MUMBAI: BBC World Service has announced that its radio service BBC Hindi hopes to meet more than 20,000 listeners in a series of roadshow events across three states in Northern India. From tomorrow 16 November to Monday 25 December, Your world, your voice is taking BBC Hindi teams to 14 towns across Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Jharkand, engaging audiences in lively debates broadcast live on the BBC, together with other activities, including street theatre and website demonstrations.
The debates have been inspired by local residents who took part in specially-commissioned research. Conducted by the Delhi-based rural research agency, Prastut Consulting, the research is based on interviews with decision-makers and residents at each of the roadshow locations and gives the BBC invaluable insights into what really matters to its audiences in India’s heartland.
BBC Hindi head Achala Sharma says, “We always keep our hand on the pulse of India: what concerns them, what their expectations are, what they want to change in their lives. The special research we commissioned this year is a real treasure trove, giving us first-hand information which will form the basis of our roadshow debates as well as our programming in general.
“All those interviewed for this research said that they see the BBC as being able to influence change. That’s why we are looking forward to meeting our audiences in this roadshow.”
Connecting with local culture, the BBC uses traditional Kalamkari artwork throughout the Your world, your voice roadshow. Street theatre will open each event with a dramatised demonstration of the values and benefits of listening to the BBC. There will also be demonstrations of the bbchindi.com website. Simultaneously, BBC World Service has organised purely promotional activity in 34 towns of the states of Madhya Pradesh, Uttaranchal and Rajasthan using the campaign imagery and messages.
BBC Hindi programmes are produced from studios in London and New Delhi and are set in a rolling format, with news, current affairs and features. The interactive morning and evening programmesAaj Ke Din and Aaj Kal, bring the BBC Hindi listeners news, analysis and interviews on issues, from current affairs and careers to showbiz and sports.
BBC Hindi is available on short wave and medium wave radio and via cable television.
It is estimated that currently, the outdoor space availability in metros is ‘zero.‘ With festivity around the corner, television channels are beefing up their programming and the most opportunistic way to utilize advertising appears to be via this medium.
The biggest players this year among television channels are the ususal suspects Sony, Star and Zee. The average spends among these channels is estimated to be close to Rs 700 – 800 million annually on outdoor advertising. 30 per cent of these spends are dedicated to the festive rush spanning September – December, says Star Sight CEO Sanjay Shah.
Though the outdoor industry falls short of a common currency measure, individual specialists with the likes of Star, Sony Entertainment, Zee TV, Times Now and Sahara that use outdoor all the year round, have their own proprietary tools to derive accountability from the medium.
The future is bright! On a rather optimistic note, Bhattacharyya predicts that this year will prove to be a watershed year for the outdoor advertising industry. “The area of consolidation both from a buyer and the concessionaire‘s perspective, is around the corner. It has happened the world over and India will prove to be no different. The outdoor specialists will control about 75 to 80 per cent of the entire outdoor market in India in two years time and consolidation amongst them will also happen very quickly. Alliances and mergers will take place, media groups will broaden their services, bandwidth will be built in order to deliver efficiencies and scale, and the big buyers will only get bigger.”
