Discovered by the AAP in the last Delhi elections and milked by the BJP in the Lok Sabha polls, the radio has already emerged the victor in the political battle sweeping Delhi. According to estimates gathered from media buyers, election ad spend on print, TV and radio is likely to be around Rs 45-55 crore, Rs 18-20 crore of this on radio alone. In contrast, at the national level, radio’s share in advertising is 5 per cent. [related-post] From recounting achievements to making promises, from attacking rivals to making counterattacks, parties are riding the airwaves to reach the voter like never before. According to sources, AAP and BJP have launched more than 20 campaigns over radio in the past fortnight. “The two parties have been launching new ads every two to three days. Both have dedicated teams tracking radio and each is responding to the other’s campaigns in no time,” said a media planner working closely with one of the parties. Indeed, after the BJP released an ad in which an elderly woman complains she was taken for a ride by a leader she doesn’t name but who is clearly understood to be Arvind Kejriwal, the latter immediately responded with a message to the old mataji, saying he couldn’t fulfil all his promises the last time because he didn’t have a majority but he could deliver them now if she showered her blessings on him. Along with dramatised 10-to-20-second clips, the BJP continues to exploit the oratory skills of Narendra Modi. The AAP led by Kejriwal, on the other hand, has experimented with ideas such an audio clip in which a radio jockey asks voters who they would vote for and voters recounting the work done by AAP in its 49 days in power. The Congress doesn’t have any of its leaders speaking to the masses on radio, only commercials about work done during its 15-year rule. All this has meant that the top radio stations, including Radio Mirchi, Red FM, Big FM, and Radio City, have had a full inventory for the past one month and this is likely to continue. “Till a week ago, political ads accounted for about 20 per cent of our inventory. In the past few days, this has gone up to almost 40 per cent and we expect it to go up to more than 50 per cent,” said the station head of one of the country’s largest FM networks. Estimates suggest the BJP is likely to be the biggest election ad spender with around Rs 30-40 crore, followed by AAP with around Rs 10 crore and the Congress with not more than Rs 5 crore. On radio, the BJP is likely to outshout the AAP and the Congress with a budget of around Rs 10 crore against AAP’s and Congress’s Rs 4.5-5 crore each, say sources. The reasons for the rise in radio’s fortune are many. “Delhi is a relatively homogenous market served from end to end by radio stations. Radio has almost 90 per cent penetration. This makes radio truly a mass medium,” says Vivek Modi, regional director, north and east, Radio Mirchi. Studies by operators show that almost 90 per cent of radio consumption in Delhi happens through mobile phones — with the rest either at home or in cars — and that the average listener is in the age group 18 to 35. “All parties are mainly targeting young voters. Besides, housewives are also an important constituency for them and radio delivers them all,” says Vivek Modi. Radio is also the cheapest medium. Producing a TV film costs lakhs of rupees, if not crores, while making a radio ad costs a few thousands and the production time is very short. “Radio offers the advertisers the opportunity to release a variety of campaigns. During political campaigns, it allows parties to quickly respond to developments or attacks made by rivals,” says R S Suryanarayanan, associate VP, Initiative, the media buying arm of Lintas, one of the largest marketing communications networks. Besides, airtime on radio is the cheapest. An ad spot on a leading channel could be bought between Rs 1,000 and Rs 1,500, and on a second-rung channel for Rs 600-1,000. In comparison, a quarter-page ad in the Delhi edition of leading dailies costs between Rs 16 and 20 lakh.
