BIG FM recently announced its entry into the online radio space with the launch of BRO. Created and curated for the youth, BRO promises to entertain the audience with content that’s fresh, engaging and in a unique way.
With online streaming services burning the cash to acquire users, the road for BRO would definitely not be an easy one, however the radio expertise and experience shall help the platform navigate through.
Medianews4u spoke to Sunil Kumaran, Country Head – Product, Marketing & THWINK BIG, BIG FM for an in-depth analysis on this brand new offering.
Read on.
Firstly, Congratulations on the wonderful initiative… What is the need gap that you identified which led to the creation of the online radio service from BIG FM called BRO.
Thank you so much for your wishes!
With digital and radio becoming the new normal, it was the need of the hour for us to foray into the space of web radio to increase our footprint and reach out to the consumers via new touch-points. Curating a platform such as BRO, takes us a step closer towards becoming a holistic audio entertainment company.
We understood there is a gap that exists in the market and we are trying to fill that gap. We wanted to provide the youth of the country with a platform that they can consume anytime and anywhere. This is a generation that needs to consume content which they can relate to. Taking this very thought forward, the shows on the platform shed light on a host of genres and present them with a fresh perspective. With BRO, we intend to provide an immersive audio experience through podcast content coupled with music.
Available on bigfmindia.com/bro, we, as a purpose-driven and customer-centric network, are glad to have curated a platform that’s interactive, engaging and entertaining for these young minds.
A platform that aims to be interactive, engaging and entertaining for the young minds of the country! That’s an impressive offering. Now tell us about some of the insights from research because according to my understanding, younger audiences do not like the conversations that happen on radio (especially the jocks) and prefer music on demand. BRO is positioned as an entertainment platform that shall cater to these audiences with content that they can relate to… and music as an offering is on the peripherals of the same… so how do you plan to make this a niche service?
Youth today are very action-oriented. They are not silent spectators but actively engage and participate. They have an option and they want to voice that. If they feel something needs to change, they jump in and actively bring about the change. Their life is not uni-dimensional – they want to have fun, but also want to focus on building a career, they want to keep themselves abreast with trends, they want to earn but also make some meaningful contribution, even in entertainment they will consume gossip and meaningful content in the same breath.
Music is a part of the offering but more importantly we have looked at various facets of a youths life and created shows that cater to all their needs.
BRO is an offering that resonates with everything they care for and value.
Potential competition in-terms of online radio services are not many in India, so how well prepared are you to take on the streaming services that are competing in a cut-throat environment and some platforms are backed by deep pockets such as a JioSaavn or Spotify?
BRO is aimed at addressing a gap that exists in the market in the youth entertainment space. While digital as a whole has many things to offer for the young, BRO will aim to become their go to place for not just entertainment but also for meaningful and relatable content.
Music streaming platforms offer a specific form of entertainment which is very relevant to the young. BRO is not limited to music. Its engaging and immersive content is a reflection of everything youth care for today. Be it entertainment, need to interact and be heard, need to be kept abreast, build a multi-faced personality, need to make a meaningful contribution.
Dive deep into the content strategy of BRO that attracts newer audiences of your TG from across various cities of the country…
If something matters to them, BRO has a show for that. The content landscape is vast yet extremely relevant. With genres ranging from fun and entertainment, love, relationship, money, career and lifestyle.
While the content mix is huge, share some details about the On-Air Talent that will be the heart of this entertainment platform?
Catering mainly to the Hindi-speaking market, BRO will have a host of diverse multi-genre shows that meet the rising demand amongst the youth for quality content. In addition to music, BRO will provide one an immersive audio experience through podcast content. The topics are immensely aspirational and meaningful along with being highly fun, entertaining, and above all, trending. Through its content, BRO aims to touch every aspect of the life that is important to the youth of India. It boasts of a wide repertoire of shows across genres ranging from Bollywood, career and lifestyle to romance, information and fashion. These would include radio drama series Teri Meri Stories, talk show namely Big Star Exchange, High Five that provides the youth an insight on the top 5 things they should follow on a range of topics.
It will also feature quirky short audio content like Pushpa that pays homage to the iconic dialogue from Amar Prem, ‘Pushpa…I hate tears’ in a comic manner, Miss Fire based on a popular celebrity’s style of banter on local topics with an unusual take and Jumpstart featuring eminent CEO’s and leading giants of various companies who inspire with their success stories.
We, by catering to a topic for every emotion that this young audience goes through are once again providing wholesome entertainment that makes for a value-added service. More importantly, the content and the manner of its delivery has been what the youth have been looking for a very long time. That’s exactly what our strategy is and it is this novelty in the form of a platform that’s fresh and immersive that sets us apart from the rest.
In the virtual PC you mentioned that some conversations will be a deep-dive with industry thought leaders about career and such relatable topics… post the show on-air will these conversations be available on-demand for listeners and audiences?
BRO is a streaming service platform which allows you to consume content on the go from anywhere. A good part of the content will also be made available on our website to be consumed on-demand.
While the content is really promising tell us about the brand solutions strategies that you plan to implement to attract advertisers on this new platform?
BRO will definitely present newer opportunities for advertisers to associate with us. Considering how interesting and engaging the platform is, we do expect a host of like-minded and purpose-driven brands to advertise on the platform. The advertisements, just like the audience that they’re catering to will be immersive and interactive as they market a host of products that concern the youth of today. So beyond the regular formats of advertising we will have opportunities for branded content, Influencer marketing and innovative integration of the brand message into the narrative of the shows.
