a big way and launch a slew of portals in the coming months.

Vohra oversees the digital business which includes all internet properties, the short-code 55454 and the Company's digital and online music foray, about which Big claims to have 'some very ambitious plans in the music space and will be making some major forays in this space over the next few months'.

Vohra, who was NDTV Convergence COO earlier and played an instrumental role in creating NDTV.com, NDTVProfit.com and developing over 15 associated web sites, outlined a few of the Big plans in a chat with Radioandmusic.com's Aparna Joshi.


Excerpts:

With what aim was Big Digital started?

The idea is to create a digital democracy. We aim to use the synergies between radio, mobile and the Internet to offer applications, products and services that will help people's lives. Whether it be music, podcasts, information, news or value added services, we will offer these across platforms. The first venture to be rolled out has been podcast of Big FM's Bangalore station shows.

After podcasts, which is the next service to be rolled out?

Within the next three months, we plan to roll out our M-VAS (music related value added services) offerings, which will offer interactivity via IVRS (the voice platform).

Will all this be pushed through mobile applications and the existing big927fm.com website?

Yes, we are looking aggressively at pushing our content through both, the mobile and Internet platforms. The amount of content we have is huge, and it includes Bollwyood, regional, vernacular...Some of this content has been generated by Big 92.7, while some will be generated online too. We plan to have a lot of community centric content, online events, and are working aggressively in the web 2.0 space.

The idea is to promote interactivity and personalised applications, and to facilitate the use of the mobile and internet as a user would want to use them. So, our offerings could range from listening to radio to shopping, communicating, blogging or finding friends online. Yes, there will be a lot of synergies with Big 92.7.

We are planning a lot of portals in addition to Big 92.7 com in the very near future. We are looking at launching at least three to four more portals this year, some of which will be dedicated to online products, along with the M-VAS offerings.

Eventually, big927fm.com will be a part of the grander portfolio.

Do radio websites attract big viewers in india? What has been the Big experience?

We have found that the website has triggered a lot of interactivity. The FM station has generated a lot of sticky radio users, who do visit the site regularly.

Our target audience is the 18 to 24 age group from among 33 million people, and this is the group that are online or use mobiles the most.

For certain high utility applications, we will be targeting an urban audiences, while some will be targeted at the 28 to 35 year old corporate, niche user. Each service provided will have its utility - whether need based or information based.

what kind of investments does all this envisage?

Definitely, a lot of technology is being used for this venture. You cannot build an interactive environment without deploying huge manpower either. So, yes, the deployment of resources is huge, although I couldn't put a figure to it.

How do you plan to promote the new ventures?

We will definitely use radio to promote the ventures. We will also use television, outdoor and print extensively

But aren't you competing with a lot of players who have already launched similar services?

We are aware of the competition. But we have the advantage of a strong radio presence. Our cross media promotion possibilities are far more than the existing players can hope to match.