Club FM- the FM venture of Mathrubhumi Group, has embarked on a new journey with a new brand identity. The limitless possibilities of the radio channel are presented with a focus on the ‘U’, which denotes the audience. The brand has appointed Malayalam actor Tovino Thomas as the new brand ambassador. Club FM has also launched a first of its kind initiative, Cinema Katha, where the listeners meet top Directors to co-create Audio Cinemas.
In conversation with Medianews4u, Mayura Shreyams Kumar, Director, Digital Business, Mathrubhumi Group & Naveen Sreenivasan, Head Media Solutions, TRD, Mathrubhumi Group spoke about Cinema Kadha and the marketing objectives, on the performance of Club FM during the pandemic, emerging trends in the radio industry and more.
Speaking about the new brand identity and Cinema Kadha, Mayura said, “CLUB FM was relaunched after a successful 13 years as No 1 FM Station. The relaunch was the net result of the urge to update the brand to the generation of today and add the listener or user base, and cater to the present day mindscape of the youth. Hence, instead of a familiar place contest that any FM could think of, CLUB FM ideated the concept of Cinema Kadha.
Through Cinema Kadha, three top Malayalam Directors created three impactful short, “Audio Movies”, and the stories were developed through interactions with Club FM listeners and featured listeners as voice actors.
“This exercise aimed to make some noise which would build anticipation, facilitate an initial influx giving a brand rub off to Club FM and our associating Client in a huge way,” added Mayura.
Speaking about the performance of Club FM in terms of ad revenue and listenership during the pandemic, Naveen said, “While we were substantially impacted initially with respect to Ad Revenues, with the local markets opening up and getting active post lockdown, we did well in recovering lost ground quickly. Listenership and engagement on our channel went up as home listenership is very strong in our markets.”
According to Naveen, Radio has always been a medium with great local engagement and has utilised this strength to help brands solve their challenges by going beyond just advertising.
“The relevance of the same has only increased, and we have also been the leader in terms of Audience engagement activities during the last year, partnering with Brands,” said Naveen.
Speaking about Club FM’s plan to introduce innovative ad inventories to attract advertisers on board, Naveen said, “Cinema Katha was a highly engaging property for which we partnered with a lot of advertisers, Pulsar NS200 being the lead sponsor. We look forward to continuing building engaging, impactful properties for advertisers.”
According to Mayura, The FCT factor will always stay as classic advertising alongside.
“As Club FM always has been, we will keep pushing audience engagement opportunities/properties for clients, in such a way that there will be a 360 degree reach out, even within Radio, outside of it and also integrate the concept to several of Mathrubhumi verticals. The pitch to clients is simple – we have radio as a media – 15-35 youth on a platter, sure ways to engage and get the TG to respond to our ideas and all at an investment – practical value. In one line, Kerala youth is present on CLUB FM radar! Grab it,” she added.
Commenting on Club FM’s content strategies, Naveen said, “With our Relaunch in January, we have successfully reinvented our Content Strategy. Our content is Live, Relevant and hence highly engaging and since launch has resonated well with the Youth in Kerala.”
Speaking about his hopes for 2021, Naveen said, “We are extremely bullish on 2021 both from our listenership perspective and Ad Revenue Perspective. We were on a solid growth path till we encountered the speed-breaker in 2020. We are looking to get back on the growth path this year.”
