The Information & Broadcasting Ministry has approved new rates for advertisements to be issued on private FM radio stations for publicising government policies and programmes.
The rates have been revised after seven years, based on the recommendations of the Rate Structure Committee set up by the Ministry. “This marks a significant milestone in the ongoing efforts of the Ministry to ensure a fair and sustainable pricing framework for private FM radio stations,” it said on Monday.
Approved in September, the new rates include a 43% increase in the base rate considering the rising costs’ dynamics from December 2015 to March 2023. With this increase, the gross base rate for FM radio advertisement will increase from Rs. 52 to Rs. 74 per ten seconds.
“This adjustment is intended to maintain parity with current market rates. The increase in gross base rate will also be beneficial for more than 400 community radio stations that are currently operational in the country,” said the Ministry.
The Ministry has also decided to continue the existing pricing formula for calculating city-wise rates. The pricing formula takes into account factors like city population and listenership data from the Indian Readership Survey (IRS) of 2019.
“Based on this 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 their listenership giving value for both FM stations and the clients of CBC (Central Bureau of Communication),” it said.
According to the Ministry, based on the formula, the rates for 106 stations will increase by 100%, by 50 to 100% for 81 stations, and by less than 50% for the 65 stations for which listenership data is available.
