WorldSpace's new tune

By 2010, satellite radio will have 35 million subscribers in the US, states a JP Morgan study. In India, WorldSpace, the sole satellite radio operators, is targeting 1.55 lakh subscribers by the end of 2005.

The target is modest as the company's Indian arm, WorldSpace India, failed to impress the Indian consumer when it first launched in 1999, despite offering digital audio and exclusive content.

The company's poor performance sent it into a two-year marketing hiatus. Now, WorldSpace has returned with a new set of promotion strategies.

The core of the initiative is sampling and trial of the product through WorldSpace lounges being set up across the country. It also involves city-specific advertising campaign and below-the-line activities.

To create the 'WorldSpace experience', the company has chosen the lounge route: each lounge or store is about 5,000 sq ft and has about 25 listening posts. These allow the consumer to sample WorldSpace's digital quality sound.

"The lounges are key to interact with the customer in a controlled atmosphere.The sale may not be immediate, but the experience sticks and eventually leads to sale," says Sanjay Ramakrishnan, director, consumer audio business at WorldSpace.

To capture traffic, the lounges are set up in malls and streets with high customer footfalls. In Bangalore WorldSpace has two lounges. Hyderabad and Chennai have one each and by next month two more will come up in Delhi and Mumbai.

So far, WorldSpace has sold 80,000 receivers in India made by electronics majors BPL, Panasonic, JVC and others. Introducing lower priced receivers at Rs 2,790 compared to those priced at Rs 6,000 earlier has also improved sales.

The below-the-line activities from the company include organising WorldSpace Live events at the lounges. It is also sponsoring the Dire Straits show to be held in Mumbai and Bangalore.

Door-to-door product demonstration in upmarket areas and showcasing the product at coffee shops, pubs and shopping malls has also been rolled out.

"Infosys, Wipro, Accenture and others have also heard us through listening posts at their offices," explains Ramakrishnan.

The company expects to be present in the country's top eight cities by June, 2005. It is now focusing on content. It's first exclusive Punjabi music channel is on the cards. The current vernacular channels include those in Kannada, Telugu, Tamil and Malayalam. For the niche audience, there is jazz, R&B, rave, techno and rock.

Ramakrishnan believes that if satellite radio can prove itself even in a saturated market like the US, at Rs 100 a month it is value-for-money for subscribers in India.