Congress fast catching up with BJP on radio jingles

As the elections hit midway, India's two largest political parties have ramped up their publicity drive to reach out to maximum number of voters with catchy radio jingles that have flooded FM channels across the country.

In March, the Bharatiya Janata Party with 88 per cent share topped radio's political ad insertion list, according to TAM AdEx, a division of Tam Media Research.

The Congress Party, however, picked up fast last month, with its 'Ab Hoga Nyay' campaign with radio jingles to woo all age groups.

The catchy phrases from the Congress party are all over FM channels: 'Jan Jan se naata hai, Sarkaar Chalana Aata hai; Jo aapko jhoothe vaade karte hain' and 'aa rahi hai Congress, parivartan maange Madhya Pradesh', etc.

The themes covered in the radio campaign include the 'Nyay' scheme, poverty, jobs, farmers' distress, women's reservation, Gabbar Singh Tax (GST) and education, etc.

'NYAY' stands for 'Nyuntam Aay Yojana' or minimum income scheme under which the Congress' has committed Rs 72,000 into the bank accounts of five crore of the poorest families annually.

The Congress party campaign's main theme song 'Main hi toh Hindustan hoon' has been penned by Javed Akhtar. 

The ad insertion on the radio by political parties has increased by 14 per cent in this election year. In the 2014 elections, print and TV had a clear advantage over the radio. 

"There is a surge in radio campaigns by the political parties, dominated by the BJP and picked up fast now by the Congress Party. Their bouquet of jingles are fast connecting with all age groups, especially youth on FM channels," Thomas George, Senior Vice President and Head of Cyber Media Research (CMR), told IANS. 

According to the TAM AdEx report, radio as a medium had seen a marked growth in political ad-insertions. The report clearly chowed that the BJP has gone all out on radio jingles. 

For the month of March, the Aam Aadmi Party took the second spot with 5 per cent share, followed by YSR Congress Party at 4 per cent and Congress at 2 per cent.

With hiring new advertising agencies like Percept, SilverPush, Design box and Nixon, the Congress party has given a boost to its radio campaign.

Shreya Thapliyal, 24, from Faridabad told IANS: "The Congress jingles are nice and to the point. The language is simple, messaging is clear which immediately catches the attention".

The radio ad campaign cost depends on the choice of radio station, location, ad duration, tenure, frequency and ad slot.

According to the Media Ant, a radio ad agency, if the cost of an ad is listed as Rs 400 for a radio station in a city, it means the pricing unit of one jingle played for 10 seconds.

If advertisers play a 30-second radio ad 5 times for 7 days, the cost would be nearly Rs 42,000.

However, during the election time, the jingle rates soar further, say experts. IANS