Radio advertising to earn $450 mn in India by 2012

Mumbai, March 25 (IANS) With new FM stations mushrooming by the dozen in India, a study says radio advertising industry will gross Rs.18 billion ($450 million) by 2012 from the present Rs.6.2 billion ($155 million).

Radio advertising was a mere Rs.5 billion industry in 2006, said the report by the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India (Ficci) and PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC) released Tuesday.

"Approximately 60 percent of the revenue of the radio advertising industry comes from the private FM broadcasters and the balance from the state broadcaster All India Radio (AIR)," said the report released at the Ficci-Frames forum.

"In terms of share of ad pie, it is projected that the Indian radio advertising industry will be able to increase its share from 3.2 percent in 2007 to 4 percent in the next five years," the report said.

The annual global forum looks at the business aspects of the entertainment and media industry.

Pitted as one of Asia's biggest forums on the entertainment industry, about 2,000 Indian and 500 foreign delegates are here to discuss the growth and sustainability of the sector by addressing the challenges facing it.

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