| Some stations consciously avoid any coverage of sports like tennis, these being classified as elite sports that their mass audiences are not interested in. |
| The logic? Listeners will tune off if you begin to tell them about the travails of professional golf or fill them in on soccer's La Liga. It still remains to be seen how such a station would treat chess "� is that an elite sport or not? |
| So given that the world's largest sporting event is round the corner, what can we expect from private FM? Or even better, as an advertiser, do the Olympics in Athens present a good advertising opportunity? |
| The answer lies in what stations want to do with the Olympics. Most will just brush it away, suggesting that advertising bucks are difficult to chase for a sporting event where there is no clear India focus. |
| Some stations like Go in Mumbai, which are passionate about sports and have an on-air sports scan three times a day, will carry a torch for the event. |
| As Shariq Patel of Go says, "Olympics coverage will be big for us..." The station will follow the main events and cover the fortunes of the Indian contingent, along with expert opinions from Mid Day correspondents (Mid Day being a sister concern). But Patel is quick to confess that while a content opportunity exists, the sales opportunity is negligible. At least it isn't on the "scale of cricket." |
| Nandan Srinath of Radio Mirchi in Delhi believes that the Olympics present an unprecedented content opportunity. His station covered the torch relay, between Qutub Minar and National Stadium, live in Delhi on June 10. The event was a huge success and Radio Mirchi is now thinking of sending one of its correspondents to Athens and using that "as an edge to monetise the coverage." |
| But Srinath too is clear about the extent to which the event can be turned into a revenue opportunity. Says he: "This is not cricket in terms of big bucks." |
| Clearly, here is an opportunity for the ambitious advertiser: an international event with great emotional drama, tremendous tales of courage, bravery and application, tears and trauma with every passing hour and glory for a few. Add to this the fact that some stations will provide near-live coverage. |
| In addition, some stations will send their reporters or get experts to comment as events unfold. Very few events would find such in-depth coverage on radio. And, if station heads are to be believed, the event is likely to find very few advertisers. So there you are: low rates, no clutter, near-exclusivity. |
| It makes sense then to leverage the opportunity by creating ideas around the Olympics for your brand. If your brand lends itself to the creation of related content "� sporting goods are obvious candidates but so are brands that use the concept of winning or sportsmanship at their core "� it shouldn't be difficult to squeeze a good deal from the station. The cunning advertiser will seize the opportunity and milk it for all that it is worth. |
| But the single-biggest opportunity that the coverage of the Olympics presents on radio is to brands that will use print extensively to display their support or sponsorship of teams and events. Radio can prove to be a handy tool to increase the effectiveness of print spends. |
| Radio can be used to point people to the print content or simply remind them of it. The Olympics will give advertising agencies the perfect opportunity to experiment with radio as a complementary medium, one that can make their creativity and budgets go way further than before. |
| The question is: do agencies have the talent, courage and patience to develop campaigns that tie in print with radio? Maybe the task of crossing this hurdle will be of Olympic proportions. But for the one that does, the rewards will be more than adequate. |
| Arun Katiyar has spent over two decades working in the print, internet and radio media. He can be contacted at katiyararun@yahoo.com. |
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