An old medium resurrected

Both are owned and operated by Nile Radio Production; both managed to enlist a new demand out of an old medium.

To shed some light on the radio's history in Egypt: once it was considered the lifeline of entertainment for most Egyptians - listening to Um Kulthoum and other singers' concerts - but this era ended decades ago with increased access to television and later to satellite channels. For years now Egyptians - especially the younger age group - have wanted to access good music.

Recognizing the untapped market, private firms pursued it. The pan-Arab MBC-FM was the first; followed by the launch of Good News For Me Radio in late 2000. Both failed to take off as their content failed to lure Egyptian listeners and consequently failed to pull in advertisers.

There was also a political dimension; the Egyptian government has been reluctant to grant licences for private radio stations as it considers radio to be a sensitive medium since it is portable and cheap thus allowing everyone to have access to it. Nile Radio Production secured a licence only after assuring the government that it would only air music and entertainment and not get into news broadcasting.

Within six months people not only knew the stations, they also knew the names of the DJs and show hosts. Advertisers also tuned in quickly. Companies that had previously ignored radio as a medium were running to have their ads broadcast on the two radio stations. This had a tremendous effect on the market and on how advertisers saw radio as a means to reach their target audiences. Pepsi, Coke, MobiNil and Vodafone were among the first to come on board.

The role of researchers was crucial in helping clients understand that a radio ad is not simply the voice-over of a television ad. Radio ads are different because they act as wallpaper medium in the back of the listener's head. Moreover, radio ads depend 100 percent on one's hearing and ability to visualize the message of the ad. In order to capture attention, one needs to have a strong message cutting through.

For companies with bigger radio advertising budgets, program sponsorship has emerged as another tool to support their branding. The catch here is about selecting the program and realizing that you might lose listeners if they can't relate to the program, or fail to make an association between the program and the brand.

Still something puzzles us as researchers: despite all the spend that has taken place recently on the radio, there is no quantitative feedback mechanism on the radio sector, unlike the TV sector. We all understand that radio as a medium is cheap compared to TV, but we don't know how effective it is. Maybe TV later transpires to be a more effective medium to reach my target segment. Important factors like peak listenership times through the day, audience profiles, program preferences. And where do people listen to radio? at home, while driving or walking. All these unanswered questions are currently left to the advertisers' best judgments on whether their spends are paying back or not.

However it seems that radio in Egypt is being resurrected as a serious advertising medium. Industry watchers predict that once other commercial stations are established and competition in the market heats up, this sector will take off exponentially.