The FINANCIAL — Radio holding Fortuna is strengthening its online platform for listeners, aiming to make radio more integrated with the internet.
The processes started last year. Following the world tendency, radio holding Fortuna has created an internet department where people are working on building a very strong network on the internet and offering online services to listeners as well as businesses.
“We are indeed in the process of creating a website which meets modern society’s demands,” said Tamar Chigogidze, General Director of radio holding Fortuna. “Our strategy is to attract not only those who are not radio listeners and prefer to listen to music and information online, but also those who listen to the radio via the internet,” she added.
20 percent of all radio listeners in Georgia listen to the radio on mobile devices, showed the latest research by TNS, market research company.
16 percent of Georgian radio listeners tuned in at work in January 2013. In a year and a half that grew to 27 percent, said the research.
Accordingly, as the radio and internet act synergistically, Fortuna plans to offer combined radio-internet advertisement packages to businesses.
“Consequently, we are planning to offer combined radio-internet advertisement packages to our partners. It has been found that radio and new media reinforce each other. Customers show better brand name retention when they receive a message via different media. The Radio ads are a great opportunity to drive traffic to the website and vice versa. Many radio stations in other developed countries provide packages of on-air ads and online ads on their own websites and mobile applications,” Chigogidze said.
Radio holding Fortuna offers various programmes via its four radio stations. The programmes include news, sports, talks, and the possibility to listen to various genres of music. The major programmes and rubrics that are broadcast live on the four radio stations are immediately podcasted on the holding’s websites. A streaming radio service is already available at Fortuna holding.
Furthermore, Fortuna have added some song competitions that invited more people to its internet platform, of which the most successful was the Golden Wave project which reveals the “Song of the Year”.
“We conducted the first Golden Wave Awards Ceremony together with the Georgian National Broadcaster. It was broadcasted on New Year’s Eve of 2013. We received lots of feedback from our listeners, musicians and artists. Our goal was to stimulate the music industry, discover and promote new artists,” said Chigogidze.
“This year we did not let our listeners down. The project Golden Wave has already taken place. The awards ceremony will be conducted in the middle of June, which will reveal, for the second time, the Song of the Year. Specially designed weekly music programmes are held on the four radio stations, where the new (2014) songs that have been selected are aired,” she added.
In regard to ratings, all the radio stations of radio holding Fortuna were at the top of the list, said the report of a survey carried out within the framework of the IREX G-Media programme. TNS Market Intelligence Caucasus conducted the survey.
Radio Ar Daidardo (“Don’t Worry”) enjoyed the majority of listeners, which was 58 percent, followed by Fortuna + with 61 percent, Fortuna – 39 percent, and Avtoradio – 35 percent.
The great majority of respondents listened to the radio at home – 67 percent, while 36 percent do so in the car, 17 percent – in other modes of transport, 27 percent – at work, and 23 percent – in other places such as cafés and parks.
The survey showed that the radio market was growing every year in Georgia. Radio listening has increased from 44 percent to 51 percent when comparing the years 2013 and 2014.
For this reason Chigogidze believes that “radio is the perfect medium to use to build a new business”.
“Radio is a great medium for businesses, especially new businesses. If one is starting a new business, radio is the most cost effective way one can reach those people they need to make their business grow. With all four of our radio stations, which attract different target groups, one can reach who they need to reach, when they need to reach them, and where they need to reach them,” she said.
“Furthermore, since radio is targeted and production costs are low, radio is the perfect medium to use to build one’s new business. With radio one can not only buy ads but can sponsor a feature, like weather, sportscasts or time checks that allow the new business to build an identity with listeners,” Chigogidze added.
Radio holding Fortuna has been supporting the most influential Golden Brand Awards Ceremony for years as “Golden Brand always contributes to business development”, explained Chigogidze.
“Awards ceremonies like Golden Brand always contribute to business development. Everyone is happy to see that their business, and the efforts that they put into its development, have been recognized and appreciated. It is also a wonderful platform to introduce important people to one another. People can get together and establish business relationships with each other.
“The Golden Brand Awards Ceremony is encouraging for us as the partners of an awards ceremony which is held in such high esteem by society. Our holding is always a partner of Georgian business and supports it fully,” she said.
In the end, Chigogidze said the year 2015 was “quite stable” for radio holding Fortuna, taking into consideration the “various unpleasant economic factors”.
“Radio is like a live organism. It is constantly undergoing changes. It is very important to offer our listeners various new programmes and new music. That is how we build a loyal audience,” Chigogidze concluded.
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