Ministry of Information and Broadcast revises CBC advertisement rates for private FM radios

financialexpress.com:

The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has approved new rates for advertisements to be issued on private FM radio stations for government policies and programmes based on the recommendations of the Rate Structure Committee set up by it, marking a milestone in the ongoing efforts of the Ministry to ensure a fair and sustainable pricing framework for private FM radio stations.

The new rates approved by the Ministry in the month of September 2023 include a 43 per cent increase in the base rate taking into account the rising cost dynamics for the period of December 2015 to March 2023. With this increase, the gross base rate for FM radio advertisements will increase from Rs 52 to Rs 74 per 10 seconds.

The adjustment is intended to maintain parity with market rates. The increase in gross base rate will also be beneficial for more than 400 community radio stations that are operational in the country.

Further building on the base rate, the Ministry has also decided to continue with the existing pricing formula for calculating city-wise rates. The pricing formula takes into various factors like city population and listenership data from the India Readership Survey (IRS) of 2019.

Based on the formula along with the enhanced base rate, almost all private FM Radio stations will benefit from the new recommended rates at varying percentages depending largely on listenership giving value for both FM stations and the clients of CBC. Based on the formula, the rates for 106 stations will increase by 100%, approximately 50%-100% increase for 81 stations, and a less than 50% increase for 65 stations for which listenership data is available.

The Rate Structure Committee for Private FM Radio stations was set up by the Ministry last year