Radio City 91.1 FM, the official radio partner for the Mumbai Indians team, is planning to make music with other IPL franchises as well.
Music Broadcast Private Limited, the owners of Radio City, is set to become the official radio partner for the Sahara Group's Pune Warriors team during IPL -5.
IPL season commands high ad rates for radio channels, climbing to nearly Rs 1500 for a 10 second advertising spot.
Most radio channels have signed on at least two IPL franchise teams. Recently, Reliance Broadcast's Big 92.7 FM has been appointed as the exclusive radio partners for Kings X1 Punjab and Deccan Chargers. Besides Red FM and Suryan FM are the radio partners for the opening ceremony of IPL 5.
Speaking to Business Line , Mr. Ashit Kukian, COO, Radio City 91.1 FM said, “During IPL season there is a surge in revenues by almost 10 to 15 per cent. We already have a business relationship with the Sahara Group and would be looking at tying up with their Pune Warriors team.”
Mr Kukian said the FM channel would have local content which would appeal to the sentiments of Pune citizens.
Creating cricket oriented branded properties such as ‘Cricket Jockey' and ‘Motivator Squad', Radio City has been helping grow Mumbai Indian team's fan base during IPL as it gets its listeners to participate in these slots. The same branded slots would be used for the Pune Warriors team as well.
In Motivator Squad, the channel tries to rope in listeners to become cheer leaders for their favourite cricketers. The Cricket Jockey programme invites listeners to run the show based on their understanding of cricket.
“IPL works for radio unlike in television when most the General Entertainment Channels tend to suffer. We would be adding more IPL franchises to get revenues from them and the BCCI,” said Mr Kukian.
Radio City has already roped in IPL related sponsors like Kirloskar at a national level and a regional sponsor like Bharti Cement. “For cricket related content during IPL we already have a host of sponsors across industries like telecom and FMCG,” said Mr Kukian.
Radio City is currently present in 20 markets and has a leadership position in Mumbai and Bangalore.